Read this post on Mad Momma's blog a couple of days ago http://themadmomma.blogspot.com/2007/03/and-we-have-time-and-date.html
It brought back a cascade of unpleasant memories of my own C-section almost three years ago. So I responded to the post, and later thought, dang, I need to record this for posterity so I can emotionally blackmail my daughter when she's 14, wearing black eyeshadow and yelling that time-honored phrase, "You don't understand!" So here it is, Raina, just for you...
"Your post brought back all the not-so-fun c-section memories of my own. I have an almost 3-year-old, and when I was pregnant with her, I knew exactly what kind of birth I wanted to have: no epidural, completely natural. I had a detailed birth plan drawn up, with copies for my ob-gyn and for nurses at the hospital.
Well, I went a week over my due date, and to cut a very long story short, had to have the doctor break my water because I'd been laboring for 48 hours with zero dilation. I was exhausted when I acquiesced to my first epidural; when that wore out, I got a second which did not work at all. At which point, I began screaming. Finally, I was wheeled into the OR where I got much-needed relief from a spinal block.
The doctor operating on me was my least favorite ob-gyn from the practice; she and the others chatted unconcernedly about their weekend plans while they cut me up and got my baby out. My husband, who was thankfully next to me throughout this ordeal, got to see the baby first. This is soooooo not fair, I still get mad when I think about it! Then I saw her, muttered a few deranged words and that was it for the next couple of hours. It was maddening! Husband disappears, baby disappears and I'm left to be stitched up.
I had months after the birth to feel and re-create the disappointment of not having the perfect birth experience. But if I hadn't had such high expectations, I wouldn't have been so disappointed. Because, all in all, the C-section by itself wasn't so bad."
Hmm, maybe I should edit out the last line. After all, I was exhausted, did succumb to an infection and generally was miserable for the next few months. So there you are, munchkin. Now I can assume the mantle of the All-Suffering Mom (ASM) and reply to your rant with my own time-honored phrase, "After all I've done for you..."
3 comments:
Makes me want to record my own experience for posterity too! I don't think there is a perfect birth experience - I mean you're having a baby and it is a given that you will be in pain (and thus irritable and exhausted - I was) and there will be blood and it's not going to look pretty. My epidural didn't work either, so I totally understand the bit about the "screaming" :-)
:) I think it was the sudden escalation that had me screaming. One moment I was fine, as in, what, me, giving birth? The next moment I was feeling every fast and furious contraction. What made it worse was my husband wasn't around -- he'd gone to drop off my mom -- and I really hit the panic button.
"After all I've done for you..."
that won't cut it - since she is musically inclined, why not sing 'hamne tujhko pyaar kiyaa hai jitnaa, kaun karegaa itnaa'?
- s.b.
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