Advice for New Mothers... Giving Birth


Sydney Faith (my first) born May 2005

The first time I gave birth, it was pretty traumatic.  I won't lie to you.   If you are about to be a new mom or haven't had children get, don't be scared.  Pregnancy and birth are different for everyone.  For me, giving birth to Sydney in 2005 was awful!  As you can see from the picture, I had a rough time. I promised to "keep it real" on this blog so I am showing you that picture.

I will save you the gory details of my experience but I will share with you the things I wish I had done/ known:

1. I wish that I did not watch so many Baby Story episodes. It may be reality TV but it is not that real.  It is many, many hours edited down to a half hour show.  It gave me a distorted view of how long labor was going to be.

2. I wish I had known about the placenta.  Some how in my 30 years of life up to that point, I had not heard about it.  I had finally given birth to Sydney and as you can see from the picture was completely exhausted.  The doctor then tells me to push some more.  I freaked out and thought that I was having twins and needed to push out another baby.  That is the moment I learned about having to push the placenta out too.  It might have been less shocking to me if I had known that before labor began.

3. I did not have any C-sections so my recovery wasn't too bad but I wish I had a better understanding of how long it takes to feel better after having stitches. One friend of mine described it like feeling as if you had been hit by a Mack truck for about two weeks after you have given birth.

4. I also wish that I would have accepted more help.  Do yourself a favor and take the meals that are offered to you.  Let family and friends come over and watch the baby so you can sleep for a bit.  Allow them to clean up the house for you.  Take whatever help is offered to you! 


For me, the second and third birth were a million times easier.  As you can see from the pictures, everything went much faster.

Lucas Anthony (my second) born August 2010
Ella Grace (my third) born March 2012

Children are a gift from the Lord, 
the fruit of the womb is a reward.
Psalm 127:3


4 comments:

  1. What a difference in the pics! That being said, i have had both vaginal and c-section..i would honestly say it took me about a whole YEAR to feel like myself again. Im not kidding!

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  2. I am honored that you used my comment. It is a true representation of how I felt!

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  3. Good advice! In the childbirth classes I teach, we cover all of those things that you mentioned, even specifically talking about the "unreality" of A Baby Story!!

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  4. Great advice! While I certainly knew about the placenta and that it would need to be "born" after the baby, I didn't expect that there could be any problem getting this accomplished--after all, it is soft and has a handy cord to pull on, so how difficult could it be? But mine took a while, was very painful, and I had excessive bleeding that made me weak so I had trouble pushing. It worked out in the end, and this time (I'm due in May!) I'll be prepared for that extra work after the baby's born.

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