Who would prefer pain? Sounds a little crazy huh?
Well, when I was giving birth to Bug, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, and I had an open mind when it came to an epidural or not. I wasn't quite ready for the pain and ended up asking for an epidural. Once it started working, I really couldn't feel the rest of the birth, and Bug came out in 20 min.
While I was pregnant with Little Angel, I was thinking that I wanted to have a "natural" birth, but wasn't sure if I would be ready for it on this one. I did start meditating a week before, not with the thought of using it to get through pain, but for other reasons. Some people use meditation to get through pain I knew, but I didn't start for that reason, I figured I started too soon to actually use it for that amount of pain.
So I went into the birth process with my mind still open about the epidural. Though I hadn't started meditating for dealing with the pain of giving birth, I thought it couldn't hurt. When the pain got to be so much that I couldn't ignore it with I Love Lucy episodes (or M*A*S*H or the Andy Griffith Show all of which were playing on TV Land when I was in labor), I started to do what I did when I meditate, close my eyes, and just concentrate on my breathing. That seemed to help a little, so I kept it up. But once again, the pain got too much for my feeble attempts to ignore it. Little Angel came 30 min. later. Don't ask me how I got through that longest half hour in my life, but I did without an epidural. By then it was pretty much too late for it to take much of an effect. Rocket Scientist did help by reminding me to think about Bug's adorable cuteness, and think of other things that took me somewhere else then the pain.
In any case, I look back at Little Angel's birth with more fondness then I do Bug's. Why is that? I'm not exactly sure. Maybe because I went through the pain, and the trial of it and made it. Maybe it was something different. I'm not really sure, but I do know that I look back at it and seem to enjoy the memory of Little Angel's more then Bug's. Trails aren't necessarily fun things to go through, but when you are through them is when the true joy comes.
4 comments:
hear hear! I didn't know this and I'm glad the birth was a better experience the second time around. I remember feeling completely amazed that my body was able to DO that (with hubby's help of course) without help for the pain.
Hey, Shay, thanks for sharing - I appreciate the insight.
It is interesting that the births of each of my four children have come with unique feelings and memories. But one feeling that has been shared as I've delivered without pain medication is a resounding "We did it! She/he's here! We did it!" It really is quite the accomplishment! Way to go!
Oops! I didn't mean to be anonymous. I, Can, left the previous comment. :)
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