Mentally Scarred, LOL

[OldFashionedGirl]

Ryan and I had another birth class last Thursday. This was the one where they showed us videos of real births...three of them. Okay, I guess I'm sheltered, but in my 23 years, I've never seen such a video. OMG. I am scarred. That HEAD coming out of THERE. Having now seen three woman do it, it's clear that it's possible, but I'm seriously wondering how.

Maybe I should have watched this last April, instead of having sex

[Shazer]

I hope the video had the events leading up to the baby coming out because all of the steps of labor are key to helping your body to get the baby out and fascinating to think about. Think of it as a beautiful process with the world's best gift at the end.

[OldFashionedGirl]

The video did cover the entire labor, starting with very early labor. So we did get to see the entire labor process. It was just strangely impressive and frightening, all at the same time!

[bleumoose]

Pretty intense, huh? It's completely doable! Trust your body, it's designed for this work.

[thismama]

Not in your due date club, but I wanted to say I watched this sort of video at 8 months pregnant and was *traumatized*. I was terrified about crowning, completely terrified.

And, for me, crowning didn't hurt a bit. Contractions hurt like a b!tch, but pushing was pretty darn pleasant, and it didn't hurt at all when my baby was born. And I tore, outside and inside my vagina, and had to get stitched up by a surgeon. Still, no pain. My vagina was all stretched out and numb when she came thru.

[ibusymomto5]

I agree with the pp, the crowning and pushing is not the hard part. The part I always dread is transition which thankfully is very short. Pushing feels good in a strange sort of way, and that ring of fire only lasts a very brief moment.. at least for me. Also, the pushing contractions are not painful really, they're much different than the transition ones.

But, I know before I had actually given birth myself I always thought the very worst part MUST be that big baby head coming out of such a tight spot. In reality though it's just not been the case for me and most others I've talked to. Once you get past the ring of fire there's usually a nice, natural numbing effect that happens.

[katie9143]

i watched several water birth vids that my mw gave me and they seemed soooo much less harsh then all the others that i saw where the mom had the baby in a bed or somewhere else out of the water - even in the close up shots. one vid showed women in this see through plexi glass tub which you could see everything and was a great vid - it was called "birth into being" a russian water birth video. and one of the others was called "born in water" i think....try those if you can get your hands on them maybe

[wendyk]

I remember in nursing school seeing a vaginal birth thinking "Well, I don't want to do it THAT way!" Then I saw a C-section and thought "ANd I don't want to do it THAT way either!" Didn't leave myself many options!

Of course, that was years before I had grown this wonderful new life inside my own body. Pregnancy, labor and birth can be such an empowering experience- look at what you're body's already done. It's taken 2 little individual cells, figured out how to join them and grow them into another person.

Your body is made for this- you can do it. Remember that you're watching it without feeling the same things that mom is feeling- both the pain and all those great attachment hormones that come along with birth. I really realized that after my dd was born. To watch a stranger giving birth, it seemed more procedural to me for lack of a better word. For me to watch one now, knowing what she's feeling...OMG, I just cry and re-live dd's birth all over again in a totally positive way. I remember that it hurt, but mostly I remember that the amazement at my body at being able to accomplish that. And how hard I fell in love with dd afterward!