By the time your due date arrives you would be well aware how the series of events are going to unfold on that day. We now have internet, which has laid bare all that was kept from us by the doctors. We even have research papers to understand those sophisticated medical terms and really not understand much out of it in the end.
Keeping everything aside, there are still few things that nobody else but your experience teaches you. No matter, how much read through pregnancy blogs or buy pregnancy guidebooks, you will still miss on some piece of information.
There are some things about labor and birth that you have known, which may now turn out to be wrong. Gather some more information here.
1. Water Breaking Happens Once And For All
Some women perceive water breaking as a sudden gush of fluids from their vagina like how they show it on TV. First of all, only a few women experience water breaking before their labor—usually, the amniotic fluid leaks after the labor starts.
Many feel it as a trickle or a repeated gush of warm fluid moving out of the vagina when they sit or do a sudden activity. You would be wetting your clothes and there may be a few drops of blood in the discharge. Don’t worry, reach the hospital as early as possible.
2. Contractions Are Like Period Cramps, Only More Intense
It would surely be a relief reading this one on the internet. Period cramps are a monthly affair, anything more intense falls under the range of ‘bearable pain’ but hey if we can manage menstrual cramps, contractions demand only a little more endurance.
Your contractions might start with cramps, they will turn into squeezing and squishing sensations as your labor will progress from stage 1 to stage 2.
3. Things Get Easier Post-Epidural
Contractions could be the hardest part but after an epidural, you may feel great! Maybe curse yourself for not asking for it beforehand. However, the time you are under the effect of epidural is when you can actually rest. After your epidural wears down, the ‘pushing session’ will begin—it could get exhausting to the point that you might be on the verge of passing out.
Rest while you are on the epidural and conserve your energy—you will need it later.
4. Your Husband Won’t Look Between Your Legs
You might have decided that your husband won’t be peeping down there and look at your lady bits while you are birthing your baby, but it won’t just be him. There would be a whole medical staff including nurses, care provides, the doctor or midwife, basically a whole team staring between your legs.
Though it really depends on the hospital type and the duration of the delivery, you won’t really mind it pertaining to the situation you would be in, pushing the baby out with all your might and not caring even slightly about the world.
5. You Will Have A Control Over Your Bodily Functions
If this is what you think, you are absolutely wrong. Puking, pooping, farting, shivering—you won’t have any control on these few things for the beginning. It might sound disgusting when you imagine yourself on the delivery bed developing one of these symptoms. However, know that it is normal during delivery—your caretakers are accustomed to handling it.
6. It Is All Over After Delivery
The whole process of childbirth doesn’t end at delivering the baby—it is followed by the contractions which you experience when the body expels the placenta. You will feel the contractions yet again, after delivering the placenta. This is when your uterus is contracting to its earlier size and position to prevent the loss of excess blood from the body. The contractions that you feel are called afterpains.
7. In The End, It Is All Worth It
This one truly remains a fact. The long hours of labor, pain, contractions, and exhaustion are all worth it. Even as you read it, you may not be able to perceive it until the time you give birth and experience the bliss yourself.
Holding your baby for the first time after the grueling process of birth is exhilarating and equally contenting.
