I had a little panic attack this week. I realised that I’ll be officially full term in eight weeks (but not due for 12), and I am completely unprepared for the reality of giving birth.
Last time I did classes. This time, I haven’t even opened up the glossy 152 page brochure, Having a Baby, kindly given out by NSW Health.
I entered in to a little panic-buying this week so now have the bassinet and nappy bag sorted, but don’t get me started on mental preparation. I’ve picked up some flyers about hypnotherapy, but have I made any enquiries? Nope.
Perhaps I’m over-thinking things. What is there to know? There are two ways for the baby to come out and both will probably hurt. I’m booked in to go the hippie route in a birth centre and I know that gas and hot water provided lots of relief last time.
The birth classes we undertook at the hospital last time were pretty daggy but covered the fundamentals, even if they did involve role-play with a knitted placenta. They were especially useful for the blokes, many of whom hadn’t picked up a book and didn’t know anything about the three stages of labour or how they could give their partner comfort with a back massage.
As for specific breathing and relaxation exercises, a new study released this week suggested that they may not make any difference to a woman’s perception of pain, nor decrease the amount of epidural requests.
When we printed that story in Strollerderby this week we received some negative comments from people who claimed that childbirth could indeed be painless, if only there wasn’t the “culture of fear” around the birthing process.
What I want to know is, what is wrong with pain? If there’s at least one thing I can take in to this birth, it’s the certain knowledge that the pain will end. You just have to find a way to get through it.
What I want this time is to have a faster labour (but not too fast!) and avoid being strapped to a bed and forced to birth on my back. So, an epidural’s probably out if the question.
The really scary thing about birth, is that unless youre having an elective c-section you don’t know when it’s going to happen or how long it will go for. If your baby will be born healthy or have a condition not able to be picked up on ultrasound. If breastfeeding will come easily, if you’ll be forced to share a room with anotehr mum with an endless procession of noisy guests, if the food will be any good. For someone with control-freak tendencies, that’s a lot of unknowns.
So I guess it’s all about surrender. Letting yourself go with the flow. Time to dust off that copy of Juju Sundin’s Birth Skills and get reading – you can guess what I’ll be doing this long weekend.
I too am booked into our local birth centre but as a first timer I am a little scared of the whole process…trying to educate myself and stay positive but it’s all a bit overwhelming and scary.