Saturday, October 8, 2011

Women like to relive labor

It's very easy for labor stories to come up when women are around someone who's pregnant.  They start out by sweetly asking how things are going.  Then suddenly they're saying things like this:

"I was in labor on a Monday and I delivered on THURSDAY!"

"I pushed for 10 STRAIGHT HOURS!"

"For 20 hours my contractions were 2 MINUTES APART!"

Even my boss came up to me the other day and told me his sister just had her baby.  "Congratulations," I said.  "He was 9 lbs, 4 oz," he said.  "Ouch."

Actually I prefer to hear the horror stories; I want to be so prepped for the worst that when it comes down to it, I can say "that wasn't so bad" ...

Nope.  I can't imagine myself ever saying "that wasn't so bad" about labor.  I'm pretty sure God saw to that in Genesis 3 - "in pain you will bring forth children."

5 comments:

ashley said...

I didn't make it to the hospital and delivered in my bathroom with my cats watching. :-) There you go! You can do better than that! ;-)

Emily said...

ohhh, ashley. it happens that alisse has recounted your labor story. it is one of the best (and by that i mean 'by far the worst!') i have EVER heard.

Joseph said...

It's hard work for sure, but more of the work than the pain if you have a positive and educated mentality going into it-- that your body was made to do it, that it's a natural, age-old process, and NOT some E.R. freak show. Your body knows best how to have your baby, even better than the medical professionals! Giving birth is a NORMAL thing, and if you can deny or put off the medical interventions (pitocin, epidural, and episotomy), you'll be better off. And be willing to wait as long as possible-- I waited till 42 weeks 2 days for Gunnar. Often when they induce before labor naturally starts, you will have a HORRID LONG MISERABLE labor. If you want to talk more about natural birthing (even in a hospital), email me. I'd be glad to help get you informed as much as possible before this girl shows up!

Joseph said...

OOPS-- that was me, Blythe. Joseph was logged in accidentally!

Annemarie said...

At least the prize for however your labor will be is a sweet baby! It really does make it all worth it....no matter how it goes!