Thoughts on mummyhood....

When I became a Mum, I had no midwives to help me learn to breastfeed. I'd had no birthing classes, no friendly chats with helpful hospital staff. We were in China, I didn't even speak the language. I did force myself to sit through an online clip of a natural birth so I had some  idea of what the heck was going to happen. I religiously read my "What to expect" book, which we had managed to order at a bookstore in Hong Kong while on holiday from mainland China. I was clueless. I had no idea. I did however, have this grand idea in my head that I would have a natural birth  - I had hips, I could push a baby out. No worries.

Wrong!

I ended up having an emergency c-section. Which was scarey... I didn't speak the language and they were sticking a needle in my spine. I did have a teacher from my school (she worked in the nursing department at the college we both taught at) to interpret. She was lovely and so reassuring. Hubby couldn't come in with me... I was exhausted from 12 hours of labour already. A medical person ran a fingernail over my stomach (or something sharp, but not to cut me) and I lost it. I got hysterical... all I could think of was those articles you read "I felt my csection" etc etc... they held a mask over my face and knocked me out.

The reason for this whole spiel was that I felt a bit ripped off. What I expected and what I got were two very very different birth experiences. What followed was 6 days in a chinese hospital, with no shower... 4 days bedridden with a catheter. Once I was released I had to walk the 124 stairs up to our apartment (ouch!).....

A friend of mine found this interview and posted this link on her facebook page.
http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/video/-/watch/28071499/breastapo-under-fire/
I thought I'd share because although my struggle wasn't with breastfeeding, I do understand that many women do struggle with this. My mum had to teach me, based on what she did with us girls. It took a while, it was uncomfy and sometimes yukky. I do understand that when I became a mother I had no idea how competitive it was. So.... I'm sharing this so that we can all see that there are two sides to the story. I wanted a natural birth the first time, and didn't get it. I did get it the second time though. Some women would love to breastfeed, and can't. Others feed for two years with ease. As I enter into the last ten weeks of my pregnancy with Pretzel my plan is for a natural birth, and to breastfeed.... however in the end it does come down to whatever is best for Pretzel and me. Healthy baby, healthy mummy is the end goal.

Thanks for reading!
Dansie