What I Wish I Knew Before Giving Birth

The best way to prepare for giving birth for the first time is to do research.

You have no idea how your birth is going to go, so knowing what could happen while giving birth can ease your mind.

With that being said, here are five things I wish I had known before I gave birth.

What I Wish I Knew Before Giving Birth

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Giving birth isn’t textbook

No two births are the same.

I heard and read about it many times before giving birth for the first time.

This is the only one on the list that I knew but I’m including it because I didn’t “know know”, if you know what I mean?

Like yea I was told all births are different, but I was also given the average scenario.

I think as a first time mom about to give birth for the first time I just clung to those averages to convince myself I knew what I was getting into.

So my advice to you. Expect the unexpected, but know that you have a team of nurses and doctors who know every scenario and how to get you through it.

You might not feel the urge to push

Granted I did get an epidural and it’s normal to not feel the urge to push because of it, I was very surprised when the doctor came in and told me I could start pushing.

I expected my body would feel that and it would feel like the natural thing to do, but it didn’t.

In my research after, I found that it’s pretty common for first time moms to not feel the urge to push regardless of whether or not the got they epidural.

Related Reading:What I Won’t Do With Baby Number Two

How long it could take to push

Did you know that the average pushing time giving birth is 30 minutes to an hour?

I did!

So imagine my utter confusion, stress, and frustration headed for hour three with what I felt was little progress.

I was so tired and felt like I had no strength left.

It ended up taking me 3 1/2 hours to push my daughter out.

I think not expecting it to take less time would have made me feel so much better in that moment.

My baby was born blue with a low pulse

Apparently this is normal, after being in the birth canal for 3 1/2 hours.

The first thing I remember about my baby being born was having her placed on my chest.

A second later someone says “pulse?” and another says “barely”.

Then I realized shes not crying, she’s taken from me, put on a table, and a mask goes over her face.

All I feel in this moment is sheer terror.

Would knowing that it was normal, considering the circumstances, have made me feel any better in that moment?

I don’t know, but I’d like to think maybe just a little.

I was still in pain after

I’m not looking to scare anyone. We all know giving birth can be painful.

But I think the biggest load of BS I was told was “the second they put your baby on your chest you’ll forget the whole thing”

I was really looking forward to the pain being completely gone after I experienced that ring of fire, but that’s not exactly what happen.

I just remember right as they were putting my baby on my chest, thinking, “OMG what?! Um I’m still pretty uncomfortable right now.”

The pain wasn’t nearly as bad as giving birth but there was still pain until they numbed me to do my stitches.

Takeaways

- Expected the unexpected because no two births are the same
- You don’t always feel the urge to push so trust your doctors
- You may be pushing longer than an hour
- If you push for a long time your baby may be a little in shock at birth