Julie reflected over the events of the past couple of days. And boy were there some events to consider! She held in her arms a beautiful baby boy. Her baby was colicky, yet for the moment he was calm so she was going to consider and revel in what she had accomplished. She gave birth to a baby. Now, it didn’t happen the way she might have originally thought it might. And it unfolded in a way that was comfortable to her.
Yes, looking back, she felt great about each choice that was made throughout the delivery process. She went in thinking that she would have a natural vaginal birth. Why not? She was a strong healthy woman – she could do that. Well, after pushing and pushing for quite some time, the baby was not moving past a certain point. She was glad she had the information about the different sets of circumstances that might come up and how they might be dealt with. When they started talking about adding Potosin and starting an epidural, she wasn’t surprised. It seems like a normal, natural next step. Let’s do that. She didn’t want to get to the c-section option – although she knew she’d deal with that, if necessary. So, let’s get the drugs and the drip. Those helped the process along and Julie felt she was working plenty hard pushing her baby past this part of the canal. And, they did it. Mommy and baby got themselves past that point! No further intervention took place. Julie felt at peace with how things progressed and the decisions that took place along the way. It made sense to her. She’s a rationale person who likes to feel like she’s got the knowledge she needs and can make informed decisions. She didn’t want to be surprised by anything that was suggested in the delivery room – so she knew about what might come up.
I find that the amount of information that women want – about what could possibly arise during the delivery process – varies from person to person. Some, like Julie, want to know what can come up so that they don’t have to try to process something brand new in that moment. Others don’t want to worry ahead of time about what might possibly come up and instead know that they’ll be able to trust their instincts in the moment. And there are others that fall somewhere else along this continuum.
Please join the conversation: Where do you fall on the continuum? Do you want all the information ahead of time? Do you want to take in the necessary information in the moment? What works best for you?
