Or at least what they didn't tell me. They told me about the importance of physical exercise during pregnancy, the signs and phases of labor, caring for the baby, etc. but not from the emotions, how was i going to feel, or how important it was be prepared for what you do not expect or even imagine.
Birth plan
There is something that they did not tell me about in the childbirth preparation workshop, but that fortunately I discovered thanks to the fact that I shared my pregnancy with a group of pregnant moms, and it is the birth plan. The birth plan is write your birth, how you want it to be, dreamy: "A document in which the woman can express her preferences, needs, wishes and expectations about the labor and delivery process", as stated in the Labor and Birth Plan of the Ministry of Health. Developing your birth plan gives you security, confidence that everything will be - within medical possibilities - as you want it to be.
The things that I never told you
I wrote my birth plan after reading, thinking, evaluating options, etc. Still, if I look back, I think that no one had told me in my preparation for delivery:
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Things may not turn out the way you want them to, maybe the way you haven't even imagined they can turn out
I will tell you about my personal experience: I did prenatal yoga, a labor and delivery workshop, I knew mechanisms on how to live with pain and overcome it, I did not want an epidural, I wanted a natural birth ... and I experienced an induced labor, a process of XNUMX hours, epidural, adrenaline, almost complete dilation, an emergency cesarean section and I couldn't feel skin to skin with my baby after birth due to medical reasons. It's not that no one told me that this could be so - that no one told me - it's that I could never have even imagined it.
It is not about going to your delivery prepared for the tragedy, but if you are aware that things may not turn out as you expect, it is easier to adapt to adversity in the moment and handle it in an emotionally healthy way.
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Childbirth is the most beautiful moment of your life
Everyone talks about pain ("oh, how it hurts!"), Of experiences like the ones I have recounted for over sixteen hours, of contractions, the uncomfortable situation ... but despite the regrets, childbirth is the most beautiful moment of your life because it is the natural process to get to know your baby. Live it intensely, enjoy it. You have taken care of your baby for nine months inside you, and in just a few hours you will be hugging outside the skin, skin to skin.
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It is important that the person you love accompany you during labor
Whether it is your partner, your mother, your brother, your friend ... it is important that you take the hand of the person you love and scream, and squeeze it very hard, to give you strength, encouragement, kisses ... In short, it is important not to be alone. I imagine that at this point there are different opinions about it, but for me it was very nice to be able to shout "I love you!"
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Breastfeeding is information, not chance
I remember that in the childbirth preparation workshop I attended they asked us: "How many of you want to breastfeed?" I didn't understand it, I thought it was a rhetorical question, but no, you had to raise your hand. Then a talk about breastfeeding began in which they talked to us about "colostrum", "rising milk", "natural birth vs. cesarean section ', etc .; They didn't tell me about "grip" or postures, for example. I had read quite a bit when I got to the hospital, fortunately, and I honestly think that the key to my success, our breastfeeding was (and is) information. And information is not just reading, it is also seeking help, support, asking questions, asking to have your grip looked at, etc. No, it is not about luck.
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Your life turns the moment your baby is born
Whole, rotate; It turns because at that moment you stop being "you" to be "us". And yes, some phrase of this type is heard during pregnancy: they tell you that «a child changes your life», which to me sounded like many nights without sleep, but no (well, yes, nights without I carry a lot of sleep on my back), but it is the magic that motherhood makes you grow, strengthen your values, fight for your baby with the strength of a pride of lionesses, that he / she be the epicenter, love deeply, that The nicest thing that ever happened to you is for your baby to say "Mom."
