The Bozeman Birth Center is a beautiful, wonderful place!
It’s different for every person, that’s for sure, but I have to say: I’m pretty much sure I had the perfect birth experience with Baby Caveman.
Today the little monster and I took a walk to the birth center to visit my midwife and the office staff. It’d been a while since we’d been there and I thought it would be a good idea to show him off again. While I was there they gave me a copy of all the records they kept for me and Baby Caveman. On the way home, I flipped through the papers and read some of the midwife and nurse’s notes.
It’s only been six months, but I’d already forgotten how wonderful the experience really was. I was in labor for over 25 hours – which some people think is AWFUL – but really was not bad at all. Baby Caveman and I had a nice, easy water birth with Geek Husband there at my side. Then we got some time to hang out, just the three of us. My midwife and nurse were wonderful; they did all the necessary tests and stuff, but while being totally unobtrusive. Baby Caveman never left my side for a second. Seriously, I could not have asked for a better experience.
When you are pregnant, people seem to love telling horrific birth stories. Go to a childbirth forum online and it almost seems like it’s a contest to see who can tell the worst story – who experienced the most pain, who had the longest labor, whose doctor was the biggest jerk, blah blah blah, the pain! the horror!
While I was pregnant with Baby Caveman, I made it very clear to people that I didn’t want to hear any negative birth experiences. Some people honored that request and only told me their positive experiences, or held their tongue if they didn’t have one. But some people called me naive and told me I needed to hear the terrible things that could happen. They insisted I listen to their negativity so I could be prepared.
I’m going to be honest here: when people did that, I completely ignored them. Maybe their intentions were good, sure, but I still didn’t want to hear it. So I let them yammer on and went somewhere else in my head. Strangely, nobody ever commented on the glazed-over look my eyes got.
(I understand that some women don’t have as nice an experience as I do, and I am not criticizing or looking down on those who do, so please don’t think I am. I am just sharing my experience here.)
One Comment
You were so lucky to have such an amazing experience. I have to say that my first was the most beautiful experience by far. I hope you continue to have such an amazing time with the next babies to join your family!