Day 5: Your Proudest Moment
There are many exciting moments you will experience as a parent. As you watch your child grow, you gradually begin to see their own personality blossom, slowly but surely shaping them into the person they’re going to be. This remarkable process, although painfully unavoidable, is truly an amazing privilege to have; you brought this tiny little human into the world and now you get to watch as they put all your lessons and wisdom to use. As a mother, I often find myself thinking how amazing it is that this human being came from me. Isn’t that something? My body is capable of creating an entirely new person; an individual with her own thoughts, feelings and emotions.
When I first found out that I was pregnant, I admit I was a little scared. (But then again, if you aren’t least a little freaked out when receiving life-changing news like this, you may just be a bit crazy 😉 ) After the initial shock had subsided, though, I was overjoyed. I began to think about which names I liked, eager to know if nine long months would be spent waiting for a daughter or a son. Everything was bliss. Until, unfortunately, the morning sickness kicked in at about 8 weeks and lasted all the way through to the third trimester! Lucky me, right? (All completely worth it, of course. )
As I neared the end of my pregnancy, Michael and I started to discuss birth plans and what we wanted to do when the time came. We both seemed to agree that we wanted to give it our all and go natural. With both of our moms each having all c-section births, I really didn’t have any idea what was to be expected with this method. All I knew was that it was gonna hurt. A lot. Knowing this, Michael and I came up with a “safe word” to use just in case I ended up needing the drugs to help me out. Only we knew what it was and we decided that if I didn’t use it, then I didn’t actually want them. (Because I can honestly say now, when you’re in labor, you never know what’s gonna come out of your mouth!) And in case you were wondering, the safe word was “pineapple”.
On the morning of my due date, I was pleasantly surprised by my water breaking! We grabbed the hospital and diaper bags and were on our way. (I had been sure to have everything ready beforehand so we would be good and prepared.) When we got to the hospital, we were in triage for a couple hours before I started having any real contractions. By that point, I had already been moved to my room and was able to get nice and comfy in the bed. That was when things got interesting. My somewhat mild cramps began to turn into intense, stabbing pains that made me double over and just completely “lose my cool” as I like to say. Everyone’s voices around me started to fade out as I started to drift into what felt like my own little world; so focused and in pain that everything around me was just blocked out completely. The one thing I remember most clearly was barking at Michael to rub my lower back over and over and over again. He told me afterward that his wrist was sore for like a week because he was pushing so hard, haha.
Hours passed as I pushed through each and every unbearable contraction, the only thing on my mind being this will all be worth it once I get to hold my daughter in my arms. Finally, it was time. There was so much pressure, I knew she was right there, ready to come out and meet everyone. With Michael on my one side, my mom on the other, and my sister on the bench in the corner, the doctor and all the nurses came in and told me to push. I’ll spare you the details but in all honesty, this was the easiest part for me. I had already come this far and now all I had to do was push and she would be here with me. There’s no going back now! All it took was two good pushes, and that was that. I managed to pull myself up just enough to see a tiny pink blur being taken over to the table to be cleaned up. (She had pooped, go figure!) After a few moments, one of the nurses came over to me and my brand new baby was placed onto my chest. And I was a mother.
I shared this experience as my proudest moment because I just think it’s so amazing what a woman’s body is capable of. And to be able to say that I did it 100% naturally makes me feel extremely accomplished. Now, I know that not everyone is capable of having a natural birth and that is okay! No matter what your experience was like, you get a gold star in my book for just bringing life into the world. For carrying a tiny human being in your body and providing for all their needs before your own. It’s certainly something to be proud of. <3