We are a few weeks out since the birth of our amazing baby. Over the last few weeks, I have had a lot of time and sleepless nights to think over the rollercoaster that is childbirth. In fact, I am sat writing this post at 4am in the morning after a night feed and a bout of insomnia. Before the birth of our baby, people were constantly throwing their own scenarios at me, and I was left confused and pretty anxious.

So, in this post I am going to share some of the things that I knew prior to going into the hospital. Positive and challenging things that I would have liked when I went into the room to deliver our baby.

 

 

Birth recovery was not the worst thing in the world.

I was pretty nervous about the post-recovery from birth. People were telling me it feels like they had been hit by a truck. Now, I am not denying that it was incredibly taxing on the body and the recovery hasn’t been easy, but it hasn’t been the worse thing in the world. There have been hurdles, but I wouldn’t even say that it is the most painful thing in the world. Whether having my baby helps to outweigh the pain, I don’t know. It hasn’t been easy, but there are more difficult things out there. Especially with my having a c-section, I was under the impression that the pain would be immeasurable, but it has honestly been fine.

 

The high levels of emotions.

I knew that birth would make me experience a high level of emotions. However, I wasn’t quite prepared for the roller coaster that I would go through. There were some days when I was on an absolute high. Especially when I was in the hospital, the highs were incredible, and I felt like I could take on the world. But on the opposite end of the scale, there are the immense lows. Thankfully, I have an amazing husband to mellow me out and I really needed that at times. And don’t get me wrong, the lows have been rather comical. I cry over the smallest of things and even I can look at it and see that I am acting completely irrational. One day I will look back and laugh about the rollercoaster that I was on,

 

Instinct really did snap into action.

I got worried when people used to say that instinct would snap into action, and I would just know what to do. My fear was that instinct wouldn’t snap into action for me. What if something happened and I didn’t know what to do? But it is completely true. As soon as that little baby was placed onto me, I knew what to do. It is something truly feral within and I feel like there was a distinct moment where everything snapped into position.

 

The love I felt for my husband.

There is no denying that I have always adored my husband. I have gushed about him numerous times here on my site. He is a good guy. But seeing him as a father unleashed a new love within me that I didn’t know was possible. Seeing the man of my dreams, holding the baby that we created together does things to me that I cannot even begin to describe. Speaking to him, it also seems like the same happened to him. When he saw me going through hell to deliver our baby, a new, deeper love formed between us. How disgustingly lovely?

 

The midwives were not what I expected.

I am probably the last one out of my friendship group to have a baby. Because of that, everybody let me know their horror stories and each of them described to me how terrible the midwives were at the hospital. They were rude, didn’t listen and even to a degree neglected the patient. I was expecting them to be like Ms Trunchbull. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. As with everybody, treat people how you wish to be treated. Show them respect and you will get it back. Also, go into the hospital with a can-do attitude. You have one job to do and that is to get the baby out. Try your fucking hardest and they will be on your side.

 

It was all much less challenging than I thought.

Again, I think this is something that people wanted to scare me with. The whole, ‘your life will never be the same again’, kind of thing. The truth is, I wanted my life to change, that is why I had my baby. But people said this to me in such a way that having my baby would be negative. In just a few short weeks I have changed into such a different person. A better person. It has been a hell of a lot of change, but every minute of it has been a dream.

 

As always, I hope you guys enjoyed his post. These are just a few things that I wish I had known before delivering our amazing baby. The last few weeks have been like a dream come true and I still pinch myself that we are here today with our miracle baby. What you guys need to remember if you are pregnant or planning on conceiving, the birth experience will be what you make of it. There may be complications but ensure that you are going in with a positive attitude to get you through what will without a doubt be one of the most physically demanding things that you have ever done. Make sure to leave me a comment and update me with anything that you think I should add to this post.