Reassure me please

Linelle..you will be just fine. It does hurt. But its a hurt that you know will go away and you get a big reward at the end!!

This is my second baby and to say the least I am freaking out (and I have done it all before and have an idea about what to expect)What I do now is tell myself everyday that our bodies are meant for this and made for this and that I can do it. And I believe this time around that our minds are powerful things when it comes to handling pain. Remember too that endorphins are our bodies natural pain relief and we learnt the other day that as our pain increases so does the "natural painkillers" so just when you think you cant go on you get another burst of those little things and it spurs you on!! I remember in the old days from my Granmother and people like that all they had was a shot of gin or rum!! They did it all naturally too!

The old saying "mind over Matter" I think plays a big part!!.

Hehe, I don't know whether it was worse first time round not knowing what to expect, or worse this time now that I have some idea what it's going to be like!

In saying that, I had the most horrible labour with Maya - similar to Roksana's in that it was long and I had no painkillers until 36 hours in, but the actual birth part wasn't so bad and was actually over really quickly.

I think it helped that my mw told me that they wouldn't let me labour longer than 12 hours, so I just kept thinking "this will all be over really soon". Of course she lied, and it was actually over 40 hours, but it gave me something to focus on.

I've not been there yet, Linelle, so I'm not going to offer any "advice" since I'm sure it'd end up being something I'd change after the event!!  But I was thinking, if birthing in a hospital would make you feel more at ease about it, could you choose that instead of a birthing unit?  I'm the opposite - want a birthing unit but we don't have the option here.  If booking into a hospital (and therefore the option of drugs if you change your mind and want them) is reassuring, why not? 

Ah ! Yes, should have mentioned the sense of relief - it is absolute and immediate, and so so HUGE and fulfilling... you will feel SO good straight after, I know I did ! That was all I could say for the first couple of minutes actually, "Wow, I feel SO much better now!" LOL And then it was broken record styles of "Oh my god, I just did that !" and "Look at how perfect she is !!"

Linelle I feel the same - gettign a little freaked out now as the time comes closer... but I just keep thinking of all teh women who have done it and then gotten pregnant all over again, sometimes many times again... that to me says that if it is bad then then "badness" of it is totally outwieghed by the prize at the end...I am just going to try and concentrate on how exciting it will be to meet this baby, I am not goign to think about the rest just the moment she is here and it is all over... I really want that moment of relief that everyone has talked about!

YOU WILL BE FINE, I WILL BE FINE, WE ARE ALL SCARED BUT IT WILL BE OVER BEFORE WE KNOW IT!

Ull do great chick its surprising how much you can handle, i didnt have any drugs, the gas didnt work for me and 22 hours later i gave birth to a big baby lol Everyone has their own way of getting through it, i found the breathing really effective till i got to the end of transition and thats when i started vocalising, just dont let yourself freak out and make sure you try and relax through the contractions (as hard as that sounds) but u will do great

I did the same thing...and then had huge giggling fits about how i "grew" a penis.

She made a boy... a boy has a penis... therefore Liz "grew" a penis.

I love that I've been on here so long that I get Liz's twisted sense of humour

yes i vaguely remember Nikki going all clucky a while back.. and each timea newbies arrives on the scene. lol. and all of us do the same.. you get to about a year after having bubs and think "i want another one" - hence why most of our kiddies are about the same ages, we go in batches - other people start trying and you get those thoughts that maybe you might want one too. (i went through that a while ago.. and still in the last few days have thought a little, maybe since i have now stopped feeding ayja and i thought to myself, "i will never get to do this again") and all of that because you forget about it and just want that beautiful little bundle again.. now that yours is a moving demolition squealing grommet.. lol.. (you also forget that new babies are just as nasty sometimes in their own sleep-depriving ways) until you get to about 7 months of the pregnancy and realise that firstly you have to go through labour again, and second now you will have two little squealing pooing demolition mess-machines in a very short amount of time.

I ramble i know.

Edited by mum2paris

still hanging in there deb - hows it all going.. everything set for you home birth?