The Realities of Motherhood: Birth Stories
When I started the @thisisrealmom project, I set out to document everyday realities of motherhood. I was inspired by my own struggles, especially when it comes to expectations vs. reality. Here are some stories from myself as well as other mothers who can also relate to the struggle that is #matrescence (the journey to become a mother) I hope others can find inspiration through our stories of #realmomlife…
From @thisisrealmom: I was crying hysterically telling my husband that the baby was never going to come and how I had never felt so hopeless before. I had been having contractions 10 minutes apart all day, and when I went to lay down they completely stopped. This had been happening for days, so I started to believe that my body just didn’t know how to birth a child. He calmed me down and re-assured me that the baby was going to come, and that I just needed to continue to be patient. Read the full story here.
Also from @thisisrealmom (a second birth story) My blood pressure had been climbing up with the low number hovering in the high 80s and they had a protein level come back high so my midwife decided to diagnose me with mild preeclampsia at 40 weeks. (Although at my 5W PP visit she couldn’t confirm that this was my diagnosis…I’m still a little bitter/frustrated about how this all played out…) This meant that after my 40 week appointment I had to go straight to the hospital for an induction. Read the full story here.
From @tinytoesandcheerios: There is a lot that people will tell you when you’re expecting a baby and there are some things kept quiet and left for the new mom to figure out on her own. Looking back, I would pay someone to be honest with me about how hard breastfeeding can be. If I was a little more enlightened, maybe, just maybe, I would have been less of a mess during the 5 week period it took my son to breastfeed successfully. Read the full story here.
From @todays_little_moments: Expectations can be a horrible thing. We all have them and I for one certainly had them when I was pregnant with my first little girl. Everything was going to go smoothly. I was going to be strong, and I most certainly was NOT going to use medicine. (This was mostly because of my fear of needles and the idea of my body being numb!) Well the day came, and my sweet girl had to be induced. Read the full story here.
from @travelprayloveblog: This photo was taken about an hour after my son was born. December 24th, 2016. He looks like perfection. And he was. But his birth wasn’t.
An emergency c-section brought my beautiful baby boy into this world and it was anything but perfect. It was messy. And scary. And not at all how I had hoped it would be, After almost a full 22 hours of labor, my dilation stalled at 9cm. I begged with the midwife to give me a little more time…I had envisioned this moment for months, years even, and not once did I picture a c-section. Read the full story here.
From @lovetobeamom.official: I was very naïve when I started my journey into motherhood. Yes, I was young, but I was also not well prepared. I knew that it might not all be cuddles and oohs and ahhs, but there was so much more to parenting than what I was told. Read the full story here.
From @professional_momma: After having a difficult pregnancy, I was hoping for an uneventful birth. I envisioned my family surrounding me as I welcomed my daughter into the world. I knew that giving birth would be one of the hardest things I would do in my life, but I could never imagine my journey. From the time I checked into the hospital for a scheduled induction, my birthing journey was the opposite of uneventful! It took two nurses, an extended amount of time to even start my IV. I also developed preeclampsia and had to receive immediate treatment which delayed the induction process. Read the full story here.
From a friend who recently had a baby: I hope this isn’t too much information but… Read the full story here.