Sometimes the Trite is True
Jun. 5th, 2013 11:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blairmacgMy characters are specifically barred from being subjects of this answer. If I let them have their way, they'd do nothing but blather on about how many horrible things I subject them to for the purpose of the story. That they'd be right is entirely beside the point.
I considered this question for a bit (and found it a little unsettling to realize I had numerous instances to compare and contrast), but concluded that the most accurate answer is also the one most expected, unto the point of cliché, for a mother.
Childbirth.
By the sixth month of my pregnancy, my midwife and I knew the birth might not go smoothly. Hip dysplasia does complicate such things, and I was already having trouble walking. Because I carried Dev so low, there was fear I'd deliver too early, and I was placed on modified bed rest. Alas, Dev was two weeks late.
Still, my first desire was for natural, drug-free childbirth. When labor started in earnest, my hips didn't properly spread and relax for the birth even though labor went from zero to fully dilated in about five hours. The contractions kept coming, like sledgehammers on iron doors. I remember my vision going black, then exploding into white light, over and over. I passed out at some point, only to awaken to another contraction and talk of my baby's erratic heartbeat.
The decision was made to prep me for an emergency C-section. The first attempt at an epidural failed. The second attempt worked. Within a few minutes I came back to myself enough to look around the room, tell folks they looked exhausted, and suggest they go get sandwiches or something. I spent about two minutes on the phone with Patricia, who was calling from London to see how things were progressing. I loved my epidural.
Then I told the midwife I could still feel the contractions, but not the horrendous pain, and asked if I could try pushing. Not long after, Dev was born.
I'd been told to expect a great deal of discomfort after childbirth--to have trouble walking, sitting, getting up and down. My experience was quite the opposite. I'd had chronic hip pain for months. Without the pressure of the baby sitting on my pelvic floor, I felt marvelous.
And thus Dev is an only child.
Crossposted here.
For more 30-Day Challenge fun, check out![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
spaceintheway. And if you want to jump in, feel free to start at any point, or just answer the questions that interest you.
I considered this question for a bit (and found it a little unsettling to realize I had numerous instances to compare and contrast), but concluded that the most accurate answer is also the one most expected, unto the point of cliché, for a mother.
Childbirth.
By the sixth month of my pregnancy, my midwife and I knew the birth might not go smoothly. Hip dysplasia does complicate such things, and I was already having trouble walking. Because I carried Dev so low, there was fear I'd deliver too early, and I was placed on modified bed rest. Alas, Dev was two weeks late.
Still, my first desire was for natural, drug-free childbirth. When labor started in earnest, my hips didn't properly spread and relax for the birth even though labor went from zero to fully dilated in about five hours. The contractions kept coming, like sledgehammers on iron doors. I remember my vision going black, then exploding into white light, over and over. I passed out at some point, only to awaken to another contraction and talk of my baby's erratic heartbeat.
The decision was made to prep me for an emergency C-section. The first attempt at an epidural failed. The second attempt worked. Within a few minutes I came back to myself enough to look around the room, tell folks they looked exhausted, and suggest they go get sandwiches or something. I spent about two minutes on the phone with Patricia, who was calling from London to see how things were progressing. I loved my epidural.
Then I told the midwife I could still feel the contractions, but not the horrendous pain, and asked if I could try pushing. Not long after, Dev was born.
I'd been told to expect a great deal of discomfort after childbirth--to have trouble walking, sitting, getting up and down. My experience was quite the opposite. I'd had chronic hip pain for months. Without the pressure of the baby sitting on my pelvic floor, I felt marvelous.
And thus Dev is an only child.
Crossposted here.
For more 30-Day Challenge fun, check out
spaceintheway. And if you want to jump in, feel free to start at any point, or just answer the questions that interest you.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2013-06-05 04:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-06-07 04:24 am (UTC)I still get teased about offering everyone in the delivery room sandwiches. :)
no subject
Date: 2013-06-05 11:40 pm (UTC)The instructions for this question are "What is the greatest amount of physical pain you have ever endured" and I think 'endured' is the key word here- it encompasses the perception of pain as much as its experience. The gall bladder pain, empirically, probably wasn't more than childbirth, but I perceived it as far, far worse.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-07 04:27 am (UTC)And gall bladder pain is *awful.* Few things compare.
Pain Endured
Date: 2013-06-06 01:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-06-06 04:36 pm (UTC)Apparently it was kind of disturbing to watch me from the outside, as one of the first things that shut down was my interest in bothering to say anything but "ow," and so I looked a whole lot more out of it than I was. I didn't get as far as sparkly vision or anything, though, fortunately.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-07 04:31 am (UTC)Ron (Dev's father, present at the birth from start to finish) said that the sound of my moaning was the most unnerving thing he'd ever heard. He claimed he'd have felt better if I screamed, but I do doubt that.