When I was a pregnant my sister in law gave me a
badge. It read ‘Only positive birth stories please’. She’s a strong advocate of
hypnobirthing, a practice that encourages changing the thinking around labour
and delivery and focusing on the experience as an overwhelmingly good one. I
appreciated the gesture, although I wasn’t deeply anxious about giving birth of
course I had questions, many questions.
A curious thing happened when I asked those around me
to share their positive stories, I got nothing, nada, a big, old, fat jam
doughnut with no jam in it. Sometimes, infuriatingly, someone would start to
tell me about their labour only to back off quickly and refuse to say more when
pressed. The less people told me, the more my anxiety grew. What exactly did
happen in that room?
The women around me were trying to be protective but
bizarrely it made me feel lonely, like they were part of some super cool club that
I was not allowed access to. If you are my friend, if I’m allowed to share a
toilet cubicle with you or put you to bed after you’ve had too many WKD’s, you
can tell me about one of the most significant experiences of your life. I was
reminded of this time whilst reading he post Kirsten from Guilt Free Guide
shared at last week’s linky, ‘Are You Honest?’
I think we can work out a way to be open and still be
caring. You can be honest with me about your experiences of motherhood without
making it sound like a journey to middle earth and if actually it was a crazy,
traumatic mess you can tell me that too because even if I haven’t got there
yet, I want to be here to support you.
So spill your guts! Please share the lessons you have
learned from parenthood, particularly the mysterious world of pregnancy and
labour. You might think it kind to hold it all in but it’s much kinder not too.
The rules are link up to two posts. They can be old or new, long or short , as long as they're #fromtheheart. Don't forget to add the badge and send a tweet to @moderatemum and @JulieGDutra cos we want to share the love.
The rules are link up to two posts. They can be old or new, long or short , as long as they're #fromtheheart. Don't forget to add the badge and send a tweet to @moderatemum and @JulieGDutra cos we want to share the love.
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