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Celebrity pregnancies sure make flutters. Sometimes it gets excessive. In the middle of all the prego business, if a celebrity makes her fears about an imminent delivery vocal (like Kim Kardashian, who let the world know about her delivery horrors), I heave a sigh of relief. Honestly. It just goes to pinch me that they are mortal women – like us all. They too are blood, flesh, and bones; and they too feel the pain. Ah! I am not alone then! Definitely not when I want to say that I am afraid of pregnancy, going into labor and producing children eventually. In saying that I enjoy pregnancy when I don’t, is being a hypocrite. I have no business in leading other women to believe what is not true and have them follow the crowd into saying, “It’s the most beautiful episode of life.”
Seriously not.
To begin with, the existing literature on the internet, the online communities for pregnant women and the media laden with tales of deliveries horrified me. Not to mention the story of this girl whose mother was a gynaecologist, so she thought it was good to expose her 14-year-old girl to the spine-chilling process. She was made to witness a delivery and ending up deciding she didn’t want to get pregnant in her lifetime – if that served the doctor well, in the first place! A myriad of stories followed. Plus the delivery scenes masochistically shot for films – sure the actresses know how to pull that off. Everything put together would first bring up the terrors of the labor ordeal in the delivery room.
Not just these. Every symptom discussed online would sink into the subconscious. Braxton-Hicks? OK, I have it! Loose stools? There you go! A migraine? Oh, didn’t I think I had one just the previous night? Twitches, palpitations, or what not. How on earth did I know these existed in the first place! Yes, the internet can be creepy if you let it take a toll on you.
The big day arrived after all. Nine months of trepidation was going to culminate into something after all. I looked radiant. My mother mistook the sweat of anxiety for courage. Or may be it was her way of helping me build confidence. She advised, “Just follow the doctors. If they ask you to push, just push.” Was popping out a baby that easy? Correction – you don’t push. You break yourself. You fracture your bones, tear your tissues, you feel all the wrath of God has flooded over you at one time. If you are a little intellectual, you start cursing Eve – who pioneered motherhood. And to the already existing fears, there started building up more:
1. What If I Don’t Reach The Hospital In Time
Did you also think you were going to deliver in the back seat of your car? Allay such fears if it’s your first pregnancy as labor does not progress quickly in first-time pregnancies. It’s good to keep your doctor posted on any signs you might be showing so you can head out of the door before it’s too late.
2. What If Your Doctor Doesn’t Arrive In Time
There is always a support staff and a team of doctors. So even if your doctor hasn’t arrived (in a rare event), you shouldn’t panic. The team of doctors is always there on a rotation basis to attend to the cases. It might as well be that your regular doctor has assigned his colleague to take up your case. In an event of your doctor getting caught up in traffic, his team is around to help you in the meanwhile.
3. Fear Of Epidural
Discuss with your doctor ahead of time if you will want an epidural. The factsheets of epidural may scare you with the possible side-effects. Numbness and vigorous shaking as an aftereffect scare many women. But the side-effects are rare.
4. Fear Of A C-Section
Doctors are well-qualified to perform the section. Should there be a necessity, they will perform the section while maintaining all the necessary protocol. However, you must take good care of yourself following the C-section.
5. Fear Of Pain
No matter what you do, this fear keeps mounting. You Lamaze classes would have gone with the wind. Breathing helps enormously during labor. Don’t focus on the pain, but on labor breathing. Talk to your doctor for the short or long acting narcotics available. Believe in the labor support team that is by your side.
A friend once said, “You will not have to take the pain of childbirth beyond the point of endurance.” I agree women have this sort of strength. Eventually, it’s strength that helps us cope with all the fears in the delivery room. Just challenge them head-on.
