lucky~

last week i had attended a discussion group with a few new mothers in the neighbourhood, we did some sharings about our pregnancy and birth experience; i knew i was lucky, i was told that i was lucky by everyone around me, but i do need to conclude that i'm indeed real lucky after i've attended the discussion!

i've never won any lotteries or grand prizes, but i do need to thank god that i've had probably the best and most comfortable pregnancy and birth experience.

to make it short, there was no morning sickness, nausea, or any discomfort throughout the 8 months (well, kaylee was born a month early!), and even so, induction was done, epidural was used at the very end so i didn't have to be catheterized, labour was about 5 hours and kaylee was pushed out in about 10 to 15 minutes.......

i guess the worst part about the birth was getting checked by the female OB who was on duty....... i literally felt like i was raped by her hand!  nevertheless, she delivered kaylee and we are both well!  i guess a male OB would probably be a bit more gentle... but it's all good!

and most importantly....... i'm back in shape in like... a week?  i was able to fit into my size S hollister after 12 days!  i guess this should be more amazing than winning a lottery, seriously! (i still remembered how hard i've tried to lose just a few pounds of the baby fat in my high school years, and seemed like mission impossible, and obviously, i was worried that i'd gain like 70 lbs during pregnancy! --> btw, that's what my hubby thought too... -_-!)

and so, i met these other new moms, they all looked great!  but i guess not so great about their birth experience...

one mom shared her experience, her son is about 3 months old now, but it took quite some time for this little guy to come!  her labour started with contractions, went to the hospital, waited and waited to be fully dilated to deliver her boy... she waited 2 days before her boy was ready to be delivered!  so... imagine labour pain for 2 days...

this other mom had a rather short labour, about a few hours, but it took her 2 hours to push her boy out!  and the most terrible and painful thing was...... her epidural was shut off before delivery and she had 12 stitches after...... without the magic of anesthetic, she felt everything!

and this young mom, who lived in scarborough, moved to her boyfriend's place before her due date and her baby boy decided to come a little early, so her water broke in the middle of the night and so she called the nearest hospital, she was advised to go back to sleep and wait, because she was not dilated well enough to be admitted to the hospital, and even so, unfortunately, the closest hospital refused to admit her because she was not registered to that hospital.  so she had to get a ride back to the hospital in scarborough, where she was initially registered with, which is about 60km away, in the middle of the night, in labour!

apart from having to be reminded of painful experiences, it is indeed a good opportunity for new moms to participate and be supported by each other at this kind of discussion groups!

everyone has their own unique and memorable birth experiences, but we often think, why do these bundles of joy always come together with so much pain?  isn't that a bit contradicting?

perhaps we should always remind ourselves that, life doesn't come easy, we all need to go through the pain to come to the joy!