8 of 14

Write now Article Tools

Page 3 of 3

two feet of my breasts, and heaven help anyone who accidentally brushed against me. There were two spots of raw, exposed nerve endings sitting on the ends of my breasts. They could feel every heartbeat, breath of wind, (through my clothes!) every jarring footstep, and each shift of my shirt. It was like carrying fire under my skin for nine months. Thankfully it went away almost immediately after the birth; if my baby had tried to nurse while they felt like that, I would have had to have my nipples amputated. It is nice to know that your nipples may be sensitive during pregnancy, but really, we should be told when a part of your body that is sensitive anyway is going to feel like sensation on Ritalin.

The one thing that absolutely nobody tells you about until you are actually pregnant is what labor is actually like. Realizing that no two labors are the same, and that every woman has a different experience with every pregnancy, nobody really, truly talks about what it is really, truly like. Once the little stick has two pink lines, however, look out! Labor stories some in thick and fast, and you are left wondering what you have gotten yourself into, and how exactly you can keep it from happening. Unfortunately, once the baby is in there, it has to come out. There is no way around that. Once that little embryo has begun to grow in the cozy warmth inside you, that is when your girlfriends and your aunts and your sisters will tell you what you have signed up for. I spent so much energy worrying about labor before it actually happened that I could have given birth to twelve babies. Your next door neighbor pushed and screamed for eighteen hours. Your best friend's friend tore badly and needed dozens of stitches. Your Aunt Bertha had an episiotomy to avoid tearing and needed dozens of stitches. The lady at the post office had a forceps delivery. And it goes on and on. As soon as the baby belly becomes obvious and everyone knows that you're really pregnant and haven't simply let yourself go, women everywhere take great delight in offering to you every detail of their labors, especially the parts that make you want to clamp your legs together and cry "NO!" However, after all the build up and terror, my experience with labor was surprisingly pleasant...after the epidural, of course. Nobody tries to get a filling in a tooth without pain relief, so why would I want to do this without it? Maybe pleasant is not the right word, because it actually wasn't terribly pleasant, but it certainly was not the horrifying blood bath I'd been expecting. And it was true...the minute I saw my baby's face and held her in my arms, the pain was gone. But it is not forgotten.

Learn more about this author, Sheri Bertaux.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

• << previous page
• 1
• 2
• 3

Add your voice

Know something about Top five things I wish I knew before I was pregnant?
We want to hear your view. Write now!