Aftermath? Afterglow?

A week or so out from giving birth to my son, I’ve had a bit of time to reflect on the whole experience.  As I look at him, I can honestly say that remember very little about the pain of bringing him into the world.  I believe that is God’s gift to mothers, who might never consider subsequent children without this selective amnesia.

That being said, I’m not sure that I would ever want to go through natural childbirth again.  I have never, ever, EVER desired to experience giving birth naturally.  I know that this is unfathomable to many, since women have given birth for thousands of years without the benefit of pain medication, but there you go.  The most I ever wanted was to feel a few real contractions, which I did with my first son for about 15 seconds before calling for the anesthesiologist.

I also did not have some mystical, transcendental experience giving birth with no drugs.  It would be interesting to talk to someone who actually did!  I mostly remember being panicked and that it didn’t feel great.  I’m just glad I wasn’t cursing and calling people names.

But give birth naturally I did, and, I must say, I am quite proud of myself.  I did something that I honestly did not believe I could do, and that’s a good feeling.  Furthermore, I recovered from this delivery faster than I thought possible.  I was up and walking around before I even left the delivery room and was able to go home 36 hours after Jeremy was born because I figured I could get more rest there than in the hospital.  I guess when there are no drugs to work their way out of a system, the body just bounces back.  I had the same number of stitches with Jeremy that I had with both Charlotte and Elijah, but I have hardly felt them.  My pain has been completely controlled with ibuprofen.  Amazing.

One funny side note…just last week, I was visiting with a friend, and I joked about how I could save money on our hospital bill by not having an epidural.  If I remember correctly, the anesthesia bill is one of the steepest from childbirth.  That joke ended up being on me!  And it wasn’t so funny!

Life is definitely full of unexpected experiences, and I have a beautiful son to show for this one.  Life is good!