My daughter, Hilary, turns 21 today. It's pretty amazing to me that I've got an adult daughter now. Today is a day that I reflect on her birth oh so many years ago.
I'd actually been a doula for many years, attending over 70 births before my own first baby was born. I knew about birth. What would transpire over the hours of her birth would ultimately lead me to rededicate myself to the work of birth. The doctor told me, as she walked out the door, "You won't remember this tomorrow..." 21 years later I still remember even minute of it very clearly. Birth is much more than the physical act of getting a baby out of a woman's body.
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So what kind of birth was it? I assume difficult if the doctor “reassured” you you’d forget it by tomorrow! I too remember every minute of my birth experience. More so than anything else in my life actually. Which is strange because you feel so out of body during the whole thing. Only thing I don’t remember very well is the pain! I know it hurt, but I can’t remember how!!!
My boys range from 35 to 29 years old, and I still remember virtually everything about their births. No question, we may not remember the actual contractions in living detail (we’d probably all be only children if we did), but the events around the birth, including the way we were treated by those involved, are frequently very clear.