Overemphasizing our Birth Experiences
As I look forward to the birth of our first child (approximately July 6th 2015!) I have done a lot of reading and thinking about birth and my baby. I hope as I share my thoughts it will be understood that I am a first-timer and I hope to offend no one. Something that has occurred to me is that women today care an awful lot about how their baby comes into the world. Controversy abounds regarding natural births, c-sections, vaginal births with an epidural, etc. I have observed the judgment and criticism that can occur between women about these issues. My question is, why do we place our birth experience (which really isn't "ours," by the way, but our baby's) on such a high pedestal? We have such high expectations, and sometimes when things don't work out the way we planned, we are utterly traumatized. I have read about women who have been traumatized on both ends of the spectrum (c-section vs. completely non-medicated) because their expectations were not m...