Dear Goddess,
As a first time mother, when I first gave birth to my beautiful daughter Ariana, I was so excited about it, I wanted to shout from the rooftops…
Not in a braggy sort of way or to make anyone else feel less or uncomfortable about themselves but in a genuinely bursting with pride and “I can do it and so can you” sort of way. I thought other women would share in my joy, that they would be compelled to ask” How did you do it? What was your secret?”
That they might even be inspired to discover the power and beauty of birthing for themselves.
They didn’t do any of that. Instead, I had unintentionally made myself “different” from the crowd and certainly on the outer end of the mother’s group since no one could relate to my story.
Was it that unusual or strange to give birth as nature designed? Well apparently it was.
The reaction I received was not at all what I had expected as a first time mother in my naive joy, sailing high as a kite (on natural happy birth hormones!)……In fact, the more I shared in the early weeks of my afterglow, the less I wanted to share. Can anyone relate?
The same comments kept coming up from other women in my circles who I shared with and so I thought I had better clear up the myths on natural birthing once and for all……
MYTH NO. 1: “You must have a super high pain tolerance”
Ummm. no. Not even close. I always thought of myself as sensitive if anything. In school, I still remember how scared I was when we were lining up to get vaccinated. I was shaking at the mere thought of a needle going into my arm. …I would cry if I had a tiny splinter stuck in my foot and had to get it out….In more recent times, my masseur found it hard to believe that I had experienced natural birth since I would cry out in pain when he even pressed a little too hard into the knots in my back! (true story) If only I knew that these examples have no relevance whatsoever to anything to do with birthing power. And guess what? Same goes for you. Truly!
MYTH NO.2: “Oh you were just lucky”
I heard this one SO many times….Actually to call me lucky almost negates all the hard work and preparation I put into it so it never sat right with me. I realise that not everyone is so blessed but I also know that I put so much of myself into the process and got fully informed, dealt with all my fears, explored all of my options and what that meant beforehand, took extra good care of myself and that it certainly didn’t happen by chance or good luck. There are no guarantees in life but we can certainly put the odds or “good luck” in our favour.
MYTH NO. 3: “You must be superwoman!”
Actually I am just like you, only I had a strong resolve to go natural because it was so firmly entrenched into my beliefs that I couldn’t imagine any other way feeling right for me. I had learnt about the cascade of intervention so I didn’t even want to step on that train. No thanks. So it was easy to say no to drugs. But that’s just me.
Now I spend my days reminding women how magnificent and powerful they already are – and so are YOU! (only these days they actually listen LOL) You just need to embrace it.
So maybe we are ALL super women and we don’t even know it yet?!! 😉 Hence I have named this inspired series, “Birth Goddess in the Making.” That’s you, gorgeous!
Hope that clears up a few things! Just had to get that off my chest….now it’s your turn! Tell me here or leave a note below
Yours in discovering your inner (super) power,
Katrina Zaslavsky
Birth Goddess: A Positive Birth Revolution
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