A lesson in everything

My birth was beautiful. As someone who has always birthed quickly, I had missed the opportunity for water births previously. My plan this time was to try and make that happen. We did and it was incredible.

What happened next was not in the plan. No one plans for it.

I had a severe haemorrhage and had to be taken to hospital by ambulance.

I was surrounded by doctors, nurses and midwives putting needles everywhere in the emergency department.

This was a first for me.

My previous births have been straight forward.

Never in my life have I had surgery or required medical assistance in an emergency.

My baby was here, but I was at risk.

Thankfully the medical team managed to get my bleeding under control, replace the significant blood lost and get my blood/iron levels back on track.

However the whole experience left me very exhausted, mentally drained, and with a whole new appreciation for a number of things but when it comes to birth:

1. Just how intense it is.

2. How much women really put themselves through, and risk, to bring life into this world.

And I share this, not to scare, but because it is part of my story.

And I’m grateful.

I am grateful to have had the birth I did.

To have a healthy baby.

To be okay myself.

And I am also grateful to have been shown so much more about myself.

My strength.

My fragility.

My resilience.

My vulnerability.

A myriad of what it takes to have another life brought into my own hands.

So it may not have gone to plan, but there is a lesson in everything.

And what I have been reminded of is this.

Birth is incredible.

But so are women.

And neither should be underestimated.