Get This Baby Out of Me!

My first post in the "What's Normal" series is about what happens to you when you go past your due date.

As you get further into your pregnancy you start to realize many things:

Everything is sore
Sleeping is over
Your face can have more than two chins
Acne isn't just for teenagers
Farting just happens
You hate all maternity clothes
You really need a drink
Nothing is funny
You'll do anything, ANYTHING to get that baby OUT

I did. When I went to work on my due date with my first baby, all of my wonderful co-workers felt the need to say, "What are you doing here?", and "Isn't today your due date?", and "Wow, you haven't even dropped!" To all of which I gracefully nodded and smiled on the outside, while quietly crying on the inside. Granted he was my first baby, and I had no idea what to expect. So I looked up what I could do to get things going, and I tried a gamut of things.

Eat a whole cabbage-- check
Walk-- check
Sex-- check
Exersize-- check
Stripping membranes-- check, check, and check

It was the third time that finally did it...

Now, with my last baby things went a little differently. By this time I knew that none of those (see above list) worked. Nothing works. Don't try it! Your baby is happy and warm and comfortable and not willing to leave his happy little home until he's darn well ready. Don't pressure him!!! It just makes it worse! Of course the alternative is not any better. As I was sure to find out.

I tried the membrane stripping again, and initially it helped. Of course Cyrus didn't grace us all with his precious little self until a good WEEK later! And thus begins the depression. Yes I knew about postpartum depression, but I didn't know about pregnancy depression.

Here's where we get a little real.

Many women experience some form of depression during pregnancy. Depression is some serious shit. Don't feel bad if you are pregnant and suffering through depression. Get help. Right now. Stop reading this right now and call your doctor. I'm serious.

I was lucky that I didn't start the depression until the very end of my pregnancy. But when every single day you think you're going into labor and then after hours and hours of contractions they.just.stop. It gets very frustrating. The day before I finally gave birth to Cyrus I woke up and couldn't get out of bed. My body was sore. I hadn't slept more than a couple of hours a night. I was 10 days over my due date. I was super frustrated and tired, and I just couldn't. I couldn't get out of bed. You know how people say they want to pull the covers over their head and hide. Well, that's exactly what I did. I didn't get out of my bed. I just laid there and cried. I don't even know what I looked like when I finally emerged, but I know I gave Daniel a scare. The rest of the day is a blur. I actually don't remember it.

Moral of the story is, waiting for your baby is pretty damn hard. There is no part of it that is easy. You don't have to try to find the positive. If you need to sulk, sulk. Be sad if you need to. But if you feel like you're falling into a dark pit without any way out, get help. Don't be alone. And know this: you are a part of something bigger than yourself. You are about to receive the most amazing, difficult gift you could ever be given. I won't say it is all worth it, because I'm not sure it is. But you will get through it. I did. So did many others.

You can do this!

What's Normal

You'd think by the third baby I would have experienced everything possible. You'd think there would be no more surprises. You'd think that wouldn't you.

Nope. There are lots of surprises. Like, hey, did you know your baby boy could lactate? Did you know your baby girl can have a baby period? Yeah me either.

So due to this, and many other reasons, namely that no one tells you anything you really need to know before it happens to you!!!! I mean there are so many things that happen to you during and after pregnancy that no one thinks to tell you. I don't think people are hiding the truth, I just think that so many women black out those parts that they don't think about it until it's too late to warn new moms.

Enough of the rant....

Due to this I have decided to do a series of posts about pregnancy and postpartum. I am by no means an expert so PLEASE DO NOT take my advice as medical. It is purely anecdotal and from my own experience, and also lots of searches and reading on babycenter.com .

I would encourage any other moms who have experience with these topics to add their comments to this post so any other women who come across it will have those to look to as well.

I mean, we're all in this thing together!