10 Things I Wish I Knew About Childbirth

As a first time mum I had absolutely no idea what I was letting myself in for, but here are 10 things I wish I knew about childbirth:

• You have to go with the flow – things probably won’t go to plan but that’s okay! I planned to have a water birth but my daughter was nearly born in the car.
• Breathe through the pain – don’t hold your breath during a contraction.
• When your waters break, the pain gets more intense – trust me! My waters broke at 5:40am, I text my mum telling her that my waters had broken and not to rush because I’m not in any pain whatsoever.. within 20 minutes I was on the bathroom floor in so much pain I could hardly move.
• You might feel like you’re dying – but please remember – you’re in pain, not danger – our bodies are made to do this!
• Back labour is awful – I was always told to look out for tightening of the stomach, pain in your tummy, and pressure down below however I had absolutely no pain whatsoever in my stomach, all the pain and pressure was in my lower back.
• You will bleed a lot – do not underestimate the amount of maternity pads you will need after childbirth.
• The placenta doesn’t just ‘fall out – you have to push with each contraction like you did when giving birth. (It’s like pushing out another baby, but doesn’t hurt as much)
• You will lose your dignity – no matter how many times you say you won’t, you will not care when you are in labour.
• I wish I knew before I had a baby, how strong I really was. 
• Everything is going to be okay – whether your labour goes to plan or not.