Books painting a real picture

[susmamma]

Do you think it would be helpful for popular literature to have more on traumatic births? I tend to feel all the pregnancy books (both factual and fictional) only point to unproblematic births (vb or c/s).

Would women be more prepared (or less shocked) if there were some gritty, real birth situations written about?

Any thoughts?

[punkbaby]

I think yes and no...you dont want to scare people and pregnancy is one of those things where alarm bells ring the minute something happens, feels wrong etc and we all feel and think the worst!
I think they could give more information on more common "what ifs" and "this is how" etc things are done in these situations but there is a borderline there that needs to me met as well i think.

Just my thoughts i know when i had my first bub i was so paranoid about everything and always thought the worst i do now in a way but not as bad as i did

[susmamma]

good point punkbaby.
it's true. you are a nervous wreck first time round. even food is full of scare mongering! half the stuff you're not supposed to eat ... i remember panicking everytime i found out some new food that was banned that i'd have eaten the day before!

[punkbaby]

It would be interesting but i know if other mums out there are like me the minute i had something wrong i would self diagnose myself

Good point though i think maybe we need to be educated a little more in some situations though

[bubs_and_us]

i think the information on traumatic births is definitely lacking.

its one thing to say 'everything will be fine' but another for that to actually happen. and when the 3 day blues hit, and you're blaming yourself for what went wrong (because with such little knowledge, who else could possibly be at fault?!) it would be good to know that you're not alone.

after my birth, every thought running around in my mind was 'what did i do wrong', and nobody could (or would) answer that for me. so, of course, i started to believe that i had done some terrible thing in labour that i couldnt remember to risk the lives of me and my baby.

i started very early on the path to self destruction. everything was my fault, i was the only one to ever feel that way (and with the hormones of pregnancy, everything felt worse) and nothing would ever get better.

i feel strongly that if i had been given information BEFORE my labour, that i would've been better prepared for something to go wrong.

[Angelmist♥]

Check out "Up the duff" by Kaz Cooke.She prepares you (IMO) well for the 'just in cases'.