Birth thoughts

But, you did! ❤️

I also have the feeling but very different circumstance. I wanted to experience natural birth so badly and spent months preparing my body and mind but bc I wasn’t progressing fast enough they sent me from the birth center to the hospital after which I had to accept intervention after intervention until they said basically you can choose a c section now or we can try to keep forcing your body and it will likely lead to an emergency c section which will be much scarier than just choosing to go now. And after 60 hours I was so exhausted and felt like I had no choice.

But, I have my baby ❤️ therapy has helped my processing, and time

Hey mama, I went through the exact same thing as you. I could’ve written this myself even.. I wouldn’t say there is anything to be embarrassed about because some things just aren’t in our control.. I had a whole birth plan written but still ended up getting induced then had the tablets then eventually the drip too then finally having the forceps delivery with episiotomy..unfortunately things didn’t go the way we wanted but that’s okay as long as our babies were delivered safe and well that’s all that matters xx

I know exactly how you feel, but you did give birth! The whole labour and all the pushing and the whole 9 months was what led up to your baby being born! I had planned an unmedicated birth but was induced then had episiotomy and kiwi cup to help pull baby out. Felt like I’d let myself down for a quite a few weeks, even though everyone was telling me how proud they were of how much I did to get the baby out. But the important thing to remember is you have your baby through all the months of hardship and all the contractions your body went through! You did amazing please don’t discredit yourself! xx

I wasn’t induced but ended up with an episiotomy and forceps too and baby got stuck. I totally get how you feel. It’s a sort of weird middle ground between a totally natural birth and a c-section. I felt like I was totally unprepared for it as I hadn’t really given it much thought. I had a horrific recovery which hasn’t helped my feelings about it.
However, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s a bloody awful experience and we made it through with our babies ❤️ it’s taken me a long time to process it all but a birth reflections session with a senior midwife really helped me understand why it all happened and the support of my amazing pelvic physio has helped with the physical recovery.
Sending love ❤️

You can contact your midwife or healthvisitor and do a post birth reflections review and it may help you will any questions or process feelings. I don't think you cheated at all every birth is different. There is a reason for medical interventions which is to keep you and the baby safe. Vaginal birth with no pain relief isn't the only kind of birth. They used the forceps and episiotomy, because they needed the baby out and for the baby not to be in fetal distress. You had to recover from the birth and the episiotomy and everything else be kind to yourself. I wanted a Water birth and it to be nice a chill... I ended up with a breech baby, c section forcepts and they needed a 2nd surgeon to be scrubbed in as they were stuck. I'm just luckily we're all healthy and I live in a country where access to health care is free and safe. Some mums don't have that choice.