Birth stories carnival

It’s messy, it’s painful and it hardly ever goes to plan.

So why do we love reading and hearing birth stories?

Perhaps because the ending is (hopefully) a happy one and justifies all the stress and feeling like you’re an extra in Apocalypse Now.

So when we put out a call on Parentonomy for you to link up your tales of how your youngsters entered the world, we had no doubt there were many bloggers with their stories ready and waiting to be enjoyed.

And you didn’t disappoint.

I kicked things off by telling how my mum-in-law was treated to the sight of her second grandson being born – followed by a view of my poor lady garden in all its glory – when Blake came along. I don’t know who needs therapy more, her or me.

So now, over to you lot…

The lovely Jane, AKA Northernmum, reveals the heartwarming story of how she served an eviction notice on her twins at 37 weeks pregnant – but they didn’t come out without a fight.

She says: “It took twin boy and girl no time at all to realise they had moved from the basement to the penthouse. It took me the same amount of time to discover I could love more fiercely and passionately than I believed possible.”

If this first birth story is touching, Jane’s second tale – of the arrival of BB – had me in stitches as she takes us from her waters breaking on the driveway in front of her fascinated twins, to the hospital where she moooed like a cow and bit her husband on the shoulder to get through the less-than-straightforward birth of her beautiful baby girl.

Like so many of us, Jennifer over in her Little World, found son Harry’s birth was nothing like she imagined. No home birth, no water birth, this little man had his own ideas. But at least her husband got some Waitrose sandwiches and a pasta salad for lunch – so it wasn’t a total loss!

Second time around with daughter Mia, things were a little surreal but very nice, as Jennifer went into labour in the early hours, was able to have a water birth and get out of hospital by teatime. Now that’s what I call a very productive day.

Although my heart went out to her when she described walking around Waitrose in agony – trying to speed up the birth (just what is it with her husband and Waitrose?!)

My heart was in my mouth reading Cathy’s story of Smiley’s extremely premature birth over at Looking For Blue Sky. She started losing her waters at 24 weeks and had two frustrating and heartbreaking weeks in hospital before her baby was born, in silence and with her Mum asking if she was actually alive. Have the tissues to hand before you read this extremely brave story.

Her tale of her third birth proves that sometimes the midwife doesn’t know best. An expectant Mum knows exactly what she needs, as in Losing The Plot, Cathy relates how waves of pain left her unable to focus on the job in hand – until staff gave her the much-needed epidural which allowed her baby son to be born.

She rounds off her birth stories by going back to the beginning, and describing Angel’s birth back in 1992. I laughed out loud to read how she got her employer to buy ionizers and move computers because they were apparently making her sick – only to find out she was pregnant.

Cupcake Mumma Hannah takes us on a whirlwind with this post describing both of her birthing experiences, with Little Miss and the Little Man – neither of them without their dramas. I wanted to punch the cheeky buggers who shouted “Fatty” at her out of their car window as she got some fresh air outside the hospital, waiting for labour to progress. Grrrrr.

Even with the help and support of a homeopath, an acupuncturist, a reflexologist, several doula friends, two community midwives and her husband, Dorkymum Ruth reveals how she wasn’t allowed to have the homebirth she’d planned, and had every intervention she wanted to avoid.

Finally, Actually Mummy goes out on a limb with the controversial statement “The NCT are careless, thoughtless and naïve”, which she backs up with GG’s birth story which she feels highlights the shortcomings of the organisation in preparing us for childbirth.

Thanks so much to the Mums who’ve shared their finest moments with us in this Parentonomy topic.

Remember, it’s never too late to link up. We’ll be revisiting all our Parentonomies at the end of the year and recapping on your stories again.

Please also consider adding your posts on crafts, play and love, which will be our carnival topics in the coming weeks.