Motherhood: No Regrets

It rained during the night and it's a cloudy start to this Monday.  I am still enjoying the slower pace to my mornings post-employment.  The big black dog and I had our breakfast early.  He sleeps at my feet while I have devotions, check messages, or write.  Oh, to have the carefree life of a very spoiled dog! 

Thirty three years ago today at 10:20 a.m., I became a Mommy for the first time.  Happy birthday, D!  Where have the years gone?  It seems like only yesterday that my husband called me on Monday evening to say he was delayed at work.  It was two weeks before my due date, and I hadn't told him I'd had contractions off and on all day.  I proceeded to say, "Um, I think you'd better get home soon.  I think we need to get to the hospital".  He was a nervous wreck by the time he made it home.  Had he known that although we were the first to be admitted that evening we would be last to deliver, he probably would have been much calmer.  It was a "Hard Days Night" as the Beatles song goes, and hubby still reminds us that he missed Monday Night Football.

It's crazy how trends change.  In the late 1970's natural childbirth was the "only" way to go.  If you used the Lamaze childbirth method but needed pain medication to get you through labor and delivery, you failed the test.  At least that's how I felt.  It's almost as if our goal was receiving a Badge of Courage for enduring the pain.  It's really funny, years after my best friend and I had our babies, we were discussing our childbirth experiences.  In prior accounts, I must have failed to mention (or intentionally omitted) taking half-doses of Demerol during the really long labor with my first son.  Shocked, she said, "You took Demerol?!  I wouldn't take any drugs.  I thought if you had done it without them, then I could to".  We really laughed over that one.  Not that I regret the experience, but seriously, how many of us suffered needlessly for turning childbirth into some kind of competition?

Fast forward to the next generation.  At the hospital when our youngest grandson was born, I was amazed watching our daughter-in-law.  During labor, she was sitting up, laughing and talking while a monitor showed her having "huge" contractions.  She'd had an epidural early into labor and was feeling absolutely no pain. 

No fair!  I WANT A DO OVER!!  Okay, I take that back; I would take nothing for my childbirth experiences, with and without pain medication.  Being the mom of two awesome sons is my life's greatest achievement.  I've never regretted the experience; not even one day.  Hmmm....but then again, there were some days during those teenage years...  Sorry guys...just kidding!


Copyright 2011 Charlotte Laney