Words of wisdom from many midwifes:
“There comes a point in the labor at which virtually every woman wails, “I CAN’T DO THIS!!! It’s too hard, it’s too painful, it’s too scary; I can’t do it anymore and I’m through trying! MAKE IT STOP!!” And I bless that moment. Because that’s what makes them a mother. The surrender to the natural force they are part of; the realization that they *can’t* control everything anymore. Some women get there within a few hours, some take days. But whenever they do, I know they are going to be okay. Not just in delivering the baby, but in raising it. Because they’ve learned the hardest lesson — that they can’t control everything, and they will never again be able to control everything, and they just have to ride it out and learn to live with that.”
“There comes a point in the labor at which virtually every woman wails, “I CAN’T DO THIS!!! It’s too hard, it’s too painful, it’s too scary; I can’t do it anymore and I’m through trying! MAKE IT STOP!!” And I bless that moment. Because that’s what makes them a mother. The surrender to the natural force they are part of; the realization that they *can’t* control everything anymore. Some women get there within a few hours, some take days. But whenever they do, I know they are going to be okay. Not just in delivering the baby, but in raising it. Because they’ve learned the hardest lesson — that they can’t control everything, and they will never again be able to control everything, and they just have to ride it out and learn to live with that.”