Note: this post was written by a friend of mine who has chosen to remain anonymous.

I am a mother of two. My daughter is 5 and my son is 3 weeks old.

My First Pregnancy

My first pregnancy was a smooth one. I loved being pregnant; I was happy and felt positive throughout. I had planned on having a water birth and if for any reason that was not possible I also had back up plans. However, I did not plan for what occurred!

My waters broke the night of 29th September 2014, I was 1 day overdue. This was it, I was going to meet my baby girl. When we arrived at the hospital I had not began to dilate, however there was meconium (poo from baby) in my waters. I was advised I would have to be induced as this signified the baby was distressed.

I was induced twice and endured 20 hours of labour. At which point my daughter’s heart rate started to plummet and I started to have a fit. Due to this, we were rushed to theatre where I had an emergency c-section. The labour was very traumatic but thank God my daughter was born healthy. It was later established I had a condition named pre-eclampsia during my pregnancy, which went unnoticed, leading to the complications during labour. 

My Second Pregnancy

Five years later, I fell pregnant with my son and I was determined to have a natural labour. Due to the history of my previous pregnancy/birth, the hospital monitored me very closely throughout my pregnancy. I had a number of scans and a ton of extra appointments. All appeared well until week 37 and my son’s growth began to slow down. This of course became a concern for the medical team, but they were unable to find a cause. They said it may be dangerous to continue with the pregnancy and once again advised me to induce.

40 weeks & 1 day, I was admitted to be induced. However, it failed due to newly found medical problems and, you guessed it, my only option for delivery was another c-section. Initially, I was devastated. I felt like I had failed again. I felt like less of a woman for not being able to give birth naturally. As I lay there, the phrase “let go of what you think is supposed to happen and just let it be” came to mind and I felt a sense of peace once I did that. The next day I returned to hospital for a c-section and the birth of my son, although different to what I planned for, was beautiful. Thankfully, he was born healthy too.

The road to parenthood (from pregnancy, labour, and raising children) is a journey. A journey where you will face many highs and lows. As a parent, we just have to ride the wave and focus on what’s important. In my case, I have been blessed with two beautiful and amazing children. I have come to understand the way they were born does not make me less of a woman, I am in fact a super woman to two little humans.