This is a continuation of a line of thought I was having in Childbirth - Not as bad as I thought it would be - which I thought should continue elsewhere! First time mums to be might not want to read on.
First off - I had a horrendous birth. Still the stuff of nightmares 2 and half years on. Don't want to go in to detail now. Maybe one day.
Afterwards my aunt said to me "welcome to the biggest secret in the world". And she was right. Up until that point all I had ever heard was that yes, childbirth hurt like hell but the wonderful thing was that the minute the baby was born it all stopped and within days you'd be hard pressed to remember what it felt like and isn't nature wonderful etc. etc.
Since then I have heard more horror stories than I would ever have thought possible. The point I am trying to make is that, had I been aware of some of these, I would have chosen different options during the course of my ds birth and would not have suffered anyway near as much as a result. Additionally, I think if more fuss was made of the "horror stories" they might not be as frighteningly commonplace as they are - because either I have a really unlucky circle of acquaintances or standards are nowhere near as high as they should be out there. Instead the view is that we should all sit quietly and not scare anyone. It's almost as if we've all (medical profession included) become so fixated on the fact that people give birth every day that we daren't admit just how dangerous it can be.
Having said that, I would no more sit down and tell some heavily pregnant first timer what I went through than stick needles in her eyes. Yet surely the only way you can have an "informed" birth is if you are aware of both sides of the coin? And surely if you are aware of the bad then you can take steps to limit it?
Anyway, it's late and I'm rambling.