Pregnancy Horror Stories!!???!!

[KarolinaMoon]

Is /has anyone else had the pleasure of having to listen to other people's 'advise', experiences, and sometimes horror stories about pregnancy and birth and even the aftermath???!!
My younger sister (whos already had 3 kids before me!), seems unable to help herself, and its really becoming rather frustrating!! We usually get on so well, but since finding out I was pregnant, she seems to have had a constant stream of questions, horror stories and annoying comments such as 'I bet you will have all the pain relief, epidural and everything'....and one week she's saying how the pain of child birth is horrendous, and the next week states 'she loves the pain'......
To add to it all, I've had 'concerned' looks when I tell some people I'm planning to take my full maternity leave....and comments such as 'I think you will miss work'....as though they already have me down as a prime candidate for a nervous breakdown!! lol
It seems the more happy and excited I am the more people want to tell me horror stories to dampen my enthusiasm! lol
MY hubby has noticed it too, and just says that my sister maybe feels a bit put out as she was always the only sibling in the family with kids, until now....
So far I've managed to ignore it all, but I found myself asking my hubby last night am I too relaxed about being pregnant, should I be a nervous wreck?!! As thats what it seems people want me to be!! lol
Has anyone experienced this kind of thing?

xxx

 

[BellaRiven]

This could be my story

I have a younger sister who has had 4 before I even managed one and I get the same stories, what makes me laugh is that I was there for 3 of them being born so I know she made it a whole lot worse for herself than I personally think it had to be...although I don;t know what birth is like I know what my sister is like...

I also get the commenst about work as I will be taking the full year and possibly not going back, I'm going to miss work yeah right I can;t see that happening when I have a newborn baby to look after and nurture

My mum is another one for stories too..

To be honest I would ingore them as much as possible, nod your head and agree and then change the subject it's what I do or I just get a forced glazed look across my face lol that gets em to stop everytime

xxxxxxxx

 

[KarolinaMoon]

I think its just part and parcel of pregnancy unfortunately!! Some people have kids and then think they are experts! I've been putting it down to 'misguided helpfulness' so far, but last night made me wonder was there a bit of sisterly rivalry in the mix too...
I guess we will find out soon enough for ourselves what birth is like lol....but if everyone else can do it then so can we, with or without hearing all the horrors before hand!!!

xxx

 

[saralou5]

YES!!! I'm totally tired of my friends who have had babies telling me all these horrid things. NOT ONE OF THEM has told me anything positive about their experiences! Always bad things! My mum is the only one who has said 'I went in, I had gas and air and I gave birth to you. It was painful.' Nothing horrible happened, it was a straight forward birth. I

I'm also sick of people telling me how I'm going to be during labour, and how hard everything is, and how I won't be able to do this or that or the other and how once I get to this many weeks I won't be able to do ANYTHING.
Any ladies with positive non-horror stories would be more than welcome with sharing their tales! LOL!

 

[KarolinaMoon]

lol, yes some positive, genuinely helpful experiences would be welcome!! What I find bizarre is that you dont generally hear of people sharing their awful negative experiences when a friend or relative tells them they have some kind of illness...so what is it about pregnancy!!? Ignoring is probably the best thing to do, but so difficult when you have been listening to one horror story after another!! xx

 

[kra0]

My lovely little sister takes great pleasure in telling me how sore I'll find it and that knowing me I'll probably scream the place down lol. My best friend on the other hand is great and telling me how much she loved labour and being pregnant and that the only thing she was concerned about in labour was that she might poo herself lol. She had no pain relief at all either xxxx

 

[elisesmum]

Loads of people like to tell all these horror stories but have you ever noticed they always go back and have more kids, i think birth is what you make it yes i had a bit of a horrible first birth got abit complicated but i loved every second of it because of the baby i got in the end of it but its true what they say as soon as its over you forget the "pain", every birth is different but if you asked those people if they would do it again most of them would say yes. So can't be as bad as they make out x

 

[CARNAT22]

I know both my sister and S-I-L had horrendous births, yet if they decide to tell me in gory detail whilst I am pregnant they'll be told to shut the feck up!

xxxxxxxxx

 

[willowwisp]

Sorry tri hopping here. I was traumatised about child birth by about age 6. My mother had a horrendous time with labour/giving birth (I'll spare you all the details!) and I heard about it repeatedly as early as I can remember. That is one of the many reasons we are keeping quiet until 12 weeks, I have enough to worry about with health complications I've brought into the pregnancy without being worried to death about giving birth before I reach 3 (let alone 9) months!!

People love to talk about themselves, and for some reason child birth is one of those things people think it necessary to share all the gory intimate details as well. It's rarely as bad as people make it out to have been, especially when no one expects child birth to be like a walk in the park!

 

[poppypd]

And people wonder why women go into labour scared! I had a great birth but I had to mentally get over the less straight forward birth stories i'd heard during my pregnancy. I even went on positive birth stories websites to find them! Ignore them, what will be will be. Be as relaxed as possible so baby has the best chance to relax too. Women have been doing this forever.

 

[BellaRiven]

The best one I get all the time is..................OH, you will get no sleep what so ever...........No s**t sherlock i'm just about to have a baby I was expecting all peaches and roses ya know lol......

xxxx

 

[Karate Kid]

Lol! The whole no sleep thing is getting old now! I get asked how I am feeling and I always say 'brilliant but I just get a little tired at around three'. The standard response is 'just wait until the baby comes, you will know the real meaning of tiredness then'.

As for horror stories my colleagues have taken great pleasure in telling me them all. I also get horrified looks when I say I am taking a years maternity leave (the reality is I probably will not go back to work). I keep getting told that I am waisting my life as I am 'so young'.... It gets irritating but thankfully my SIL has been brilliant, she has been really encouraging and she has had two babies.

I think it's just a really unfortunate part of pregnancy- you suddenly become public property! X

 

[tinkerbell86]

My friend did this to me and my friend who were due a few months apart. She was really freaked out by it buy I knew she liked to be a bit of a drama queen and I had the same happen to me when I had my lo. I told my friend you just get on with it and not to worry about it as there's nothing you can do.

I am worried this time but it's for different reasons the labours not the bit that's worrying me. I don't think you lot will know but when pregnant with my ds at 38 wks I dislocated and broke my ankle in 3 places and had to have surgery while pregnant also while being awake and give birth in plaster. Dealing with a newborn in plaster, being non-weight bearing and using crutches is hard work!!! This is what I worry about as it was a hard time but obviously my lo was perfect so that's all that mattered!

 

[Loula]

omg cant believe people are telling you horror sotries x

 

[Fordee]

Oh, the joys of a second pregnancy & birth; little patronisation to be heard.

 

[coco_cukoo]

Oh yes, my boss decided to tell me all about her two stillborns! Even though I have worked on a labour ward before so obviously came across this a lot, I didn't need her to go into detail about it & even say she'll show me pictures if I want!! How to scare a pregnant woman in 10 minutes!! Very thoughtless. She has been the only one though luckily, dont think I could take anymore after that story x

 

[KarolinaMoon]

I think some people just don't think, still birth is the last thing you want to hear about when your pregnant! My sister started talking about her work colleague who had lost her baby at 26 weeks, and was now pregnant again. I pretended not to hear her. It was esp awful to hear as I had a mc last oct too, and so that plays on my mind alot anyway.
Am just hoping that once the 'novelty' of me being pregnant wears off, so will all the horror stories!!! x

 

[Hope81]

My response to horror stories is I know it will be hard, i can't do anything to change it so bring on the pain relief and the all the doctors to look at my foofoo and get that baby out...
They usually shut up once they realize that you don't thing everything will be super fast and easy like the movies...
Stupid people really... Just ignore them all

 

[Amylize]

There is nothing wrong with being laid back about pregnancy! Since i reached 12 weeks my WHOLE attitude has changed. I think people who have had kids just automatically believe they know EVERYTHING!! which tbh is Bo**ocks!

Take it as it comes, everyone is different and we all deal with things differently even childbirth, bringing up children and of course all the other obsticles etc etc!

ENJOY IT

 

[KarolinaMoon]

You are so right Amylize! I havent let anyone change my attitude so far! I think with my younger sister, part of the whole thing is that she was 19 when she had her first, and wasnt in a good relationship. It was a tough time for her. So her experiences may not be of a relaxed first pregnancy. Whereas I am happily married, in my 30's and ready for what this pregnancy brings! I guess everyones circumstances are different, so theyre experiences and memories will be different too.
My Mum isnt so bad with the horror stories, but did look concerned when I mentioned taking full maternity! Thats what Mums do though no matter what age we are!!

xxx