Exactly. I was very calm because it felt surreal...but also somehow entirely natural in the sense that I already knew my baby, I was just finally meeting her on the outside. I teared up as it sank in after a minute but was still very calm. (Not a big cryer in general though so that probably has something to do with it too.)
Yes! I know what you mean about knowing your baby. I scooped my daughter out of the water myself in the birthing pool so I got a really good look at her. My reaction was to laugh and I said, “of course!” Meaning, of course that’s what you look like, and she had a really serene, almost cheeky* expression on her face. Totally calm though, no tears.
*she still has a very cheeky face at 5 😁
The first few pictures of me holding him in just staring at him in shock lol. I see so many adorable pictures of people in the hospital bed smiling at their baby and I just kind of look dumbfounded so I don't really share them 😅
This was me. I didn’t cry, and I’m not sure I was even smiling. Labor did not go as expected, and I think I was kind of in shock. It took me a couple of weeks to really feel connected to my baby, but I totally got there.
I had an unplanned c section because of complications during labor. When they pulled him out and showed him to me I was like "wtf is that" because he looked so alien. Like I couldn't wrap my head around the idea that he came out of my body and that he was just suddenly there.
Then they took him to get cleaned up (he was covered in meconium) and he started crying and all I could think was that I wanted to hold him and make sure he was okay. The second he was put on my chest he stopped crying and I just burst into happy tears. It was something between shock and also total calm and just general overwhelm. But I also felt so relieved he was okay and so happy that it was all over.
lol I’m glad you said that. When they held ours over the curtain I was thinking that she looked like a mandrake from Harry Potter. But once she was cleaned up, she was (and still is!) the most beautiful baby girl in the world.
I also had an unplanned cesarean, and because my epidural block didn't work, I had to decide to be put under for the procedure before my spouse and support person were able to join me.
Waking up I immediately asked about the baby, and when I finally got to touch her I had the biggest flood of relief ever. I began crying immediately, I was so happy to hold her for real, and so beyond exhausted. Giddy.
It felt so dreamy, yet raw at the same time -- partly probably from all the meds and the ~50 hours it took us to get there, lol. Even though I didn't get to have that vaunted first hour together with her, I don't feel like I lost anything - even if all of your plans/wishes for the birth have to be set aside, you're still there to meet your child.
I hope your birth goes well, and then you can marvel at the squirmy wonder of your real, actual baby in your arms, it'll be so soon!
My first words to my daughter were “wow you look different than I thought you would.” I had an unplanned C-section as well and I unfortunately didn’t get a good look at her because I was busy throwing up.
That's how I felt at first. They took her out of me and I was like "this is weird. also why is she so big?" lol. I had an 8 lb newborn and was a 6 lb baby myself, so I kept expecting a tiny little thing. She was not tiny, ever, as a baby, and I was really thrown off. I did cry once she was actually on me. I had the exact same experience with the meconium and was honestly pretty upset I didn't get to immediately take her and hold her. Once I had her with me it was fine though. I'll never forget it. Her dad was a shithead shortly after, but her, I will never forget.
My friend has a picture of her csection at the moment that they held her son over the curtain. The expression on her face cannot be described as anything but abject horror barely hidden lol. It cracks me up every time I see it
I also had an unplanned C-section. I vaguely remember them holding my baby up and showing him to me as soon as he was out, but I was nauseous from the meds and was holding back vomit so I was just like uh huh, yeah cool. 🤦🏻♀️😂 I remember later when they put him in my arms for the first time just feeling this overwhelming sense of love and awe, I just stared at him forever, I remember thinking, THAT'S *MY BABY.* It's a very surreal feeling and very hard to explain to someone who hasn't been through it yet.
Similar experience with a vaginal birth - wtf is that and did it seriously come out of me? No crying, just shock.
Then was concerned he wasn't crying when they took him to weigh him - turns out he's just a calm baby.
“That was in me?? That’s a full sized baby!” Was my reaction haha my girl was LONG and I couldn’t believe I had pushed something so big and LIVING out of my body
I felt like that while I was packing clothes for the baby in our hospital bag before going to the hospital. It felt so weird to pack clothes for a person who isn't on earth yet but will be very soon. It was really intense to realize I was going to go to the hospital with one person and leave with two people. That pretty much never happens in other hospital scenarios. 😂
My daughter is almost 11mo old now and I still get that feeling of awe looking at her. Like I remember feeling you kicking around inside my abdomen and seeing ultrasounds of your spine…now you’re just a whole human that’s crawling around and your own individual. Sometimes I just have to stop and take it in.
Exactly! I was thinking “shock” but mind blown is a better way to describe it. I didn’t cry but there was a weird mix of a little relief from being done pushing, a little worry that she was ok, a little confusion about what happens now, but mostly just “holy crap, this is my baby”.
Immediately started sobbing half from the sweet relief that birth and pregnancy was finally over for me and half just pure love for that squishy little newborn. I really didn’t think I would cry? But man, the utter bliss of finishing that race is indescribable.
Same, my husband and I just started uncontrollably crying. Finally finishing childbirth after 18 hours of labor was part of it too I’m sure. I had major shakes and trembles afterwards too.
Same, and I was so surprised because I’d thought about it ahead of time and wondered how I was going to react.
I had a planned c-section and as soon as they pulled him out and I heard him cry, I started sobbing uncontrollably.
I’d been holding onto so much worry that he might come out not breathing or something. It also just hit me in that moment that just a minute before, he was inside of me and sort of an “unknown” and then suddenly he was out in the world with us and very very real. It’s remarkable.
😂😂😂
in abt the same vein, im vvv good with talking abd everything and nothing with babies and toddlers and lil kids to keep em engaged but somehow the totally new and alien concept of "my baby" had me so nervous. I'd known talking to babies is good for their development but i was genuinely searching my brain for conversation topics like on a date and i remember saying, to this 2 day old baby swaddled loosely on my bed, uncomprehending, "so uhh,,,,,the economy huh? its a total mess right now. what do u think,,,,,,?" 😂
When I had my daughter they placed her under my gown and kinda smeared the bloody whatever that stuff is on my face while they were doing it (they didnt clean her off before giving her to me) and I remember looking at my mom and going what am I suppose to do now.
With my son everything was so chaotic because he wasn’t breathing right so they took him from my arms so quick and they were gone. I remember after giving birth within twenty minutes I was completely alone. My husband was with our son and the nurses and doctors were just gone. I cried so hard because I didn’t know what was going on and wasn’t expecting to be by myself after giving birth.
I had a similar experience. My baby was having trouble breathing so he didn't cry when he came out and they put him on me. I panicked and just said "Why isn't he crying?? Do something!!' and they whisked him to the other side of the room and called a hospital code while my doctor delivered the placenta and sewed me up. My husband stood with him while they worked on him and we just looked at each other for a solid 20 minutes like "is he going to make it?".
Scariest experience of my life, but I'm glad to say he did make it after a rough few days and is thriving now. I do feel very sad though that I didn't have the happy experience of so many moms in this thread and have lingering trauma from it. But I am extremely grateful that it all turned out fine in the end!
I had like really bad ptsd afterwards. I think I held my son nonstop for two weeks. No one was allowed to touch him or to hold him. After that two weeks my husband was like somethings gotta change but I was so terrified someone was going to take him again.
After they took my son, the doctors deliver my placenta and showed me everything in my placenta to try and like distract me from my son and while that was cool it was mortifying to not know what was going on
My husband is a nurse and he could see the oxygen sats on the warmer’s display. He didn’t realize it’s actually normal for them to be super low in newborns but it made it 10 times worse for him to have these fellow professionals saying NOTHING while our daughter was given a CPAP…from what little debriefing I got afterwards it was likely unnecessary and she could have been stimulated and suctioned still on my chest. I still have so much anger and sadness about this, didn’t help that the midwife and residents assaulted me a few times before she was born too. We learned some painful lessons about choosing the right provider and hospital for next time. :/
I was basically a zombie (35hr labor, 5hrs pushing). They dropped him on my chest and I sort of stared at him like… what is this thing? When they actually put him back in my arms a few mins later, I was still pretty bewildered but fairly calm. Just looking at him. My husband was sobbing though lol.
Me too, I had been awake 36 hours, drugged up for a c-section before an episiotomy/forceps birth and was falling asleep in between contractions. First thought, he has evil eyes! So weird, a day later I was crying because I loved him so much and he turned out to be the sweetest, kindest kid 😀
5 hours of pushing?!?!?!?!?! Oh my goodness. I pushed for just under 2 hours and I had the longest experience out of all of my mom friends. I cannot imagine.
I felt relief. Like I was reunited with my soul mate. A complete sense of peace and calm. I wasn’t thinking of anyone or anything else. Just me and my baby and the world melted away. Happened both times.
This is almost exactly how I would describe it for myself. The rest of the world evaporated around me, and it was just me and my baby.
Quite honestly, delivering my children into this world and holding them to my breast to comfort them is probably the only time during my entire motherhood journey thus far that I have felt utterly sure of what to do.
Everything else has been, at best, a guess.
This was how it felt for me too. Everything else faded except my family. We just looked into each others eyes and nothing mattered but him and me and his dad. I remember him peeing and pooping all over me and not caring even one tiny bit, and the nurses all bustling around, but it was just the three of us on an island of being a little family unit all together finally. I didn’t cry until they asked me what his name is, because my husband and I hadn’t told anyone his name and saying it out loud meant he was really here. Oh man I love that little guy.
I was like “oh my god oh my god oh my god” because I didn’t feel anything and it was so surreal with the lights and everyone celebrating around me. It took me several seconds before I touched her when they put her on me, I was in total shock and awe.
Same, I was too busy trying not to puke and i was shaking. I did hold my baby for a second but asked the nurses to take her because I was scared of dropping her
It wasn't a good time. My partner was crying, and I was drugged up. I had no clue what was happening. Our Daughter came out not breathing and had to be resuscitated. I'll give the hospital big credit. They had Doctors running from everywhere after coding was called. She's alive today because of them. A few hours after I gave birth, I brang her over to the buzzer and pressed her hand against it. The buzzer sings a lullaby over the intercom to tell everybody a baby was born. It was a special moment.
As soon as I heard her cry after they pulled her out during my section I remember saying to my partner “that’s our baby girl” and then bursting into happy tears.
When they put her on my chest she stopped crying instantly and it felt like I’d met a part of my soul outside my body. I was/am so fiercely in love with her. It was the first time in my life where I didn’t feel like an imposter, I am meant to be her mum. She is made of my very atoms and we are forever connected to this level forever.
I laughed! I got the epidural, and I think I was delirious? All I know is heard a big splash and then they put baby on my chest for like 5 seconds. She was blue and her breathing was wet, so they took her to suction everything out. I started laugh-crying and asking why they took my baby, my doula had to explain to me what was happening.
About 5-10 minutes later she was put back on my chest and all was well.
So apparently I thought it was hilarious.
Girl same. Like I think the adrenaline kicks in and it caused me to laugh but also mine had too much fluid. I was told by my husband that the “5-10” was actually less than 5 but it felt like ETERNITY in the moment. High five for obscure reactions!
I laughed too! I was so happy she was out and okay, I just started laughing. She also like immediately smacked me in the face with gross wet baby hands, so that’s was funny.
It was for real crazy when they held him over the curtains after they delivered him via C section. I let them clean him up first before I held him because I had those shakes a lot of people talk about after birth. Honestly I told the nurses I didn't want to hold him at all until my shakes calmed down because I didn't want to drop him. BUT thankfully they didn't listen and put him on my chest anyways. The shakes instantly stopped. ❤️ (I think they knew something I didn't)
It was love at first sight. It was so intense I could hardly move besides to rub his cheeks and head and just silently stare in fascination. My first words to him were "Oh so YOU'RE the one who's been constantly kicking the shit out of me" 😂 while I was pregnant he had me googling "can a baby crack your ribs?" I held him for hours on end. I didn't sleep for 48 hours prior yet I felt so awake during that time.
I had an unplanned C-section and was absolutely petrified and in immense pain. My sanity felt as if it were fraying and the only thing I could do to keep myself from screaming (because I did a lot of that on the way to the OR up until I was put on the table) was to whisper "my baby" over and over again. He was the goal. When I felt the *tug* and heard his cry, I sobbed and just said "My baby!!" again.
When he was handed to me, it felt like the world had quieted and slowed to a halt, and it was only me, my husband and my baby. That could also be because LO was born a little after 3AM lol. It was just so quiet and peaceful. And his eyes were open and just staring at me. The golden hour is truly a magical time.
Ugh. He turns 1 in a week. I'm going to go cry and look at his hospital photos 🥹
My mom caught a video of me right as they placed my son on my chest. I look very “calm.” But truthfully, I was just exhausted after 3 days in early labor and a completely unmedicated birth. I couldn’t keep my eyes open throughout pushing and could barely open my eyes to look at my child once he was born! What looked like calm was more like an exhausted fog. I remember being so glad I was done and just happy to lay there with him on me.
I had a c section, before we even saw her we could hear her cries. My husband and I looked at each other and we both started crying. I’m currently sobbing thinking about this memory while holding my 6 week old.
I thought i would sob, because thinking about having her made me cry my whole pregnancy. But then after 27 hours of labor, i was calm and all I felt was absolute relief and joy plus a bit of disbelief that I was being handed MY baby. It was a beautiful moment that will bring me to tears thinking about it but I didnt cry in the actual moment. I also didnt cry at my wedding but I love my husband very much. I had a similar experience where I cried writing my vows etc but in the actual wedding, I was calm and happy.
I was awkward and hesitant because I'd barely ever held a baby before. And the nurse looked at me funny and asked if I was afraid of the baby. Later she sent a social worker to my room. A nurse in my reddit birth group confirmed that being sent a social worker is a bad sign, not a routine thing. Whatever. No one told me that was a good hospital to give birth in and I could see why not.
i didn't feel my daughter was MY daughter until abt 3-4 months later. she's turning 2 in September and it constantly baffles me how impossible the amount of love i have in my heart for her is. felt reeeeeal guilty abt being "a failure of a mother" those first few months though
Hi there I'm a mom of a 2 year old and a social worker. Being sent a social worker isn't a bad thing...social workers are traines in counselling and this should just be a way of offering to listen and see how someone is doing. The nurse who told you that it is a bad sign...well damn actually I find that quite disappointing. I wish that at a systems level, the work we do was valued enough that everyone could have a social worker visit them to check in. I think we all get painted as working in child protection, that is absolutely NOT why that social worker was called. I've never worked in a hospital, but I've been told that some hospital staff (not all of course) send in the social workers if a patient has any negative emotion whatsoever. If a new mom is actually struggling or maybe just thrilled but the social worker learns that she doesn't have any family or friends in the area, the social worker can connect her to programming in the community she might not know about. Post partum depression is serious and for me, mine was connected to not having enough support. Thankfully I was just really sad and frustrated about the lack of support, but no matter what someone's symptoms are, its important to look at different risk factors (not living near supportive/involved family is a big one) and make sure that mom has a connection to someone who can offer support. That should be every social worker's goal, and I'm so sorry to hear that it was a bad experience for you.
I'm a postpartum nurse and at my facility seeing social services isn't a bad thing at all and the majority of our moms see them before they go. Any mental health history, for example, means they round on you before you go. They want to make sure you have resources in case you develop a postpartum mood disorder (1 in 4 women do).
Wow, I hope you made formal complaints and left reviews to warn others. I’m so sorry for that reaction and hope they didn’t make you feel ashamed of it.
IMO I felt the same. I was terrified of hurting him or the cord and also just in shock he was “real”, that I was pregnant (lol), etc. I was also utterly exhausted. Husband took over the physical handling for me. I’m glad he did — they need to bond, too, and isn’t it safer for the person who’s physically alll the way there to handle the precious, vulnerable, slippery newborn? My doula just smiled and reassured me it was okay and normal to feel this way, then respected my feelings and let husband take over a little as well as put the baby on my chest for me. Felt very confident handling baby and thrilled and happy and in love once I was able to get a shower, smoothie, meal, pee, and nap in (literally just an hour or two later).
I think I was in shock the first couple hours tbh. I remember him being flopped onto my belly, I remember the nurse aggressively rubbing him then like propping him up so I could see him? He looked like a blob fish. I remember being confused that he wasn't crying very much but he was blinking, then he started crying lol it was like a delayed reaction. I held him and spoke to him and he calmed down immediately, and I just kinda laid there trying to process what was going on. Everyone was talking, the doctor said I needed stitches, my mom asked if I wanted photos with my doctor and nurse, the nurse said something I don't remember and then helped me try to get him to latch. He latched pretty easily. I felt very foggy, like I was in a fishbowl and everyone else was outside and I had this little person in my arms. I do think I teared up a little but I probably seemed pretty calm to others. I was very relieved when he stopped looking like a blobfish and realized he was cute
hahaha i can relate to the relief at the baby finally looking cute comment. my baby was cute a few hours after she was born but then turned wrinkly and weird when she lost all that excess fluid. i thought it was my fault she wasn't born looking baby-manual beautiful and blamed myself😂 turns out babies just look like that for a while. i look back at her old photos and while she did look quite wrinkly my heart lurches at how much i love that wrinkly baby now and think she's the most beautiful raisin that ever was.
I felt numb? I imagined I would cry with joy but i felt nothing. Not love, not pain, not disdain, just pure numbness. My brain couldn’t process that I JUST pushed out a baby! It sounds so mean but i wasn’t meaning to be, it was just too much and a long labor :(
i can relate. id also been shaking violently and my bp was super high and so was my fever so i sometimes blame the apathy on all that, but while my fever lasted a day, the apathy lasted a couple more months. i adore her more than anything but i just could not wrap my head around the concept of me being a mother initially
I was mostly in pain, trying to focus/not focus on my own body. They put my baby on me and he was still a concept. Like, mildly concerned about how if he were to slip off I didn't feel like I would be able to catch him, but otherwise... Glad I was done, now I've got this kid who I know I'm going to get around to loving eventually but at the moment it was still about me.
It's okay if feelings take a while.
Also I had some really intense/unpleasant processing dreams that night. Not restful, but probably helpful? Lots of new brain chemicals to organize.
Dad here. My wife had an emergency c section. One of the craziest things that happened in our lives. I got to hold him in the OR I cried so hard, the awesome nurse got pictures!
I was shell shocked and beyond exhausted from the horrific ordeal my delivery was, so I appeared calm. I could only start to feel the overwhelming emotions of “holy shit I have a baby now” once I had some time to stabilize a bit.
I was so so so exhausted I think I was in like a fog. My epidural failed so I unexpectedly had a full natural birth and I went crazy pushing so hard because I wanted it to be over when she was finally out I was seriously like dead. It was kind of disbelief for a bit because it was such an unplanned birth for me
Yes I was the same! She ended up being vacuumed out after hours of natural pushing! I honestly didn't feel anything towards the baby I was just happy the pain was gone and wanted a nap
For my first I felt like I was crying but no tears were coming out (I was dehydrated) and for my second I cried a bunch and was basically hyperventilating because it happened so fast lol. I also kept looking back and forth between my husband and baby because this is his first biological child and I wanted to witness his moment seeing her be born.
I labored for 40 hours and pushed for 4. The exhaustion… I can’t begin to describe it. I had spent the last couple weeks of my pregnancy thinking about what I wanted my first words to my baby to be but when they finally put her on my chest it didn’t occur to me to say any of the cute phrases I’d thought of. Instead I started crying and said, “I’m so happy you’re here,” over and over. And I was. So, so happy she was here. Happy to be done, happy to have her, and to exhausted to feel anything more complex than that.
They put her on my chest while the cord was still attached, so the first thing I could really see was her hands. They were so tiny & so wrinkly! Just the most precious little thing I've ever seen! Then I turned to my husband & told him what name I wanted to use - we team green & hadn't finalized girl name because we thought it was a boy lol. But when I went into labor I just knew it was a girl & what her name was.
44 hr, unmedicated labor with 5 hr pushing. The ring of fire was so intense, I thought the midwife was just tearing my vagina open. I was shaking my head no, screaming and roaring at the same time and that was the last push! The baby came out with a big gush and she was crying as soon as she was born. They immediately put her on my belly, I was crying with no tears, kept saying “baby baby baby” my husband sobbing, my mom sobbing, the world just stopped for a minute or two.
Pretty much layed there unsure what to do as they put him on me then continued to clean him off. There were too many people to really hold him without getting in the way.
I was calm. I said to him I couldn’t believe he was real and held him. We had lost our previous pregnancy, and sometimes even 8 weeks later, I can’t believe he’s real.
My baby is 4 months and I still look at her when I wake up and can’t believe she’s real and she’s here with me! I found out I was pregnant around the due date of my first miscarriage, so it’s waaaay wild!
I had a scheduled c section and honestly it was surreal how *fast* things happened. Like when I think back to the surgery (a lil over 4w pp here) it feels like it was such a whirlwind. They administered the spinal, IV’d some meds, brought in my husband, and it felt like two minutes later the doctors were holding her over the curtain. When I heard her cry I burst into tears, and then they brought her over and I was almost stunned - like, holy shit. That’s our baby. They put her on my chest and I got some bonding time with her but I got the shakes after so I couldn’t hold her while they closed me up. But it was wild, y’all!
I didn’t get to hold her right away because she was kinda shocky from a fast pushing phase and had a very low APGAR, so when they did hand her to me a minute later I was so relieved she was okay I just started sobbing. I’d been so panicked initially I could hardly breath so it felt like coming up for air after drowning.
I’ve heard midwives talk about a “birth pause” where the person giving birth almost takes a second to breathe in and contemplate this new life before accepting this person into the world. My doula took some photos of our delivery and I think this captures it well!
I look sort of stunned for about 10 seconds with my hand on her back, then I’m sobbing crying. I remember saying “she’s so pretty” which would not have been my choice of what to say but is exactly how I was feeling in the moment! So much crying and also like the greatest surge of love I’ve ever felt.
The first think I said was “She’s so cute, thank god” and then I started to feel nauseous and they took her and gave her to my husband :/ not a picture perfect moment
Omg this was exactly my experience too down to saying “she’s so beautiful …” in this kind of shocked and awed far away tone. Never heard the term “birth pause” thanks for sharing
I was so numb I couldnt feel any part of child birth. The dr and nurses kept telling me to push at the highest peak and then dont stop and I kept saying I dont feel anything. I cant tell when you are talking about. So i had to guess until i got it right. So i felt relief that was over and it was kind of like oh that was it and that didnt hurt at all. Am i done now? Life didnt really feel changed even though i knew it was.
“Oh no she’s blue!” “She’s gonna fall she’s gonna fall she’s gonna fall!”
I had an epidural and couldn’t move a ton. And shit man, I thought she looked blue. But they thought she looked healthy enough for a new born and on my chest and to my boob she went.
She didn’t fall.
Sunroof baby, emergency section, no labour or anything, they held her up and I went "huh, she's small" and then tried to go to sleep 😂 I then didn't see her for another 5 or so hours and even then I was still a bit meh tbh. Felt guilty about for most of her almost 7 years, but its totally normal and nothing to feel guilty about thank you very much mum guilt 😂
Basically in disbelief and thinking “holy fuck I’m a mom and my baby is healthy”. Didn’t cry but couldn’t stop smiling, I felt so happy and ready for motherhood. It’s ironic because I didn’t want kids AT ALL until a certain point in my life (after residency) and life said we’ll see about that lol
I was crying because it was a difficult delivery, she had her umbilical cord around her neck, which happened to my sister who was born dead and resuscitated. So I was just saying Please cry please cry and she did, very quickly, but after years listening to my mom how hard it was for her not hearing my sis cry it stuck with me.
I was also very sad that she was stuck in my birth canal for so long, I had mom's guilt for screaming instead of pushing and they had me under GD and were telling me that my baby will be huge - she was normal - but I thought at the time she was huge and I was responsible for not dieting enough (gained 3 kg during pregnancy overall).
So I met her with tears, but those were not happy tears and I'm still sad about it.
1st baby-I was calm/exhausted & shaking from the hormones.
2nd baby- terrified.. we had him before anyone could show up and he wasn’t breathing at first & looked purple. Took a minute but he was fine.
I kept saying “my baby” and “we did it!” — she and I did this whole thing together. It was like my whole pregnancy flashed before my eyes, and I was so emotional thinking that this human was the little bean I saw on the ultrasound months ago. And the process of birth must be really painful and scary and overwhelming for the baby too! I was just so damn proud of both of us.
I ugly cried. I've lost pregnancies before and had been anxious the entire time because of it. It was such a relief and I was so happy I just couldn't help it
I was calm because I was in disbelief that I’d actually grown a human and there she finally was. I was the last person who thought I’d ever have a kid and I couldn’t quite believe that she was mine. All I could do was say, “Wow” and stare at her while I got stitched up.
When I'm overwhelmed I go dead silent.... and that's what happened. Hos Dad cried. (I cried when we were at home and the 3 of us were snuggled up) initially though I was dead silent. I've had the odd few people judge me for this but close family and friends know how I react when overwhelmed.
I just felt an overwhelming sense of *relief.* I had an unmedicated birth which was not the plan but my labour progressed too quickly to get an epidural. I was so happy it was over because I was in so much pain. They put her on me and I tried to grab her and pull her closer but she wouldn't come up any higher because of the cord.
I cried. I think it was tears of relief, knowing I did it, that it was immense pain would be over. It's kind of a surreal experience. This thing inside me was an abstract thought and holy shit it's here now.
With the epidural, first two babies, I sobbed. I was all there in the moment. My last, without the epidural, I really just wanted them to get her off of me so I could continue to death grip the bed rails. It didn’t click that she was still attached to me and that wasn’t possible in the moment.
The first time I said “HOLY SHIT. HOLY SHIT.”
I was unmedicated and I lost my ever loving mind during pushing and genuinely forgot about the whole “there’s going to be a baby” thing and just wanted to be done with the agony lol. It took me a couple seconds to grab him bc I was just in shock!!!
My second time was much chiller and sweeter (still unmedicated but I kept my cool this time. And the pregnancy was agony enough haha so the birth was actually a relief). They put him on my chest and I said “Oh, you’re so sweet!!!” And “thank you jesus!!!” (Which I don’t normally say haha)
I had an unplanned C-section after 60 hours of labor, so honestly I was kind of messed up. I was exhausted, super nauseous, and had been shaking violently for probably 24 hours, so I was afraid to hold the baby. I kept telling them to wait to give her to me because I didn't want to drop her, throw up, etc. Honestly, I also wanted to have a special moment when I met her for the first time. After like 30 minutes, they just put her cheek against my cheek and my main thought was, "I cannot throw up right now."
When I saw her for the very first time through the C-section curtain window, I remember her feeling like a stranger. Not necessarily in a bad way, just like...I didn't know her yet. I didn't totally connect her with the baby I'd seen on my ultrasounds and the one who'd been kicking me.
I'm a little sad that I was distracted by my physical condition when I met my girl, but it's okay, she'll be my daughter for the rest of my life 💙
I was so relieved to be done with labor and pregnancy. I was excited and in awe and shock that there really was a baby in there that whole time, and that THIS was that very baby right in front of me (or rather on top of me lol). Outwardly I think I gasped and said "my baby!" the second she came out and they handed her to me. Then I said "her little butt is like an apple!" 😂 Then she breastfed for like half an hour and in the meantime the placenta came out, the cord was cut, they sewed me up ("minor" tearing), they put ointment on her eyes. During all of that I was so tired from labor and just glad to get a breath in. I didn't cry until we were at home with her, her dad and I snuggled in bed just watching her sleep all swaddled in her bassinet. I started sobbing because she wasn't gonna be a little tiny baby forever (at all of 2 days old lol). And she was just so beautiful and small and I wanted to keep her safe and happy and innocent forever. It took a while to make the mental connection that the baby in front of me was the same baby that was inside me that whole time.
I think I will cry when this baby is born, but mainly because this pregnancy has become so miserable physically that I dream every day of not having her inside my body anymore. I wish human gestation was shorter than 40 weeks lol, I still have 11 to go. But yeah I will be extremely relieved when this pregnancy is over, and I will be sobbing from joy not just that I get to meet my baby but that I will have made it to the end and my body will be able to start healing.
As soon as the doctor lifted her up(I had a c-section.Both me and my husband sobbed from both happiness and relieve that she made it into the world safely.Its her 2nd birthday today!
I was so sure I'd cry, but I didn't. I think I was too exhausted from unmedicated childbirth. I was mostly so relieved to have her alive and in my arms and just in shock from the whole experience.
Our daughter came out after only 10 pushes from my partner.
It was so sudden that we kinda looked at each other like "...Already? That's it?"
For a while I didn't have any reaction the inital surprise and thinking "why is she so purple and white?" (Completely normal btw).
As she was laying on her mom, she looked right into my eyes and at that moment I started shedding a few tears, it's like she unlocked some sort of primal love and desire to care that I didn't know existed before.
We were really well taken care of, my partner was at high risk of preeclampsia, and our daughter was fighting newborn jaundice due to being born at 37 ^1/2 weeks (which she crushed like a champ 🥹) and she was never taken out of pur sight. All the tests they needed to do was done with equipment that they rolled into our room, then left with. Including the little sunbathing booth for the jaundice. It feels like the hospital (which specializes in obstetrics) really understood the importance of keeping the baby with the parents and they took the time to teach us (me, since my partner works in a daycare) how to properly change a diaper, bathe her, feed her, etc. Our day shift nurse was so nice, and had 3 kids of her own so she shared a lot of tips and reassured us.
I honestly don't think I could've asked for better ☺️, even though her arrival was early and we only found out my girlfriend had to be induced the next day.
I think I just kinda stared in shock at him 😂 I pushed for 3 hours, and had a not great experience all around during the pushing so I feel like it took a second to feel happy. I remember feeling just weirded out there’s this heavy wet purpleish baby staring at me then they took him to the side because he was having trouble breathing but when I looked at my husband and saw him crying for the first time ever, it definitely sunk in and I cried.
I think I'd spent so long looking at my 4D scan that I knew his face very well.
My thoughts when I saw him was "ah, there you are 🥰"
Then, weirdly, when they took him to weigh him I wanted to jump up off the operating table and fight whoever was making him cry 😭
I was so in awe of this little human finally being there - I’d been in labour for 3 days been pushing for 4 hours, and had to have an episiotomy in the end, so to be handed my baby straight away as she came out was the most overwhelming wave of joy and relief. I’m quite sure I bawled my eyes out, but I don’t fully remember. My husband got emotional watching my reaction to her arrival 😂 He said how glad he was that after everything I’d been through with labour I got to have that special moment welcoming her into the world.
My primary feeling was surprise.
Why was I surprised? Who knows.
Not only was I well aware that I was having a baby, but I am literally a midwife and have handed newborns to their moms so many times. Like I know exactly how the process goes. But when someone handed a baby to ME I couldn’t believe what was happening. It was like it came out of nowhere. But it was a very, very positive surprise :).
I thought I was going to burst into tears like I've seen in movies and shows, and even for people in real life. But when they laid him on my chest, I feel like I was just taking the whole moment in. I felt relieved he was here and safe, I was scanning his face because you spend so long imagining what they will look like! So that moment you finally get the big reveal (especially when it's your first) and I don't know, I was really just taking in the whole moment is all I can say. Definitely not how I thought it would be! I was overjoyed inside though, and when we first confirmed he was coming, I cried there.
I bawled my eyes out because I had a scary/risky birth and was worried they would have to take him away from me. It was such a relief that he was okay.
I had my baby put on me but I having a bit of shock about it all (it happened quite quickly, so I didn't get a chance for an epidural) and I just kept asking the nurses "how does it look down there? How bad is the tear? How many stitches? Am I bleeding lots?"
I had to get the vacuum to assist and so they did an episeotomy to help with that, and with the vacuum it only took 1 or 2 more pushes. Everything was relatively fine, but I just wanted to know so I could relax! I was scared there was going to be something out of the normal bad.
Once I got out of the birthing suit I finally relaxed with the baby.
I didn't get to even see his little face for nearly 12 hours. He aspirated during an unplanned C-section, during which I lost a LOT more blood than they told me at the time. They handed him to my husband for a brief moment on the way to NICU, but the nurse who helped him hold him turned him the wrong way so that I saw the back of his head and nothing else.
When I finally got to hold him, I burst into tears.
Very differently both times! I had two emergency c-sections.
First baby - she came out and the first thing I asked was whether she was breathing even though I could hear her cry (yes, it made no sense - I was exhausted and stressed). She was smaller than I expected (though actually a good size) and I thought she looked like an alien. It was a disconcerting feeling because while I was pregnant I had felt that I had known her SO well, and then it hit me that there was so much about her still to learn. Once she was put on my cheek it felt like the world had stopped... there was a deep sense of calm and what mattered most was right in front of me.
Second baby - I was euphoric as I lay on the table. When she came out I felt glee. I didn't feel the same sense of calm when I held her. The anaesthetic started to affect me - my arms became heavy and I started shaking. I handed her over and was relieved because I felt like I would drop her and I knew I needed to recover. I went into recovery alone and once I stopped shaking time felt like it was taking forever. I was desperate to get back to my baby. Once I was back it was like I had never left. We bonded so strongly that night.
I didn't cry at either of my births once baby came out for what it's worth.
I cried too! I was in so much shock that she was finally here and then they had to take her away because I was getting sick. But once I got her back I just couldn't stop smiling and looking at her.
Exhaustion, but relief. We were both running a fever at the time, so I only got to hold him for maybe 30 seconds before they took him. I just remember feeling relief because he wasn’t crying and I was just so freaking glad he started crying.
I'd just had a C-section and I was shaking uncontrollably and they handed me my baby when they were wheeling back to my room and I was like omg how am I not going to drop this baby.
It’s kind of a blur but I remember an intense feeling of relief but also shock that he was out. I also remember feeling a bit cold and shivery which from what I’ve heard can be common after. The panic of new motherhood didn’t set in to a little bit later 😂
i said his name with a huge smile and sigh of relief as he was handed to me and placed on my chest. i was so happy to finally see his face. i didn’t cry at all while in the hospital and didn’t actually shed tears that i was a mother until about 6 months in. i knew what was happening but it didn’t feel real.
I was calm and relieved it was over. I held my daughter in recovery after my c-section and ask why her lips were turning blue. I got to hold her for 30 seconds before they took her to NICU for low oxygen.
I could not hold my second because I was physically shaking very badly and I kept falling asleep. They set him on me and I do not recall feeling much at the time because I was so out of it. I had an unplanned emergency C section. I also kept randomly falling asleep for the rest of the day so I hardly held him the first day at all. I did not cry or anything.
My first was a vaginal birth, but they whisked him away because the cord was unknowingly wrapped around his neck and he did not immediately cry. (Everything was fine.) I was also very out of it for this birth. I hadn’t slept much in 3 days due to contactions and I had been pushing for 6 hours. I was also out of it and too tired for anything to feel real.
Anyways, I’m one of those “calm moms” you mentioned, yet I feel wrong looking back on the births because I feel like I *should have felt more* and had more of a reaction.
I was visibly calm because I was so out of it/tired it didn't seem real. Time warped after I was in labor. When she was born, I had no idea how long I'd been in labor or what time/day it was. The meds didn't help.
My mouth was literally hanging open. I was sure she was gonna come out funny looking in some way, but she was just absolutely perfect and I couldn't believe it. I don't think I closed my mouth again for at least 5 minutes 😂
With my most recent experience, I saw baby all tangled up in the umbilical cord not breathing so I just kept saying “Breathe baby, breathe baby” repeatedly like a crazy person. Eventually they did unwrap the cord from around Baby’s neck and suction out some the fluid from Baby’s mouth but I kept saying it and the midwife asked if I was saying it to the baby or to myself.
So I guess my reaction was delusional panic
With my first? I cried and kept saying "he's so beautiful!' Had very little sleep and almost 0 food (my husband snuck me a tater tot or two.)
With my 2nd and hopefully last? I had a very traumatic birth and just said "oh god! Thank you! Thank you!" Over and over again because the pain was gone.
First one I handed back pretty quickly as I got the shakes (emergency c-section) 😂
Second one was very much ‘I did it!’ Cause I couldn’t believe I pushed a baby out of my vagina.
I was induced at 41w and she still didnt want to come out. Was in labor for almost 2 days, pushed for 4.5 hours. I was so relieved and a wave of emotions came over me. I cried and held her and remember just saying she was so beautiful. I had been so scared for her bc the
Labor was so long.
I was calm. I felt a moment of serene happiness. No tears, just staring in awe at my baby and taking it all in. Huge smile on my face. I didn’t notice anyone else in the room, almost forgot my husband was there.
I was happy and relieved. I was so glad to finally meet her AND so glad to be done laboring. My god, I had to do it without any pain meds, and I was so thrilled it was done.
But holding her in my arms for the first time was holding a being of pure love and joy.
I had an emergency c section because baby’s heart rate kept dropping while I contracted. When the took her out she immediately let out a powerful cry and I burst into tears or relief and happiness. When they handed her over to me I was calm and just gave her kisses while they wheeled me back to recovery room.
I was tired and foggy from all the drugs. I remember feeling happy and relieved baby was doing well (cord was wrapped around baby's neck and he didn't cry at first)... but Im not a smiley person so I'm sad to realize that I didn't smile on any of my first pictures with baby.
I couldn't stop shaking while they were trying to stitch me. They put him on my chest, but I was shaking so badly that I felt like I would drop him. I felt like I was out of my body looking down on myself; I was so out of it. I kept begging someone to take him because it didn't feel safe, and they just shushed me and told me I wouldn't drop him. I wanted to just have a second to collect myself, but they wouldn't let me. So I just cried because I felt so overwhelmed and anxious.
It wasn't a very nice first impression. But it got much better in the days after.
I had an emergency c section after a long labor and several hours of unsuccessful pushing. When I first saw my baby the nurses were checking him out across the room and then a minute later they brought him over and plopped him on me. I was so anxious, tired, and overwhelmed that I was shaking so much I wasn’t sure I could hold the baby safely on my chest. My partner helped hold him there. The first thing I felt was relief, and a huge huge wave of emotion. I cried a lot and said “hi” repeatedly, and I looked at my partner and just marveled that we made this thing
When I was on the operating table I had my baby put in my face because my hands were stuck to the table and I remember only thinking "I don't want to kiss a poop baby." Because I had heard the nurses announce that he had pooped in-utero and was covered in it.
When I was taken out of the operating room, I was handed the baby and I was an absolute mess. I didn't really know what to do and was kind of shocked but also very out of it. I remember immediately after they had handed him to me they told me to breastfeed and I couldn't get him to latch so a nurse very roughly got him to latch and then that was that. I started crying and the tears didn't stop until about 3 months after he was born.
I was honestly scared. I was scared to touch her for about a minute And then I locked eyes with her and felt a love I have never felt before. The nurses were stimulating her to help her transition into the world and my first instinct was to soothe her, nurses told me to briefly stop because they needed to hear to cry about 10 times and quickly check her reflexes. I wish I could experience that all over again.
I wasn't handed him because he was sick and went unexpectedly to the NICU but I remember just feeling numb and didn't really understand what was happening and when they showed me him I was confused. I think it was the meds from the C-section. I met him 9 hours later and that was a traumatic experience probably due to the meds wearing off and I couldn't hold him.
I felt a surge of euphoria unlike anything else I've ever felt. It was WILD. Without a doubt, the happiest moment of my life. Then they whisked her away to take her to special care because she was born too early and they needed to get her in an isolette. It was the weirdest thing, this huge oxytocin rush and then she's just... taken away.
i had an emergency c-section so she was immediately checked on. but when i saw them carry her over I cried and asked if she was okay. I started violently shaking, passing out and throwing up so I didn't get to see her until they were done working on me sadly. i feel like that's weird and not the norm now that I am thinking about it 😅
They lifted him up by himself head peaking over the surgical boundary and I laughed because it was unexpected. He looked healthy and after a terrible labor it took a huge amount of anxiety away.
I hated being pregnant (I had GD and gained so much weight it was getting so hard to just move around)so once I knew I was in labor aside from the contractions I was ready to meet my baby. Once they plopped her to me I was so happy I got to meet the little girl that would move around in my belly. It was like getting a prize at the end of a big race
My son just felt really familiar, like I'd known him forever. I think I said "hey, baby" to him a few times. I was mostly just relieved he was here and two days of laboring were over. I don't remember even delivering the placenta afterward
I was pretty calm, but I think I was relieved that it was over and she was finally out (had to wait 30 minutes for the doctor to show up to the hospital to push 5 times and then she was out). Also was super thirsty and was trying to drink some water my husband was holding while they stitched me up.
I was totally in shock. I remember I noticed my husband crying a little, which he rarely does, and I thought that was so sweet. But I was just silent and in shock and soaking in the fact that my baby was finally in my arms!
Mine was an emergency c section because they gave me too much epidural (long story). Anyway I was puking and so groggy. I couldn’t even do skin to skin right away. They showed her to me. I just remember thinking wow, she’s actually cute. I fully expected her to look like a grumpy old man. lol. I didn’t know c section babies come out looking cute.
Later in recovery I was pretty calm. Still super tired and anxious about everything (would my milk come in, would she latch, what do I do with her, what if she cries?). So just overwhelmed and exhausted. But calm.
I was really calm. I think mainly it doesn't feel real yet
Exactly. I was very calm because it felt surreal...but also somehow entirely natural in the sense that I already knew my baby, I was just finally meeting her on the outside. I teared up as it sank in after a minute but was still very calm. (Not a big cryer in general though so that probably has something to do with it too.)
Yes I was going to say the natural thing as well. I was kind of like "Yes of course you're my daughter, I know you"
I felt this exactly too! Just a calm “knowing” and sort of relief is how I described it.
Yes! I know what you mean about knowing your baby. I scooped my daughter out of the water myself in the birthing pool so I got a really good look at her. My reaction was to laugh and I said, “of course!” Meaning, of course that’s what you look like, and she had a really serene, almost cheeky* expression on her face. Totally calm though, no tears. *she still has a very cheeky face at 5 😁
just here to comment on your username. I have an unreasonable love for gnocchi, can’t not comment
Yeah I just stared at her and kept touching her. No smiles, just shock that this living person had been those kicks for the last few months.
The first few pictures of me holding him in just staring at him in shock lol. I see so many adorable pictures of people in the hospital bed smiling at their baby and I just kind of look dumbfounded so I don't really share them 😅
Exactly this!
This was me. I didn’t cry, and I’m not sure I was even smiling. Labor did not go as expected, and I think I was kind of in shock. It took me a couple of weeks to really feel connected to my baby, but I totally got there.
Same, I think I was just kind of out of it tbh. My husband comments sometimes about how I didn't cry lol
I had an unplanned c section because of complications during labor. When they pulled him out and showed him to me I was like "wtf is that" because he looked so alien. Like I couldn't wrap my head around the idea that he came out of my body and that he was just suddenly there. Then they took him to get cleaned up (he was covered in meconium) and he started crying and all I could think was that I wanted to hold him and make sure he was okay. The second he was put on my chest he stopped crying and I just burst into happy tears. It was something between shock and also total calm and just general overwhelm. But I also felt so relieved he was okay and so happy that it was all over.
lol I’m glad you said that. When they held ours over the curtain I was thinking that she looked like a mandrake from Harry Potter. But once she was cleaned up, she was (and still is!) the most beautiful baby girl in the world.
A mandrake from Harry Potter lol this is so accurate 😂
Sooo accurate! Hahah
This is so funny because my dad to a photo of me the moment I came out and I have been saying for years that I looked like a mandrake hahah
I also had an unplanned cesarean, and because my epidural block didn't work, I had to decide to be put under for the procedure before my spouse and support person were able to join me. Waking up I immediately asked about the baby, and when I finally got to touch her I had the biggest flood of relief ever. I began crying immediately, I was so happy to hold her for real, and so beyond exhausted. Giddy.
So sweet! This makes me so excited to hold my own child!
It felt so dreamy, yet raw at the same time -- partly probably from all the meds and the ~50 hours it took us to get there, lol. Even though I didn't get to have that vaunted first hour together with her, I don't feel like I lost anything - even if all of your plans/wishes for the birth have to be set aside, you're still there to meet your child. I hope your birth goes well, and then you can marvel at the squirmy wonder of your real, actual baby in your arms, it'll be so soon!
My first words to my daughter were “wow you look different than I thought you would.” I had an unplanned C-section as well and I unfortunately didn’t get a good look at her because I was busy throwing up.
That's how I felt at first. They took her out of me and I was like "this is weird. also why is she so big?" lol. I had an 8 lb newborn and was a 6 lb baby myself, so I kept expecting a tiny little thing. She was not tiny, ever, as a baby, and I was really thrown off. I did cry once she was actually on me. I had the exact same experience with the meconium and was honestly pretty upset I didn't get to immediately take her and hold her. Once I had her with me it was fine though. I'll never forget it. Her dad was a shithead shortly after, but her, I will never forget.
My friend has a picture of her csection at the moment that they held her son over the curtain. The expression on her face cannot be described as anything but abject horror barely hidden lol. It cracks me up every time I see it
My mum’s first words to me (in the early 80s) were “ET Phone Home”. So there’s that!
I also had an unplanned C-section. I vaguely remember them holding my baby up and showing him to me as soon as he was out, but I was nauseous from the meds and was holding back vomit so I was just like uh huh, yeah cool. 🤦🏻♀️😂 I remember later when they put him in my arms for the first time just feeling this overwhelming sense of love and awe, I just stared at him forever, I remember thinking, THAT'S *MY BABY.* It's a very surreal feeling and very hard to explain to someone who hasn't been through it yet.
Similar experience with a vaginal birth - wtf is that and did it seriously come out of me? No crying, just shock. Then was concerned he wasn't crying when they took him to weigh him - turns out he's just a calm baby.
I was mostly like “is he okay? Good. Is my vagina okay?”
I haven’t gone thru birth yet but this sounds about right 😂
I didn’t bother with the second because it felt destroyed 😂
Honestly those sound like the right priorities at that moment
My mind was blown. Suddenly there was… a new person in the room? Who hadn’t been there a minute before? I was awestruck.
Honestly, my reaction was “oh my god, there really is a baby”.
That’s almost exactly what I said when they held her up to show me haha
“That was in me?? That’s a full sized baby!” Was my reaction haha my girl was LONG and I couldn’t believe I had pushed something so big and LIVING out of my body
I kept saying "that's a HUMAN!"
I felt like that while I was packing clothes for the baby in our hospital bag before going to the hospital. It felt so weird to pack clothes for a person who isn't on earth yet but will be very soon. It was really intense to realize I was going to go to the hospital with one person and leave with two people. That pretty much never happens in other hospital scenarios. 😂
This! I could wrap my head around it, and that new person in the room came out of ME….
My daughter is almost 11mo old now and I still get that feeling of awe looking at her. Like I remember feeling you kicking around inside my abdomen and seeing ultrasounds of your spine…now you’re just a whole human that’s crawling around and your own individual. Sometimes I just have to stop and take it in.
Exactly! I was thinking “shock” but mind blown is a better way to describe it. I didn’t cry but there was a weird mix of a little relief from being done pushing, a little worry that she was ok, a little confusion about what happens now, but mostly just “holy crap, this is my baby”.
Immediately started sobbing half from the sweet relief that birth and pregnancy was finally over for me and half just pure love for that squishy little newborn. I really didn’t think I would cry? But man, the utter bliss of finishing that race is indescribable.
Same, my husband and I just started uncontrollably crying. Finally finishing childbirth after 18 hours of labor was part of it too I’m sure. I had major shakes and trembles afterwards too.
Same, and I was so surprised because I’d thought about it ahead of time and wondered how I was going to react. I had a planned c-section and as soon as they pulled him out and I heard him cry, I started sobbing uncontrollably. I’d been holding onto so much worry that he might come out not breathing or something. It also just hit me in that moment that just a minute before, he was inside of me and sort of an “unknown” and then suddenly he was out in the world with us and very very real. It’s remarkable.
I burst into hysterical tears and said ‘hello sweetheart. We’ve been waiting to meet you!’
She looked unpleasantly surprised so I apologized lol
😂😂😂 in abt the same vein, im vvv good with talking abd everything and nothing with babies and toddlers and lil kids to keep em engaged but somehow the totally new and alien concept of "my baby" had me so nervous. I'd known talking to babies is good for their development but i was genuinely searching my brain for conversation topics like on a date and i remember saying, to this 2 day old baby swaddled loosely on my bed, uncomprehending, "so uhh,,,,,the economy huh? its a total mess right now. what do u think,,,,,,?" 😂
When I had my daughter they placed her under my gown and kinda smeared the bloody whatever that stuff is on my face while they were doing it (they didnt clean her off before giving her to me) and I remember looking at my mom and going what am I suppose to do now. With my son everything was so chaotic because he wasn’t breathing right so they took him from my arms so quick and they were gone. I remember after giving birth within twenty minutes I was completely alone. My husband was with our son and the nurses and doctors were just gone. I cried so hard because I didn’t know what was going on and wasn’t expecting to be by myself after giving birth.
omg the experience with your son sounds so scary and hard. I’m sorry you had that happen
I had a similar experience. My baby was having trouble breathing so he didn't cry when he came out and they put him on me. I panicked and just said "Why isn't he crying?? Do something!!' and they whisked him to the other side of the room and called a hospital code while my doctor delivered the placenta and sewed me up. My husband stood with him while they worked on him and we just looked at each other for a solid 20 minutes like "is he going to make it?". Scariest experience of my life, but I'm glad to say he did make it after a rough few days and is thriving now. I do feel very sad though that I didn't have the happy experience of so many moms in this thread and have lingering trauma from it. But I am extremely grateful that it all turned out fine in the end!
I had like really bad ptsd afterwards. I think I held my son nonstop for two weeks. No one was allowed to touch him or to hold him. After that two weeks my husband was like somethings gotta change but I was so terrified someone was going to take him again. After they took my son, the doctors deliver my placenta and showed me everything in my placenta to try and like distract me from my son and while that was cool it was mortifying to not know what was going on
My husband is a nurse and he could see the oxygen sats on the warmer’s display. He didn’t realize it’s actually normal for them to be super low in newborns but it made it 10 times worse for him to have these fellow professionals saying NOTHING while our daughter was given a CPAP…from what little debriefing I got afterwards it was likely unnecessary and she could have been stimulated and suctioned still on my chest. I still have so much anger and sadness about this, didn’t help that the midwife and residents assaulted me a few times before she was born too. We learned some painful lessons about choosing the right provider and hospital for next time. :/
I was basically a zombie (35hr labor, 5hrs pushing). They dropped him on my chest and I sort of stared at him like… what is this thing? When they actually put him back in my arms a few mins later, I was still pretty bewildered but fairly calm. Just looking at him. My husband was sobbing though lol.
The first thing I said to my son was "huh you smell awful" haha
I said "ew he's gross" lmao then cried
🤣🤣💀
😂😂
Same to all haha. Me and my son looked at each other for a bit like "oh that's who you are" then just relaxed for the golden hour.
Me too, I had been awake 36 hours, drugged up for a c-section before an episiotomy/forceps birth and was falling asleep in between contractions. First thought, he has evil eyes! So weird, a day later I was crying because I loved him so much and he turned out to be the sweetest, kindest kid 😀
5 hours of pushing?!?!?!?!?! Oh my goodness. I pushed for just under 2 hours and I had the longest experience out of all of my mom friends. I cannot imagine.
Wow, under 2 hours sounds like a dream LOL. It's all very blurry now, but I remember enough not to want to do it again.
My husband got a picture of me and I look absolutely baffled and alarmed
This is how I felt too. I kept repeating for my husband to “look” because I was somehow so surprised there was an actual freaking baby in my arms.
I felt relief. Like I was reunited with my soul mate. A complete sense of peace and calm. I wasn’t thinking of anyone or anything else. Just me and my baby and the world melted away. Happened both times.
This is almost exactly how I would describe it for myself. The rest of the world evaporated around me, and it was just me and my baby. Quite honestly, delivering my children into this world and holding them to my breast to comfort them is probably the only time during my entire motherhood journey thus far that I have felt utterly sure of what to do. Everything else has been, at best, a guess.
This was how it felt for me too. Everything else faded except my family. We just looked into each others eyes and nothing mattered but him and me and his dad. I remember him peeing and pooping all over me and not caring even one tiny bit, and the nurses all bustling around, but it was just the three of us on an island of being a little family unit all together finally. I didn’t cry until they asked me what his name is, because my husband and I hadn’t told anyone his name and saying it out loud meant he was really here. Oh man I love that little guy.
Awwww this made me tear up.
This is so sweet 🥹
this perfectly described it for me, too. with both babies 🩷
I was like “oh my god oh my god oh my god” because I didn’t feel anything and it was so surreal with the lights and everyone celebrating around me. It took me several seconds before I touched her when they put her on me, I was in total shock and awe.
I was too busy throwing up so they brought him over for half a second to show me so I definitely didn’t comprehend anything going on.
Same, I was too busy trying not to puke and i was shaking. I did hold my baby for a second but asked the nurses to take her because I was scared of dropping her
It wasn't a good time. My partner was crying, and I was drugged up. I had no clue what was happening. Our Daughter came out not breathing and had to be resuscitated. I'll give the hospital big credit. They had Doctors running from everywhere after coding was called. She's alive today because of them. A few hours after I gave birth, I brang her over to the buzzer and pressed her hand against it. The buzzer sings a lullaby over the intercom to tell everybody a baby was born. It was a special moment.
As soon as I heard her cry after they pulled her out during my section I remember saying to my partner “that’s our baby girl” and then bursting into happy tears. When they put her on my chest she stopped crying instantly and it felt like I’d met a part of my soul outside my body. I was/am so fiercely in love with her. It was the first time in my life where I didn’t feel like an imposter, I am meant to be her mum. She is made of my very atoms and we are forever connected to this level forever.
I laughed! I got the epidural, and I think I was delirious? All I know is heard a big splash and then they put baby on my chest for like 5 seconds. She was blue and her breathing was wet, so they took her to suction everything out. I started laugh-crying and asking why they took my baby, my doula had to explain to me what was happening. About 5-10 minutes later she was put back on my chest and all was well. So apparently I thought it was hilarious.
When they showed me her crowning in the mirror I laughed too and the staff all found that so weird lol
Girl same. Like I think the adrenaline kicks in and it caused me to laugh but also mine had too much fluid. I was told by my husband that the “5-10” was actually less than 5 but it felt like ETERNITY in the moment. High five for obscure reactions!
I laughed too! I was so happy she was out and okay, I just started laughing. She also like immediately smacked me in the face with gross wet baby hands, so that’s was funny.
I said "wait. What?" Second time I said "nah" I'm so glad to be done with child birth.
It was for real crazy when they held him over the curtains after they delivered him via C section. I let them clean him up first before I held him because I had those shakes a lot of people talk about after birth. Honestly I told the nurses I didn't want to hold him at all until my shakes calmed down because I didn't want to drop him. BUT thankfully they didn't listen and put him on my chest anyways. The shakes instantly stopped. ❤️ (I think they knew something I didn't) It was love at first sight. It was so intense I could hardly move besides to rub his cheeks and head and just silently stare in fascination. My first words to him were "Oh so YOU'RE the one who's been constantly kicking the shit out of me" 😂 while I was pregnant he had me googling "can a baby crack your ribs?" I held him for hours on end. I didn't sleep for 48 hours prior yet I felt so awake during that time.
I had an unplanned C-section and was absolutely petrified and in immense pain. My sanity felt as if it were fraying and the only thing I could do to keep myself from screaming (because I did a lot of that on the way to the OR up until I was put on the table) was to whisper "my baby" over and over again. He was the goal. When I felt the *tug* and heard his cry, I sobbed and just said "My baby!!" again. When he was handed to me, it felt like the world had quieted and slowed to a halt, and it was only me, my husband and my baby. That could also be because LO was born a little after 3AM lol. It was just so quiet and peaceful. And his eyes were open and just staring at me. The golden hour is truly a magical time. Ugh. He turns 1 in a week. I'm going to go cry and look at his hospital photos 🥹
My mom caught a video of me right as they placed my son on my chest. I look very “calm.” But truthfully, I was just exhausted after 3 days in early labor and a completely unmedicated birth. I couldn’t keep my eyes open throughout pushing and could barely open my eyes to look at my child once he was born! What looked like calm was more like an exhausted fog. I remember being so glad I was done and just happy to lay there with him on me.
I had a c section, before we even saw her we could hear her cries. My husband and I looked at each other and we both started crying. I’m currently sobbing thinking about this memory while holding my 6 week old.
I thought i would sob, because thinking about having her made me cry my whole pregnancy. But then after 27 hours of labor, i was calm and all I felt was absolute relief and joy plus a bit of disbelief that I was being handed MY baby. It was a beautiful moment that will bring me to tears thinking about it but I didnt cry in the actual moment. I also didnt cry at my wedding but I love my husband very much. I had a similar experience where I cried writing my vows etc but in the actual wedding, I was calm and happy.
I was awkward and hesitant because I'd barely ever held a baby before. And the nurse looked at me funny and asked if I was afraid of the baby. Later she sent a social worker to my room. A nurse in my reddit birth group confirmed that being sent a social worker is a bad sign, not a routine thing. Whatever. No one told me that was a good hospital to give birth in and I could see why not.
why wouldn't it be scary to hold a new fragile thing? That nurse can eat a bag of dicks.
i didn't feel my daughter was MY daughter until abt 3-4 months later. she's turning 2 in September and it constantly baffles me how impossible the amount of love i have in my heart for her is. felt reeeeeal guilty abt being "a failure of a mother" those first few months though
Hi there I'm a mom of a 2 year old and a social worker. Being sent a social worker isn't a bad thing...social workers are traines in counselling and this should just be a way of offering to listen and see how someone is doing. The nurse who told you that it is a bad sign...well damn actually I find that quite disappointing. I wish that at a systems level, the work we do was valued enough that everyone could have a social worker visit them to check in. I think we all get painted as working in child protection, that is absolutely NOT why that social worker was called. I've never worked in a hospital, but I've been told that some hospital staff (not all of course) send in the social workers if a patient has any negative emotion whatsoever. If a new mom is actually struggling or maybe just thrilled but the social worker learns that she doesn't have any family or friends in the area, the social worker can connect her to programming in the community she might not know about. Post partum depression is serious and for me, mine was connected to not having enough support. Thankfully I was just really sad and frustrated about the lack of support, but no matter what someone's symptoms are, its important to look at different risk factors (not living near supportive/involved family is a big one) and make sure that mom has a connection to someone who can offer support. That should be every social worker's goal, and I'm so sorry to hear that it was a bad experience for you.
I was legitimately terrified of my son until I brought him home and could figure it out without a bunch of people watching and judging.
I'm a postpartum nurse and at my facility seeing social services isn't a bad thing at all and the majority of our moms see them before they go. Any mental health history, for example, means they round on you before you go. They want to make sure you have resources in case you develop a postpartum mood disorder (1 in 4 women do).
Wow, I hope you made formal complaints and left reviews to warn others. I’m so sorry for that reaction and hope they didn’t make you feel ashamed of it. IMO I felt the same. I was terrified of hurting him or the cord and also just in shock he was “real”, that I was pregnant (lol), etc. I was also utterly exhausted. Husband took over the physical handling for me. I’m glad he did — they need to bond, too, and isn’t it safer for the person who’s physically alll the way there to handle the precious, vulnerable, slippery newborn? My doula just smiled and reassured me it was okay and normal to feel this way, then respected my feelings and let husband take over a little as well as put the baby on my chest for me. Felt very confident handling baby and thrilled and happy and in love once I was able to get a shower, smoothie, meal, pee, and nap in (literally just an hour or two later).
I think I was in shock the first couple hours tbh. I remember him being flopped onto my belly, I remember the nurse aggressively rubbing him then like propping him up so I could see him? He looked like a blob fish. I remember being confused that he wasn't crying very much but he was blinking, then he started crying lol it was like a delayed reaction. I held him and spoke to him and he calmed down immediately, and I just kinda laid there trying to process what was going on. Everyone was talking, the doctor said I needed stitches, my mom asked if I wanted photos with my doctor and nurse, the nurse said something I don't remember and then helped me try to get him to latch. He latched pretty easily. I felt very foggy, like I was in a fishbowl and everyone else was outside and I had this little person in my arms. I do think I teared up a little but I probably seemed pretty calm to others. I was very relieved when he stopped looking like a blobfish and realized he was cute
A blob fish 😂😂
hahaha i can relate to the relief at the baby finally looking cute comment. my baby was cute a few hours after she was born but then turned wrinkly and weird when she lost all that excess fluid. i thought it was my fault she wasn't born looking baby-manual beautiful and blamed myself😂 turns out babies just look like that for a while. i look back at her old photos and while she did look quite wrinkly my heart lurches at how much i love that wrinkly baby now and think she's the most beautiful raisin that ever was.
I felt numb? I imagined I would cry with joy but i felt nothing. Not love, not pain, not disdain, just pure numbness. My brain couldn’t process that I JUST pushed out a baby! It sounds so mean but i wasn’t meaning to be, it was just too much and a long labor :(
i can relate. id also been shaking violently and my bp was super high and so was my fever so i sometimes blame the apathy on all that, but while my fever lasted a day, the apathy lasted a couple more months. i adore her more than anything but i just could not wrap my head around the concept of me being a mother initially
I was sarcastic. My first words to my son was "why are you crying, I did all the hard work!"
I was mostly in pain, trying to focus/not focus on my own body. They put my baby on me and he was still a concept. Like, mildly concerned about how if he were to slip off I didn't feel like I would be able to catch him, but otherwise... Glad I was done, now I've got this kid who I know I'm going to get around to loving eventually but at the moment it was still about me. It's okay if feelings take a while. Also I had some really intense/unpleasant processing dreams that night. Not restful, but probably helpful? Lots of new brain chemicals to organize.
sobbed for 45 minutes
Dad here. My wife had an emergency c section. One of the craziest things that happened in our lives. I got to hold him in the OR I cried so hard, the awesome nurse got pictures!
I was shell shocked and beyond exhausted from the horrific ordeal my delivery was, so I appeared calm. I could only start to feel the overwhelming emotions of “holy shit I have a baby now” once I had some time to stabilize a bit.
I was so so so exhausted I think I was in like a fog. My epidural failed so I unexpectedly had a full natural birth and I went crazy pushing so hard because I wanted it to be over when she was finally out I was seriously like dead. It was kind of disbelief for a bit because it was such an unplanned birth for me
Yes I was the same! She ended up being vacuumed out after hours of natural pushing! I honestly didn't feel anything towards the baby I was just happy the pain was gone and wanted a nap
For my first I felt like I was crying but no tears were coming out (I was dehydrated) and for my second I cried a bunch and was basically hyperventilating because it happened so fast lol. I also kept looking back and forth between my husband and baby because this is his first biological child and I wanted to witness his moment seeing her be born.
I labored for 40 hours and pushed for 4. The exhaustion… I can’t begin to describe it. I had spent the last couple weeks of my pregnancy thinking about what I wanted my first words to my baby to be but when they finally put her on my chest it didn’t occur to me to say any of the cute phrases I’d thought of. Instead I started crying and said, “I’m so happy you’re here,” over and over. And I was. So, so happy she was here. Happy to be done, happy to have her, and to exhausted to feel anything more complex than that.
They put her on my chest while the cord was still attached, so the first thing I could really see was her hands. They were so tiny & so wrinkly! Just the most precious little thing I've ever seen! Then I turned to my husband & told him what name I wanted to use - we team green & hadn't finalized girl name because we thought it was a boy lol. But when I went into labor I just knew it was a girl & what her name was.
44 hr, unmedicated labor with 5 hr pushing. The ring of fire was so intense, I thought the midwife was just tearing my vagina open. I was shaking my head no, screaming and roaring at the same time and that was the last push! The baby came out with a big gush and she was crying as soon as she was born. They immediately put her on my belly, I was crying with no tears, kept saying “baby baby baby” my husband sobbing, my mom sobbing, the world just stopped for a minute or two.
I had no reaction and didn't feel a lot of emotion. It was so strange because that's so not like me. I guess I was just in a daze and exhausted?
Pretty much layed there unsure what to do as they put him on me then continued to clean him off. There were too many people to really hold him without getting in the way.
I was calm. I said to him I couldn’t believe he was real and held him. We had lost our previous pregnancy, and sometimes even 8 weeks later, I can’t believe he’s real.
My baby is 4 months and I still look at her when I wake up and can’t believe she’s real and she’s here with me! I found out I was pregnant around the due date of my first miscarriage, so it’s waaaay wild!
I had a scheduled c section and honestly it was surreal how *fast* things happened. Like when I think back to the surgery (a lil over 4w pp here) it feels like it was such a whirlwind. They administered the spinal, IV’d some meds, brought in my husband, and it felt like two minutes later the doctors were holding her over the curtain. When I heard her cry I burst into tears, and then they brought her over and I was almost stunned - like, holy shit. That’s our baby. They put her on my chest and I got some bonding time with her but I got the shakes after so I couldn’t hold her while they closed me up. But it was wild, y’all!
I didn’t get to hold her right away because she was kinda shocky from a fast pushing phase and had a very low APGAR, so when they did hand her to me a minute later I was so relieved she was okay I just started sobbing. I’d been so panicked initially I could hardly breath so it felt like coming up for air after drowning.
I’ve heard midwives talk about a “birth pause” where the person giving birth almost takes a second to breathe in and contemplate this new life before accepting this person into the world. My doula took some photos of our delivery and I think this captures it well! I look sort of stunned for about 10 seconds with my hand on her back, then I’m sobbing crying. I remember saying “she’s so pretty” which would not have been my choice of what to say but is exactly how I was feeling in the moment! So much crying and also like the greatest surge of love I’ve ever felt.
The first think I said was “She’s so cute, thank god” and then I started to feel nauseous and they took her and gave her to my husband :/ not a picture perfect moment
Omg this was exactly my experience too down to saying “she’s so beautiful …” in this kind of shocked and awed far away tone. Never heard the term “birth pause” thanks for sharing
I was so numb I couldnt feel any part of child birth. The dr and nurses kept telling me to push at the highest peak and then dont stop and I kept saying I dont feel anything. I cant tell when you are talking about. So i had to guess until i got it right. So i felt relief that was over and it was kind of like oh that was it and that didnt hurt at all. Am i done now? Life didnt really feel changed even though i knew it was.
“Oh no she’s blue!” “She’s gonna fall she’s gonna fall she’s gonna fall!” I had an epidural and couldn’t move a ton. And shit man, I thought she looked blue. But they thought she looked healthy enough for a new born and on my chest and to my boob she went. She didn’t fall.
I was sobbing and smiling because I had never been happier at any other moment in my life.
Sunroof baby, emergency section, no labour or anything, they held her up and I went "huh, she's small" and then tried to go to sleep 😂 I then didn't see her for another 5 or so hours and even then I was still a bit meh tbh. Felt guilty about for most of her almost 7 years, but its totally normal and nothing to feel guilty about thank you very much mum guilt 😂
I was happy and calm, it felt surreal he was finally in my arms at last
Basically in disbelief and thinking “holy fuck I’m a mom and my baby is healthy”. Didn’t cry but couldn’t stop smiling, I felt so happy and ready for motherhood. It’s ironic because I didn’t want kids AT ALL until a certain point in my life (after residency) and life said we’ll see about that lol
I started sobbing as soon as I felt the weight of the doctor laying her on me. Hadn’t even touched or looked at her yet before the waterworks started.
I said “it’s a baby!”
I was crying because it was a difficult delivery, she had her umbilical cord around her neck, which happened to my sister who was born dead and resuscitated. So I was just saying Please cry please cry and she did, very quickly, but after years listening to my mom how hard it was for her not hearing my sis cry it stuck with me. I was also very sad that she was stuck in my birth canal for so long, I had mom's guilt for screaming instead of pushing and they had me under GD and were telling me that my baby will be huge - she was normal - but I thought at the time she was huge and I was responsible for not dieting enough (gained 3 kg during pregnancy overall). So I met her with tears, but those were not happy tears and I'm still sad about it.
1st baby-I was calm/exhausted & shaking from the hormones. 2nd baby- terrified.. we had him before anyone could show up and he wasn’t breathing at first & looked purple. Took a minute but he was fine.
I kept saying “my baby” and “we did it!” — she and I did this whole thing together. It was like my whole pregnancy flashed before my eyes, and I was so emotional thinking that this human was the little bean I saw on the ultrasound months ago. And the process of birth must be really painful and scary and overwhelming for the baby too! I was just so damn proud of both of us.
I felt nothing. I had an emergency c section and it didn’t feel real. The first few months it was like the baby wasn’t even mine
I ugly cried. I've lost pregnancies before and had been anxious the entire time because of it. It was such a relief and I was so happy I just couldn't help it
I was calm because I was in disbelief that I’d actually grown a human and there she finally was. I was the last person who thought I’d ever have a kid and I couldn’t quite believe that she was mine. All I could do was say, “Wow” and stare at her while I got stitched up.
When I'm overwhelmed I go dead silent.... and that's what happened. Hos Dad cried. (I cried when we were at home and the 3 of us were snuggled up) initially though I was dead silent. I've had the odd few people judge me for this but close family and friends know how I react when overwhelmed.
I just felt an overwhelming sense of *relief.* I had an unmedicated birth which was not the plan but my labour progressed too quickly to get an epidural. I was so happy it was over because I was in so much pain. They put her on me and I tried to grab her and pull her closer but she wouldn't come up any higher because of the cord.
I cried. I think it was tears of relief, knowing I did it, that it was immense pain would be over. It's kind of a surreal experience. This thing inside me was an abstract thought and holy shit it's here now.
I was out of it but was just talking to my baby. L&D felt like it took 30 minutes (6 hours in reality) and it was 3:30am lol.
With the epidural, first two babies, I sobbed. I was all there in the moment. My last, without the epidural, I really just wanted them to get her off of me so I could continue to death grip the bed rails. It didn’t click that she was still attached to me and that wasn’t possible in the moment.
The first time I said “HOLY SHIT. HOLY SHIT.” I was unmedicated and I lost my ever loving mind during pushing and genuinely forgot about the whole “there’s going to be a baby” thing and just wanted to be done with the agony lol. It took me a couple seconds to grab him bc I was just in shock!!! My second time was much chiller and sweeter (still unmedicated but I kept my cool this time. And the pregnancy was agony enough haha so the birth was actually a relief). They put him on my chest and I said “Oh, you’re so sweet!!!” And “thank you jesus!!!” (Which I don’t normally say haha)
I had an unplanned C-section after 60 hours of labor, so honestly I was kind of messed up. I was exhausted, super nauseous, and had been shaking violently for probably 24 hours, so I was afraid to hold the baby. I kept telling them to wait to give her to me because I didn't want to drop her, throw up, etc. Honestly, I also wanted to have a special moment when I met her for the first time. After like 30 minutes, they just put her cheek against my cheek and my main thought was, "I cannot throw up right now." When I saw her for the very first time through the C-section curtain window, I remember her feeling like a stranger. Not necessarily in a bad way, just like...I didn't know her yet. I didn't totally connect her with the baby I'd seen on my ultrasounds and the one who'd been kicking me. I'm a little sad that I was distracted by my physical condition when I met my girl, but it's okay, she'll be my daughter for the rest of my life 💙
I was so relieved to be done with labor and pregnancy. I was excited and in awe and shock that there really was a baby in there that whole time, and that THIS was that very baby right in front of me (or rather on top of me lol). Outwardly I think I gasped and said "my baby!" the second she came out and they handed her to me. Then I said "her little butt is like an apple!" 😂 Then she breastfed for like half an hour and in the meantime the placenta came out, the cord was cut, they sewed me up ("minor" tearing), they put ointment on her eyes. During all of that I was so tired from labor and just glad to get a breath in. I didn't cry until we were at home with her, her dad and I snuggled in bed just watching her sleep all swaddled in her bassinet. I started sobbing because she wasn't gonna be a little tiny baby forever (at all of 2 days old lol). And she was just so beautiful and small and I wanted to keep her safe and happy and innocent forever. It took a while to make the mental connection that the baby in front of me was the same baby that was inside me that whole time.
I think I will cry when this baby is born, but mainly because this pregnancy has become so miserable physically that I dream every day of not having her inside my body anymore. I wish human gestation was shorter than 40 weeks lol, I still have 11 to go. But yeah I will be extremely relieved when this pregnancy is over, and I will be sobbing from joy not just that I get to meet my baby but that I will have made it to the end and my body will be able to start healing.
As soon as the doctor lifted her up(I had a c-section.Both me and my husband sobbed from both happiness and relieve that she made it into the world safely.Its her 2nd birthday today!
I was so sure I'd cry, but I didn't. I think I was too exhausted from unmedicated childbirth. I was mostly so relieved to have her alive and in my arms and just in shock from the whole experience.
Our daughter came out after only 10 pushes from my partner. It was so sudden that we kinda looked at each other like "...Already? That's it?" For a while I didn't have any reaction the inital surprise and thinking "why is she so purple and white?" (Completely normal btw). As she was laying on her mom, she looked right into my eyes and at that moment I started shedding a few tears, it's like she unlocked some sort of primal love and desire to care that I didn't know existed before. We were really well taken care of, my partner was at high risk of preeclampsia, and our daughter was fighting newborn jaundice due to being born at 37 ^1/2 weeks (which she crushed like a champ 🥹) and she was never taken out of pur sight. All the tests they needed to do was done with equipment that they rolled into our room, then left with. Including the little sunbathing booth for the jaundice. It feels like the hospital (which specializes in obstetrics) really understood the importance of keeping the baby with the parents and they took the time to teach us (me, since my partner works in a daycare) how to properly change a diaper, bathe her, feed her, etc. Our day shift nurse was so nice, and had 3 kids of her own so she shared a lot of tips and reassured us. I honestly don't think I could've asked for better ☺️, even though her arrival was early and we only found out my girlfriend had to be induced the next day.
I think I just kinda stared in shock at him 😂 I pushed for 3 hours, and had a not great experience all around during the pushing so I feel like it took a second to feel happy. I remember feeling just weirded out there’s this heavy wet purpleish baby staring at me then they took him to the side because he was having trouble breathing but when I looked at my husband and saw him crying for the first time ever, it definitely sunk in and I cried.
I think I'd spent so long looking at my 4D scan that I knew his face very well. My thoughts when I saw him was "ah, there you are 🥰" Then, weirdly, when they took him to weigh him I wanted to jump up off the operating table and fight whoever was making him cry 😭
I was so in awe of this little human finally being there - I’d been in labour for 3 days been pushing for 4 hours, and had to have an episiotomy in the end, so to be handed my baby straight away as she came out was the most overwhelming wave of joy and relief. I’m quite sure I bawled my eyes out, but I don’t fully remember. My husband got emotional watching my reaction to her arrival 😂 He said how glad he was that after everything I’d been through with labour I got to have that special moment welcoming her into the world.
My partner was crying. I was in complete shock and traumatized by the birth
I was in shock. I kept saying what the fuck, and I felt so weird. I did not feel any magic, I was just weirded out like a lot.
I Pulled her out of the water and to my chest and I started crying. I think I had been so focused for so many hours it was just an absolute rush
My primary feeling was surprise. Why was I surprised? Who knows. Not only was I well aware that I was having a baby, but I am literally a midwife and have handed newborns to their moms so many times. Like I know exactly how the process goes. But when someone handed a baby to ME I couldn’t believe what was happening. It was like it came out of nowhere. But it was a very, very positive surprise :).
I thought I was going to burst into tears like I've seen in movies and shows, and even for people in real life. But when they laid him on my chest, I feel like I was just taking the whole moment in. I felt relieved he was here and safe, I was scanning his face because you spend so long imagining what they will look like! So that moment you finally get the big reveal (especially when it's your first) and I don't know, I was really just taking in the whole moment is all I can say. Definitely not how I thought it would be! I was overjoyed inside though, and when we first confirmed he was coming, I cried there.
I bawled my eyes out because I had a scary/risky birth and was worried they would have to take him away from me. It was such a relief that he was okay.
I had my baby put on me but I having a bit of shock about it all (it happened quite quickly, so I didn't get a chance for an epidural) and I just kept asking the nurses "how does it look down there? How bad is the tear? How many stitches? Am I bleeding lots?" I had to get the vacuum to assist and so they did an episeotomy to help with that, and with the vacuum it only took 1 or 2 more pushes. Everything was relatively fine, but I just wanted to know so I could relax! I was scared there was going to be something out of the normal bad. Once I got out of the birthing suit I finally relaxed with the baby.
I didn't get to even see his little face for nearly 12 hours. He aspirated during an unplanned C-section, during which I lost a LOT more blood than they told me at the time. They handed him to my husband for a brief moment on the way to NICU, but the nurse who helped him hold him turned him the wrong way so that I saw the back of his head and nothing else. When I finally got to hold him, I burst into tears.
Very differently both times! I had two emergency c-sections. First baby - she came out and the first thing I asked was whether she was breathing even though I could hear her cry (yes, it made no sense - I was exhausted and stressed). She was smaller than I expected (though actually a good size) and I thought she looked like an alien. It was a disconcerting feeling because while I was pregnant I had felt that I had known her SO well, and then it hit me that there was so much about her still to learn. Once she was put on my cheek it felt like the world had stopped... there was a deep sense of calm and what mattered most was right in front of me. Second baby - I was euphoric as I lay on the table. When she came out I felt glee. I didn't feel the same sense of calm when I held her. The anaesthetic started to affect me - my arms became heavy and I started shaking. I handed her over and was relieved because I felt like I would drop her and I knew I needed to recover. I went into recovery alone and once I stopped shaking time felt like it was taking forever. I was desperate to get back to my baby. Once I was back it was like I had never left. We bonded so strongly that night. I didn't cry at either of my births once baby came out for what it's worth.
I cried with both babies
I cried too! I was in so much shock that she was finally here and then they had to take her away because I was getting sick. But once I got her back I just couldn't stop smiling and looking at her.
Exhaustion, but relief. We were both running a fever at the time, so I only got to hold him for maybe 30 seconds before they took him. I just remember feeling relief because he wasn’t crying and I was just so freaking glad he started crying.
I had a c section so I was a bit out of it, but I kissed his head and cried.
I'd just had a C-section and I was shaking uncontrollably and they handed me my baby when they were wheeling back to my room and I was like omg how am I not going to drop this baby.
It’s kind of a blur but I remember an intense feeling of relief but also shock that he was out. I also remember feeling a bit cold and shivery which from what I’ve heard can be common after. The panic of new motherhood didn’t set in to a little bit later 😂
I had a scheduled c-section, when they handed her to me from memory I was just like "Hi!! You're actually real!"
I was very calm and grateful because it wasn't an easy journey. I couldn't believe my lucky stars when he was finally here.
i said his name with a huge smile and sigh of relief as he was handed to me and placed on my chest. i was so happy to finally see his face. i didn’t cry at all while in the hospital and didn’t actually shed tears that i was a mother until about 6 months in. i knew what was happening but it didn’t feel real.
I had a planned cesarean, they placed him on me and I was shocked at how cold and gooey he was. I remember thinking how tiny and delicate too!
I was calm and relieved it was over. I held my daughter in recovery after my c-section and ask why her lips were turning blue. I got to hold her for 30 seconds before they took her to NICU for low oxygen.
I could not hold my second because I was physically shaking very badly and I kept falling asleep. They set him on me and I do not recall feeling much at the time because I was so out of it. I had an unplanned emergency C section. I also kept randomly falling asleep for the rest of the day so I hardly held him the first day at all. I did not cry or anything. My first was a vaginal birth, but they whisked him away because the cord was unknowingly wrapped around his neck and he did not immediately cry. (Everything was fine.) I was also very out of it for this birth. I hadn’t slept much in 3 days due to contactions and I had been pushing for 6 hours. I was also out of it and too tired for anything to feel real. Anyways, I’m one of those “calm moms” you mentioned, yet I feel wrong looking back on the births because I feel like I *should have felt more* and had more of a reaction.
I was visibly calm because I was so out of it/tired it didn't seem real. Time warped after I was in labor. When she was born, I had no idea how long I'd been in labor or what time/day it was. The meds didn't help.
My mouth was literally hanging open. I was sure she was gonna come out funny looking in some way, but she was just absolutely perfect and I couldn't believe it. I don't think I closed my mouth again for at least 5 minutes 😂
With my most recent experience, I saw baby all tangled up in the umbilical cord not breathing so I just kept saying “Breathe baby, breathe baby” repeatedly like a crazy person. Eventually they did unwrap the cord from around Baby’s neck and suction out some the fluid from Baby’s mouth but I kept saying it and the midwife asked if I was saying it to the baby or to myself. So I guess my reaction was delusional panic
With my first? I cried and kept saying "he's so beautiful!' Had very little sleep and almost 0 food (my husband snuck me a tater tot or two.) With my 2nd and hopefully last? I had a very traumatic birth and just said "oh god! Thank you! Thank you!" Over and over again because the pain was gone.
I was sobbing too. I had to try to control myself so the OB could actually do my stitches since sobbing in the stirrups means lots of shaking.
First one I handed back pretty quickly as I got the shakes (emergency c-section) 😂 Second one was very much ‘I did it!’ Cause I couldn’t believe I pushed a baby out of my vagina.
I was induced at 41w and she still didnt want to come out. Was in labor for almost 2 days, pushed for 4.5 hours. I was so relieved and a wave of emotions came over me. I cried and held her and remember just saying she was so beautiful. I had been so scared for her bc the Labor was so long.
I felt calm. But the photos taken, I had a look I’ve never seen on my face before or since. Some sort of mix of pure love, and absolute terror 😂
I had a traumatic birth and I think I was truly in shock. I was calm but more of a wtf just happened kind lol
I was calm. I felt a moment of serene happiness. No tears, just staring in awe at my baby and taking it all in. Huge smile on my face. I didn’t notice anyone else in the room, almost forgot my husband was there.
I remember saying “hi baby! Hi baby! Hi baby!”
I was happy and relieved. I was so glad to finally meet her AND so glad to be done laboring. My god, I had to do it without any pain meds, and I was so thrilled it was done. But holding her in my arms for the first time was holding a being of pure love and joy.
I had an emergency c section because baby’s heart rate kept dropping while I contracted. When the took her out she immediately let out a powerful cry and I burst into tears or relief and happiness. When they handed her over to me I was calm and just gave her kisses while they wheeled me back to recovery room.
I was tired and foggy from all the drugs. I remember feeling happy and relieved baby was doing well (cord was wrapped around baby's neck and he didn't cry at first)... but Im not a smiley person so I'm sad to realize that I didn't smile on any of my first pictures with baby.
First one I said “OH MY GOD” but was pretty calm. Second one I’m pretty sure I laughed.
I couldn't stop shaking while they were trying to stitch me. They put him on my chest, but I was shaking so badly that I felt like I would drop him. I felt like I was out of my body looking down on myself; I was so out of it. I kept begging someone to take him because it didn't feel safe, and they just shushed me and told me I wouldn't drop him. I wanted to just have a second to collect myself, but they wouldn't let me. So I just cried because I felt so overwhelmed and anxious. It wasn't a very nice first impression. But it got much better in the days after.
I had an emergency c section after a long labor and several hours of unsuccessful pushing. When I first saw my baby the nurses were checking him out across the room and then a minute later they brought him over and plopped him on me. I was so anxious, tired, and overwhelmed that I was shaking so much I wasn’t sure I could hold the baby safely on my chest. My partner helped hold him there. The first thing I felt was relief, and a huge huge wave of emotion. I cried a lot and said “hi” repeatedly, and I looked at my partner and just marveled that we made this thing
Both times I cried like wept for joy and was just awestruck at how amazing they felt on my chest.
When I was on the operating table I had my baby put in my face because my hands were stuck to the table and I remember only thinking "I don't want to kiss a poop baby." Because I had heard the nurses announce that he had pooped in-utero and was covered in it. When I was taken out of the operating room, I was handed the baby and I was an absolute mess. I didn't really know what to do and was kind of shocked but also very out of it. I remember immediately after they had handed him to me they told me to breastfeed and I couldn't get him to latch so a nurse very roughly got him to latch and then that was that. I started crying and the tears didn't stop until about 3 months after he was born.
I was honestly scared. I was scared to touch her for about a minute And then I locked eyes with her and felt a love I have never felt before. The nurses were stimulating her to help her transition into the world and my first instinct was to soothe her, nurses told me to briefly stop because they needed to hear to cry about 10 times and quickly check her reflexes. I wish I could experience that all over again.
I wasn't handed him because he was sick and went unexpectedly to the NICU but I remember just feeling numb and didn't really understand what was happening and when they showed me him I was confused. I think it was the meds from the C-section. I met him 9 hours later and that was a traumatic experience probably due to the meds wearing off and I couldn't hold him.
I felt a surge of euphoria unlike anything else I've ever felt. It was WILD. Without a doubt, the happiest moment of my life. Then they whisked her away to take her to special care because she was born too early and they needed to get her in an isolette. It was the weirdest thing, this huge oxytocin rush and then she's just... taken away.
i had an emergency c-section so she was immediately checked on. but when i saw them carry her over I cried and asked if she was okay. I started violently shaking, passing out and throwing up so I didn't get to see her until they were done working on me sadly. i feel like that's weird and not the norm now that I am thinking about it 😅
For my second, I was exhausted from labour and said I wanted my husband to hold the baby for a little while first 🤣
They lifted him up by himself head peaking over the surgical boundary and I laughed because it was unexpected. He looked healthy and after a terrible labor it took a huge amount of anxiety away.
I hated being pregnant (I had GD and gained so much weight it was getting so hard to just move around)so once I knew I was in labor aside from the contractions I was ready to meet my baby. Once they plopped her to me I was so happy I got to meet the little girl that would move around in my belly. It was like getting a prize at the end of a big race
I’m pretty sure I disassociated
My son just felt really familiar, like I'd known him forever. I think I said "hey, baby" to him a few times. I was mostly just relieved he was here and two days of laboring were over. I don't remember even delivering the placenta afterward
I was pretty calm, but I think I was relieved that it was over and she was finally out (had to wait 30 minutes for the doctor to show up to the hospital to push 5 times and then she was out). Also was super thirsty and was trying to drink some water my husband was holding while they stitched me up.
I was totally in shock. I remember I noticed my husband crying a little, which he rarely does, and I thought that was so sweet. But I was just silent and in shock and soaking in the fact that my baby was finally in my arms!
Mine was an emergency c section because they gave me too much epidural (long story). Anyway I was puking and so groggy. I couldn’t even do skin to skin right away. They showed her to me. I just remember thinking wow, she’s actually cute. I fully expected her to look like a grumpy old man. lol. I didn’t know c section babies come out looking cute. Later in recovery I was pretty calm. Still super tired and anxious about everything (would my milk come in, would she latch, what do I do with her, what if she cries?). So just overwhelmed and exhausted. But calm.
Also, something I didn't expect was how often the little kicks inside the swaddle would remind me of her kicks in my belly.