Labor is (Supposedly) Like a Box of Chocolates

When I first found out we were expecting I signed up for all kinds of newsletters and bought several apps. I usually look forward to reading the little tidbits these emails and daily updates can offer. It's a nice way to soak in all the information there is to read on the subject without having to read an entire book (well, I've done that too, but that's beside the point). Anyway, I opened up the email entitled "Labor is like a box of chocolates" and started to read, but I immediately wished I hadn't. I couldn't decide whether to laugh or to cry when I read descriptions (taken from actual mothers) like, "It was like being slammed in the uterus with a sledgehammer while simultaneously being squeezed by a powerful vise," and "It was like someone took a serrated knife and stabbed me in the top of my stomach slowly, slowly sawed downward to my pubic bone, and then stopped for a few minutes and started all over again." I realize that this brutal honesty is supposed to be helpful for expecting women, but it sounded more like descriptions from the victims in the Saw movies than actual labor patients. Well, they say that if people remembered how bad labor was then they'd never have another...I hope this turns out to be true! If labor is like a box of chocolates then I hope mine is like one of those yummy caramels that everyone wants instead of those orange-y nougat ones that everyone barely bites before putting back.

Here is my 21 week photo: