Have you written your birth story?

I’m guessing that most of my readers are women, with the exception of my husband and Dad (hi, guys!).

I came across this article the other day: “Rewriting Birth — Making Peace with Your Birth Story” It’s a bit of a long read, but I definitely like what it has to say and I think I’m going to take the steps it outlines to write my own. Particularly if you had a more traumatic birth, one that went entirely against your plans, etc., what she has to say over at Presence Parenting looks very helpful.

I’ve been meaning to write my birth story pretty much since my daughter has been born. (In fact, I have a draft of a post here started.) I didn’t want to write just the “gory” details, but wanted to somehow put into words how her birth affected me and how I felt about it. I don’t want to forget. Anyone else share that sentiment?

Ten months having passed since she was born, I think the “distance” from the immediate memory will help in writing it. I am SO guilty of telling the long, drawn out, accentuate the negatives birth story (I’m sure some of you have heard it.) I feel guilty about that, because a) that’s NOT how I want others to view birth, particularly non-mothers, and b) that’s NOT how I view my birth, when all is said and done. I love giving birth and can’t wait to do it again. (Well, I can, no announcements here, DAD.)

I did write a birth story haiku, inspired by Conversion Diary:

fifty-three hours–fun!

a homebirth turned Pit party

but I pushed her out!

Have you written your birth story? Or are you unlike me and would just as soon forget? Have you shared it with others or kept it to yourself?

Or if you don’t want to comment about writing birth stories…are you guilty of telling the only-gory-details version? I mean, it IS hard not to when you’ve just been through an epic experience…

(No pic for the second post in a row. I look like 53 hours of labor in all mine, or I’m half-clothed and would rather not share that in public. I think I might lose a few followers if I shared pics of my awesome placenta with its magically regenerating amniotic sac, too…)