Childbirth is often depicted as a magical moment filled with joy and instant love. While that’s true for some, the reality is far more intense, raw, and unpredictable. Bringing life into the world is a brutal, beautiful, and transformative experience that deserves to be talked about honestly.

Forget the movie scenes where a perfectly made-up woman pushes twice, and a clean, cooing baby appears. Birth is raw. There’s blood, sweat, and sometimes bodily fluids you didn’t even know existed. Your body will do things you never thought it could (or should), and that’s okay. It’s all part of the process. No one talks enough about the emotional side of childbirth. One moment you feel like a warrior, the next you’re drowning in exhaustion and self-doubt. Postpartum hormones are wild, and the emotional crash after delivery can hit hard. It’s normal to feel overwhelmed, ecstatic and terrified all at once.

Let’s be real. Childbirth FREAKIN’ hurts. No amount of birth classes, hypnobirthing, or breathing exercises can fully prepare you for the intensity of contractions. Whether you go the medicated or unmedicated route, the pain is real, and it will test you in ways you never imagined. But here’s the thing….you will survive it. And that’s powerful.

I, like many others, went into my birth with a rock solid plan. I had back ups. I had made definitive decisions. I knew what I wanted. I got there and it all went out the window. Every single plan I made, gone. I was induced at 39+5 due to Gestational Diabetes (another thing not talked about enough) The process started easy. Within 4 hours, with minimal interventions, I was dilated to a 7. Then everything staled. 36 hours of being awake, 17 hours of labor, 3 hours of pushing an “I can’t do this anymore” and an elective c-section later and I became a boy mom. According to my husband, I apologized approximately 100 times in 36 hours. I apologized for crying, for not giving birth vaginally, for yelling, for being tired, for not being able to do it and for making him be in the room with me. I apologized for literally everything because society told me I was less of a mother if I couldn’t deliver vaginally and I believed it.

I never planned on a c-section, in fact, that was at the bottom of my life next to “would rather die” I quite literally didn’t want one. I was dead set on delivering vaginally and I convinced myself I’d rather die than go any other route. I was half conscious when they pulled my crying 7lb 9oz son out of my body. I remember holding him for a second before falling asleep while my husband grabbed our baby so he didn’t fall. But I survived.

I remember crying, terrified because I didn’t think I’d survive. I remember begging them to make everything stop, make the pain go away, bring my son into the world. I remember telling my husband I didn’t care if we had anymore children. I remember telling the OB/GYN she didn’t understand. I remember being in that delivery room and bleeding a little more than I should of. But I survived.

At the end of it all, childbirth will show you just how strong you are. Whether you push for hours, undergo a C-section, or experience unexpected complications, your body and mind will rise to the occasion. You will meet a version of yourself you never knew existed, one that is resilient, fierce, and capable of bringing life into the world.

Childbirth is not just about bringing a baby into the world, it’s about transformation. It’s raw, messy, painful, and deeply personal. No two births are the same, but every birth is powerful in its own way. So, let’s start having real conversations about childbirth, the good, the bad, and the brutally honest.