Here are some photos of Sienna Miller in NYC the day after the Golden Globes. That was quick, right? She must have ditched the Miu Miu dress, caught a red-eye flight, and skipped the parties … which is quite unlike the Sienna we used to know. Perhaps she’s in New York to study up for the Cabaret role. Has anyone seen Tom Sturridge lately? I’m not suggesting there are problems. He’s been absent from pap photos lately, that’s all.
American Sniper goes into wide release this weekend. Sienna’s hustling for her project, as she should. She’s also hustling for herself, as she should. Sienna’s been pushing the motherhood transformation, which is a valuable tool in Hollywood. People have forgotten all about Sienna’s love affairs with Balthazar Getty, Rhys Ifans, Daniel Craig, and Jude Law. I’m not shading her! Hollywood is all about different levels and shades of PR, and Sienna is playing the game well. Now she’s getting real with her tale of protracted childbirth. Some excerpts:
A rough childbirth: “My birth went all wrong. I had my heart set on this natural water birth and I ended up, after 27 hours, having an emergency C-section.”
Motherhood is “really complicated”: “I spent so much time thinking about the birth and not realizing that you take a baby home at the end of it. It’s a shock, of course it is, and some people find it really easy, but for me I found it really hard.”
Identifiying with her Sniper character: “I think being a mother and playing a mother, yes, I understand motherhood in a way I just couldn’t before. I had a huge amount of empathy for Taya. To be going through motherhood on her own, not knowing whether her husband would survive every day, I can’t imagine how difficult that would be. Especially because that experience of motherhood for me was really complicated.”
[From Time Out London]
27 hours? Ouch. I googled the average length of a first childbirth and landed on 6-12 hours as a result. 27 hours seems ungodly. I’m thinking back to how long my experience lasted, but I was in denial until the final few hours. 10 hours, maybe? Everyone is different.
Sienna does well in this interview. She touches on the common experience of childbirth and swiftly moves onto her military wife character. That’s smart, considering the movie’s target audience. Tyla Kyle had a rough time with her husband’s struggle abroad, but that’s not all. Sienna’s role isn’t a stereotypical “wife” role, and she has Clint Eastwood’s endorsement. She’s making all the right moves right now. Good for her.
Photos courtesy of WENN
Try 3 straight days on an inducement drip, only to end up on the operating table in the end. Healthy baby, though, so it turned out ok.
Oh bless you! I’m just now at 34 starting to get “baby fever” and stories like this scare the crap out of me. I’m just not gonna have a “set in stone” birth plan. I think going with the flow is the key to surviving pregnancy, which sucks because I’m such a Type A planny plannerson.
SNARKY you hit on THE KEY to a successful childbirth! People act like you can order the birth you want off a menu. Nothing is certain. You do whatever you have to do to get that baby out safely. Both of my birth experiences “went all wrong” but I would NEVER use that expression. Modern medicine saved me and my kids – so they went all right.
Ina May Gaskin will help you.
I was induced two days and finally went into labour two hours before my c-sec deadline. I was already 42 weeks. That kid was coming out one way or another. It was my first kid so I had no idea how much pain I’d feel after my water was broken. That shit was like bone on bone. Ouch.
Yeah, after the doc broke my water for me it felt like someone was ripping my back apart slowly. That child was stubborn!!
It does – it hurts SO much that I felt my body was producing chemicals for pain – I was in a dream world in a way, at least during the transition phase. I had my first child in a small hospital, hours from “real” civilization. I had to do the drip to get started, I was so excited to get the baby out, she was a month overdue! It’s not something easily forgotten, but so WORTH IT!
An additional notation: an old wise country nurse told me to push harder than the contractions, to avoid feeling so overwhelmed. That was the best advice ever, as it gave me a feeling of control over the birth pain – it really helped. I had no drugs, and she was 9 1/2 lbs. The rest of my childbirths were by cesarean section, which I felt were much more difficult to recover from.
New babies…I remember crying along, because I didn’t know how to feel about all her colic(?), particularly when all the advertisements for new mothers, showed light diffusing on a tender scene of mother and child. I was a college grad, used to having fun, just for fun – and being a new mother was not only stressful, but a huge challenge in growing maturity. I soon learned to love her so much that I would have died for her.
They still are stressful in some ways, even as adults, because I have to set an example!
With my first one. She was induced, when it was time to push, her cord was wrapped around here neck and arm, so they had to get the vacuum. 28 stitches later, i had my baby girl.
Sounds exactly like mine!
I’m currently pregnant with my first…I’m now feeling green and skipping the comments on here! LOL 😡
Lovelee85 – it’s okay, you can do it. Women have been doing it since the beginning of time, and lots of us have kept coming back for another. Your life will be so enriched by your new love.
Same thing happened to my closest friend. She was induced and it was days and days of agonizing labor only to end in a c section followed by 11 months of agonizing nursing which she only did because people hounded her about staying away from bottle feeding. Sienna miller has no idea.
Sorry your friend had a hard labor, but to say sienna Miller endured 27 hours and surgery and “has no idea”? *eyeroll. Please.
Somebody always has it worse somewhere. Does a broken arm hurt less because someone somewhere had their arm ripped off? No. Both suck, and both are entitled to their suckiness. Get off your vicarious high horse.
I didn’t realize it was a competition.
27 hours of hard labor is pretty much “knowing.”
This isn’t the pain olympics – you can have a shit birth and talk about it while knowing others had a hard (or harder) time too.
And really. You’re stating how horrible it was that your friend continued with painful nursing due to societal pressures, and here you are berating a mother who had the balls to something something other than how perfect her experience was? F off, seriously. That critcism is why people don’t reach out for help.
Hats off to SM. It’s really nice to see in this age of magical unicorn births someone turn around and say that 1) my birth turned out different to expectations and it was hard, and 2) that she concentrated too much on birth and not the whole baby thing after. The latter is a big issue right now. You should identify as a mother/woman/human first and your intact magical vagina somewhere further down the list.
@WOLFPUP, thanks for the motivation! I’m going to try to just focus on the joys of being pregnant and the final result! Not the L&D part. 🙂
@sandy123: Same with me-60 hours start to finish. Started as homebirth (which was fine but got stuck at 8.5 cm!!!!! apparently stalled labor at this late stage is a fairly common thing for first births especially) so to the hospital….no c-section, though very close. post partum was he*l too. [no depression at least). Also, had every intervention BUT c-section. Epidaural didn’t take the first time (and I HATED it, unlike most women-but having to be needled in the spine twice??? omg. Hated the feeling of being numb there…anyway, that’s enough gory details for one post, i’ll save the rest of the story. Healthy and very happy baby/kid in the end)
But, plenty of 4 hour births that i’ve known about, as well. so anyone reading this, take heart in that possibility. (:
I had my first when I was 16 years old – 52 hours of labor from beginning to blessed end.
36 hours for me, but I still got my natural, vag birth. It was godawful tho.
God bless her on that 27-hour birth, but I’m too mesmerized by her shoes to pay attention to anything else. I’d love an ID on those!
The black sandals you mean? They’re Pierre Hardy!
The white ones are Balenciaga.
I love those black shoes too!
I like the whole outfit. I’ve always thought she dressed well.
Yes, those sandals!
Yes! I love and want those shoes.
I’d sell my Grandmother to the Gypsies for that necklace.
(don’t anyone take that as a racial slur, it’s my version of a family saying. Older European relatives would say you could trade/barter/sell/buy things with the Roma when they passed through town) (And my Grandma was my most valuable thing)
27 hours though? Wow. It reminds me of a quote a fried showed me from tumblr this week: “You think women are weak? Women are forged of iron. My body, it has bled and blazed and broken, and yet it beats on. I am iron. A little rusted, perhaps, but still I endure.”
Women are amazing.
That’s an awesome quote. I love it. And it’s true.
nice quote
Women are amazing – I heartily agree! If we didn’t live in such a male-centric society, perhaps more women would know it!
My mother was in labor with me for 36 hours. That’s right, THIRTY-SIX. And then just 2 (TWO) with my sister 7 years later. From the first contraction till my sister was out. Insane.
My sister and I both were under an hour labor.
My family was the same except I was the two hour labor and my older sister was the 20 plus hours, “You almost killed me!” labor.
39 hours here with my first. She threatened to come at 31 weeks but stayed till 41, grudgingly! Pitocin, artificial rupture of membrane, nothing. Failed epidural, dropped blood pressure from second epidural, bad fetal heart rate decelerations, failure to progress because nurse didn’t cath me to empty my bladder, developed a fever, vacuum extraction of baby, episiotomy, cord around her neck, NICU overnight, but all was well well the very next day.
Crazy us, we went on to try again about two and a half years later & ended up with healthy, big twins. Sectioned voluntarily because little guy closest to exit was breech. Up walking the next day, only ibuprofen the next day.
Ladies, fear not, for you will see how quickly all the negative emotions/fear from those experiences leave us as soon as you see and hold that little jewel.
Women like to share their birth stories because it is a common experience moms share. Not one upping at all! My first baby my water broke Monday eve and I delivered her In wee hours Fri am. My contractions would start, stop, never progressed. Ultrasounds everyday to make sure babe was ok. Mom was exhausted and dad freaked out. Finally induced and 3 hrs hard pushing then forceps and a bazillion stitches. My 9 pounder of a girl and I am five ft 4 and about 110lbs. My second another girls was 7 and a half lbs , 5 hrs start to finish.
That’s the thing isn’t it? There is no pregnancy book out there that states explicitly that everything that can go wrong, will [possibly] go wrong and that the book may be pointless.
I remember thinking water births seemed the way to go, then when the day came, sitting in a water bath felt like an ‘Alien’ like creature inhabited me.
Alien is right – but then the mother and child are separated by the umbilical cord, as two separate beings. Nursing was a challenge too. I remember walking out the door, just so I could twirl in my own body without any “hangers-on”.
Maybe she is talking about being in labour pain, because I was in labour for three days and they kept saying I wasn’t ready something to do with the way I was contracting, only until i got the mucuos plug then I was called and an hour after I reached the hospital baby was born. That is what i remember atleast, try to block it out lol
With my first I was having labor pains for 5 days but was NOT dilating, it was the most frustrating thing. I went to the hospital 3 times and they kept sending me home saying I was not ready. I didn’t sleep for 5 days straight because I kept waking up every 5-10 minutes with terrible pain. They finally admitted me after instructing me to walk around the hospital for hours in over 80 degree weather to help with dilation. They induced me and baby was born the next day.
Girl, I feel ya. I had 47 HOURS of labor pain and labor. It just started one night (I never had Braxton hicks or anything) and never stopped. I was sent home at a 4 (dilation) because the hospital was “busy” and my contractions weren’t regular. Well they never got regular, even when they gave me pitocin and even when I was pushing (I told them irregular contractions run in my family, but let’s always ignore the patient, shall we?). I was in hell. They felt so bad for me by the time they actually admitted me that the anathesiologist saw me before the 5 other women in line for an epidural. Epidural= heavenly. lets not even talk about tearing!
It tore to my bum too, and the doctor was like, “oh, whoops”. Honestly, I didn’t even feel that, I was so exhausted – just overheard the conversation below. I didn’t know a thing about the coming hemorrhoids and sitz needed…or bleeding nipples and a breast infection from that. All remaining childbirths, I was aware to prepare my nipples with a washcloth to toughen them up, and it was never a problem again. I nursed to 9 or 10 months, as I was not a working mother – how could I be with three children under four?! – two were planned, and all a blessing – our little family.
My shortest was 17 hours, and the other two were 23 (induced after 12 hours of water breaking and labor not starting on its own) and 27 – and that’s in birth order. Duration aside, the 17 hour stint was the worst, with the doctor rushing in at the end screaming, “Get me a gown and gloves, this should have been a C-section” and knocking me out so I missed the birth entirely (Note: I spent a good deal of the time in appointments prior asking whether, given my family and personal medical history a C-section would be the way to go and he insisted it wasn’t). Will spare the rest of the details, but suffice it to say I spent the next five days in hospital and sat on an inflatable donut for the following six weeks. At my first post-birth OB appointment he said in 25 years of practice he’d only seen two rips like mine. (Thanks, Doc!) I had babies two and three with certified nurse midwives in hospitals, and for my money, that’s the way to do it.
Oh merciful Minerva. Just reading about your experience has my womb contracting in sympathy.
Thanks, Choose!
I always tell pregnant pals that there does come a time during labor when you will forget you’re there to have a baby. I’m glad that part of my life is in the rear-view mirror!
I hate when people say they were in labor for 27 hours. Yes, the lead up can be long, but true, active labor is normally the hour (or so) right before the baby is born.
Word. It means nothing. I was in active back labor for six hours and I screamed the entire time because my contractions never stopped for longer than 12 seconds. That is a qualitatively different experience than a woman who is walking the hallways taking deep breaths to get through a normal contraction. I hate this use of duration like it means anything.
Ok I’ll stop blathering my birth story all over the Internet now. I was just happy to see Sienna acknowledge hers was shit, too.
Yes! Doctors aren’t going to let someone be in active labor for 27 hours. So much exaggeration.
Ya, there’s ‘marathon’ labors, where women can spend hours have a contraction sevetal minutes, and some women can even go to the mall, eat, even sleep during their labor before it eventually gets down to the pushing part. Then there are ‘sprinters’–those of us who skip the whole easing into it thing and go straight to having basically one non-stop contraction and shove a kid out in a couple hours. So, length of labor from beginning to end isn’t really a gauge of who has the toughest time.
My worst delivery was actually shortest. I was only in labor for 2.5hrs, but it was just 1 long contraction (with back labor) before my 9lb+ daughter clawed herself out, ripping me all up in the process. The docter didn’t ‘deliver’ her-she CAUGHT her. I think I’d take a 27hr gradual labor any day.
I agree . Slow labor is better/safer, with the pain is gradually increasing and the body adjusting to it. It is not like with short labors where women feel like they’ve just been hit by a truck and they can’t cope.
You poor thing, jeez. I had a friend who had a third degree tear; baby is six months and she’s still dealing with it.
Active labour doesn’t start until you are at least 3cm dilated with long and strong (and regular contractions). No doctor or midwife will expect you to dilate at least 1cm per hour (therefore 7 hours) to be considered to be progressing. No such thing as a 27 hour labour!
Edit: (I sounded mean and scary) yeah but that shit hurts. I was quickly at a 4 but then didn’t really progress so I just hurt and hurt and hurt until 28 hours later when I had moved to a 6. I probably should have forced them to take me and speed it up, but I was afraid of pitocin.
You were afraid of pitocin, but just look how much you were willing to endure for your child.
I think most people are talking about the entirety of the process.
well, it depends on the type of labor you have. True, ‘hard labor’ phase is not as long, but can be longer depending on the birth. And, the rest of the labor varies greatly. I *hate* when people downplay someone else’s birth story and experience just b/c theirs was not the same. (: I mean, it all ‘feels like labor’, even if the ‘technical term’ is different. Women truly have such a range of experiences…My 3 cm plus ‘phase’ was VERY long-well over a day and was stalled at 8.5 for several hours too late for c-section by the time I was at that dilation.
We can each only speak to our own experiences and those we’ve known about.
I’m digging her hairstyle. It’s so pretty! It makes me want to cut my own like that. I want to see this film too but not just for her role, I’m also intrigued about Bradley Cooper trying to pull off a sniper role. I hope if she plays the game right we’ll see her in more films. It’s a shame that in the past her tabloid fame always seem to outshine her acting ability.
I’m trying to talk myself out of it. I have shoulder-blade length hair and I KNOW it would be a bad idea, but it is Just. So. CUTE!
IKR?? Loving it! She is so pretty and her makeup is always spot on. Plus the adorable figure and awesome legs… *le sigh*
Mine went all wrong too. I had a forceps delivery that was horrifying and that day was the worst day of my life. The fifteen minutes while they were giving me the epidural during my placental abruption were the worst moments of my life. Sometimes I wonder tho–why do we talk about it this way, like there’s a wrong way and a right way? It’s all just nature’s sh*tshow and when the baby survives, nature has run its course. Also, having a baby at the end doesn’t make everything okay. I’ll never get over what happened that day and I’ll never get pregnant again. You (generic you) disrespect a woman’s experience when you tell her that the baby’s here and healthy and that’s all that matters. It isn’t, that’s wrong, and I’m glad Sienna at least has a different narrative to offer.
Going to the gynocologist can be a traumatic experience for me. I don’t know if I’d live through a forceps delivery. Ouch!
All of this. There is no wrong or right. There are a million ways to feel about birth and none of them are wrong. There’s no reason anyone should ever invalidate your feelings about your birth by saying “but you got a healthy baby and that’s all that matters!” You were there too. It was your body. You matter too.
What a beautiful comment!
I know someone who an extended labour which involved forceps but they had to do a caesarean in the end and like you she has never had another baby. She was not only in pain but exhausted.
Except that Chris Kyle’s widow’s name is Taya.
Im loving her hair. My hairs is ridiculously long but if i ever cut it i think id go for this style! She looks great
Was just going to write the same thing! I’m donating my hair to Pantene Great Lengths and have been trying to figure out a new hairstyle. I’m kinda obsessed with this one. Who will come style it for me every morning though, so it will look this cool?
That is the lovely thing about long hair – little to no maintenance – ponytails and updo’s can be a woman’s best friend.
My cousin just lost her baby after 12 hours of labor due to a severe genetic disease. And knew the baby wasn’t going to make it going into it. sienna can just sit the heck down-She has a healthy child, that’s the ultimate goal. Yes, you want the best possible birth for you and your kid-but my cousin would gladly have traded 27 hours if it meant she could bring her baby home.
I just can’t with this woman. So entitled.
Wow, sorry to hear that. How devastating for her.
That would have to be one of the most difficult experiences of all, for a woman to endure.
It’s horrible what happened to your cousin, and I’m very sorry for her loss, but there’s no need to slam others for not having to go through the same thing. Sienna didn’t say she had the worst birth ever, she just stated that things didn’t work out the way she’d planned it. Two sentences, no gross details, no pity party.
+1
Scal, it’s not a competition. Your cousin’s tragedy is not siennas fault, nor does it mean she can’t tell her story.
Aw. Don’t shame her. She’s clearly hurt and just talking about it. Venting isn’t always the most pc material 😉
SCAL I’m with you. It wouldn’t hurt Sienna to realize there are women who would give ANYTHING to experience what she did – labor and a healthy baby. There’s a reason women don’t talk about their childbirth stories Iin public.
Celebs just can’t win!
If they’re honest then wetell them they are entitled, and if they sugarcoat it then they’re fake. Why do you bother even listening to what any of them have to say if you’re going to make judgments like these?
> If they’re honest then wetell them they are entitled, and if they sugarcoat it then they’re fake
I am with you on that. Yes, there are many people who suffer worse, but it in no way invalidates suffering/ pain of anyone less who suffers less.
This is what I’m talking about though: it’s not this either/or equation where either you can conceive and should be happy or you can’t and are therefore unhappy. I conceived, carried and delivered a child and it was horrifying. That experience isn’t made better by my child’s existance. I don’t know the pain of infertility but I know what it feels like to be degraded as a human being and that is an equally emotional experience. I can physically conceive now, but I mentally and emotionally don’t have that choice. So it’s not JUST about “you got your baby, how dare you ever complain about anything because I don’t even get that.” My child came at a severe cost. You can’t dismiss everyone else’s experience as less painful because they got a child out of it. I often think that for me, personally, I would have better accepted natural infertility than this one that was imposed on me by the actions of other people.
Scal, I’m so sorry for your cousins loss. A good friend of mine recently learned her 8.5 pregnancy was going to deliver a stillborn and still had to go through the agony of labor.
That said, I work in the birthing world, at a center that caters to mamas from planning, pregnancy, postpartum and parenting. A huge part of our facility are the five therapists and many support groups to deal with all of the varied things that unfortunately go wrong. It’s a VERY real thing for women to experience what we call Birth Trauma, where the intended birth plan goes horribly wrong: this is a real thing regardless of whether or not the end result is a beautiful healthy baby.
Of course it’s easy for all of us to say, hey your healthy baby is here and that is so much more than so many others get, but to take away their very real post traumatic stress over the planned delivery isn’t fair to do to them either.
Right. There’s always someone with a story that’s worse than yours – that doesn’t mean that feelings regarding your experience aren’t valid.
In fairness to Scal, her cousin’s trauma sounds pretty fresh and raw. Sometimes we react with anger when we are still in such pain.
I’m sorry for your and your cousin’s loss. That is so much grief to bear.
Sometimes labor-gone-wrong is caused by interventions–particularly inducement. I was 10 days late and had a normal labor and delivery. I was under the care of a midwife. If I had been with a traditional OB, I probably would’ve been induced earlier with unknown consequences.
I was induced without any problems at all. Can’t imagine how many lives have been saved and improved by medical science and interventions. Countless.
Here are the results of medical intervention in childbirth reflected in the number of maternal deaths over a period of 100 years:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1633559/figure/fig1/
They speak for themselves.
It’s hard to imagine, that in other parts of the world, women die in childbirth (even with a hoard of young ones already at home). We are SO lucky.
I hated labor. Now that its over and I have this wonderful baby, I’ve forgotten how bad it was. Guess I’m one of the lucky ones. For me it was never about the birth. I expected it to suck and in no way was it supposed to be some natural and spiritual experience.
I couldn’t agree more! Birth sucks. It’s horrible. I just want the damn baby (or babies, I had twins last time) out of me. Preferably without having to cut me open, but if it’s necessary, sure. None of this idealistic, romantic, natural birth experience for me.
Truly!
Tom is in NY. Saw pics of them with him in a questionable checkered coat.
Her hair is great. The interview is really good.
My cousin went through 27 hours and her son just wouldn’t come out. His head was too big. They finally did a C-section. Yowza!
Ouch! That’s long even if she is counting the first contraction to all the way when baby pops out or C section in her case. I had it very easy both times. Different strokes for different people.
Induction almost always ends up in a C section. My first child’s birth did not, but I attribute that to her smallness.
> Induction almost always ends up in a C section
Yes! Don’t let docotrs push you into this. I had to fight with mine over this while I was in the middle of childbirth. It was going too slow for his taste. I was really mad at him afterwards. I wanted a natural birth, but it wasn’t convinient for him.
It usually goes like this – induction -> pain becomes too much because it is so rough -> get an epidural -> slows the birth beause you are not feeling anything -> labor stalls -> C-section.
I had an induction with TWINS and I still didn’t end up with a c-section. Pushed both of those suckers out right onto the operating table.
If at the end of you have no serious complications and have a healthy baby there is no reason to complain about it being “all wrong.”
I’ve heard of some incredibly tragic birth stories including one where the doctor accidentally crushed the babies head with a pair of forceps and the baby died – that’s a birth that went “all wrong.”
I saw photos of Sturrige in NYC yesterday btw.
> 27 hours? Ouch. I googled the average length of a first childbirth and landed on 6-12 hours as a result. 27 hours seems ungodly
For first time moms 24+ hours is pretty normal. Mine was 25 hours, no complications. It just takes longer for things to open the first time.
The second birth was 12 hours.
I went through 15 hours of labor and then a c-section. My water broke, my contractions were irregular, they tried to induce me but the baby had a heart rate dip so they opted for surgery. Now I have an amazing little boy who is 15 months. To me the hardest part was being pregnant for 9 months. Once I went into labor, 3 days after my due date, I was feeling like there was light at the end of the tunnel. But the whole time I was pregnant, while medically nothing was out of the ordinary, I experienced the highest level of anxiety ever. That is what would deter me from wanting to go through it again. Anyone else experience that?
I was constantly asking myself “what if” questions, what if the baby is not healthy? That was the scariest thing. Given that every 1-2 kids in 100 are autisitc, not to mention other potential problems, it is far from given that the baby is going to be healthy.
That was the scariest thing for me. And then also during the labor the only worry I had really wasfor the baby to be OK.
I definitely worried throughout pregnancy- you hear news stories about babies born with the most heartbreaking abnormalities, and stress about all the things that could go wrong. I watched a show about babies born with both sexual organs, and then how the parents would choose which sex to make them and have that done surgically, then they would grow up feeling wrong and commit suicide. One more thing to freak you out and believe me, that worry does not subside with following pregnancies. But it’s so worth it- even if something goes wrong, whatever will be will be and you will have a beautiful baby who you love more than anything in the end.
I’m never quite sure what they’re considering labour. My water broke 2 days before I had my boy and f*ck was I in pain for a long time, but I was never even technically in “active labour” or whatever it’s called. (it ended in a c-section… labour f*cking sucks and it almost never goes how you planned 😉
The usual definition of labour is from the first contraction to the birth.
So she wanted a home water birth? Those scare me tbh.
she didnt specify home birth, just water.
Now HER hair is perfect.
I had an emergency c-section at 30 weeks after a gallstone became lodged in my bile duct and I was in agony for a long time until my surgeon realized the only option was gallbladder surgery-not laparoscopic but an open approach-I then developed an inflamed pancreas and put on 20 lbs of fluid and I suffered ARDS in my lungs which has a survival rate of 20-30%-emergency c-section and life support and my son was born weighing 3 lbs. throw in MRSA,a blood clot and sepsis= a three month recovery and lifelong health issues/disability for my son. I think most people on average have expectations of a fairy tale pregnancy,labor and delivery and not all of us realize how complicated and risky it can be (and I’m an RN)
Ohhh, bless your heart!
Try 2 weeks overdue, followed by 29 hours in a military hospital with 4 different doctors (in training). Then it was time for an emergency c-section, oh, and my anesthesiologist went off shift w/out updating the new guy & my epidural wore off DURING surgery. It was like a horror movie. I felt them cut me open, moving everything around, etc. Then the wound got infected and I had to be reopened (by an a**hole intern w/out anesthesia & with a giant Q-tip) & readmitted to the hospital. My stomach was open for 3 weeks & Nurse Ratchet would come in and scrub the hell out of it twice/day & bitch because I asked for pain meds.
I should tell my birth story to high school girls. Teen pregnancy rates in my county might actually go down.
What a crappy way to go – shi*ty – and how awful! Women should really be able to check their gyno’s grades from medical school. I’ve had a procedure done, that I would only allow a teacher from a major medical school, to perform (it was something like brain surgery). Our children and our bodies deserve real safety from some doctor morons.
My brother is a very wealthy gyno. Still, I recommend a brilliant woman by your side – that is the most natural and historical way for women to complete the process of our bodies; ourselves.
Birth is not something we really have control over. I despise when I hear celebrities brag about home birth and wanting to be natural and “peaceful.” Anyone who thinks that’s a good idea is very unaware of all the potential risks, and they should be ashamed of themselves for promoting this. Birth is a very real trauma for the woman and the baby. There are almost no instruments that can adequately measure the baby’s experience in the birth canal, and the only real indicator is “is this taking too long?” which is subjective at best. There is no research suggesting that heart monitors improve the rate of successful births. I am not trying to scare anyone. I just hate the myth that birth is this natural process where “it hurts” but the baby comes out and everyone goes home. There should be so much more respect for the enormous achievement it represents.
I didn’t realize I was in labor. I only went to the doctor/hospital because my BACK was KILLING me!!! Once there they informed me I was dilated to 5. I had my son 2 hours later. The doctor warned me the next baby would be born in the parking lot if I didn’t get to a hospital quick. One child was enough for me:-)
She looks great & the black shoes, actually whole outfit, are now on my wish list. Why the puh? Was it even raining? The white dress doesn’t wow me – I don’t like laces or sheers without linings or more concealing underwear
Sienna Is a better actress imo than her tabloid-worthy offscreen behaviors would suggest. Her face is not so unique & that’s good. She plays a wide variety of roles (Casanova, Layer Cake, The Girl, Factory Girl) convincingly enough so we can forget who she is irl, unlike Kidman, Knightly, Pike, Stewart, Swank and focus on the character she portrays.
I’m due in two months! Oh my god. I’m scarred for life. Holy cow.
Congratulations!! You and your angel will be fine:-) Finally, you get to meet!!! I’m excited for you.
Im on the same boat. Plus Im gonna have to induced. After reading all these stories, Im scared s***less. So its not enough that the pregnancy itself was hell..
Congrats! I’m due in May 🙂
Remember the billions of women who have reproduced every human that has ever lived. It’s awful for some hours; but you will soon be home with the demands of a helpless, mewling baby (just warning you).
My first was a 39 hour labor. Pretty sure I should get a medal for that one. Completely natural and drug free for the first 36 hours, then finally got an epidural and delivered vaginally. i was so set on a natural labor (all the books and documentaries make it seem like anything less is child abuse) that I fought the epidural for so long, only to discover the epidural gave me the actual labor I wanted – focused, connected to my spouse, awareness of the first moments of my child’s life and being able to bond. It would have probably ended in a c-section if I didn’t and I would have been too exhausted/in pain to appreciate those first few moments. So I totally get how Sienna and many women feel cheated out of the labor they want, but in the end the only important part is a healthy baby and being present for the experience.
Back in the day, the Academy of Gyno’s did not believe in V-backs. So for my second c-section, it had to be just that. On top, the spinal did not work, and they had to put me under to “obtain” the baby. She is my little love – I wasn’t “present” during the birth, and the anesthesiologist was extremely apologetic. I was disappointed, but it is really nothing in context of life, as a mother.
“Mwahahahahahaha” ~ every woman who ever had their man Millered away.
The best birth plan is to have no plan. Things can change dramatically and at least that way, you don’t feel let down. My doctors ended up planning a c-section for me as I developed the most hideous case of haemorrhoids and they were concerned with the damage a natural birth could cause.
I recovered extraordinarily well from the c-section and would have another in a heartbeat (the key is to start moving as soon as possible).
However, as nature would have it, after my baby was born I ended up with an even worse case of haemorrhoids and had a haemorrhoidectomy when my son was 2 weeks old. It was the single most excruciating surgery of my life and looking after a newborn with pain that was off the charts for 3 weeks, on top of suffering severe baby blues, was nothing short of traumatic. It’s amazing what we pull through.
Now, onto her amazing hair…!
Baby blues suck – the end.
So many birth experiences – I feel for all of you. My normal, boring, healthy pregnancy went to 42 weeks, my OB was on vacay and his replacement said “wait for your doctor”… when I insisted to get an ultrasound she grudgingly sent me to the hospital. I knew that all my original, natural birth plan would be out the window anyway. Once they saw the baby had almost no amniotic fluid left they induced me. And after 18 hours of hurting like hell and no drugs and no dilation I finally did the epidural, and I started asking for a C section and they told me to wait. Which I did. I was incoherent from pain after about 8 hours more when they finally did the C section. And then, they allowed me to leave the hospital with a child who was too dehydrated to even cry and had lost two pounds in two days post birth. (milk cannot come in after all the morphine of a C section, at least not for most women)
Since I never knew that before hand, and having listened to all the “only do breast, no formula”… we waited another day at home before realizing that a limp, not crying baby is no good. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to the ER doctor who realized that a baby this young, while showing no outwards signs of illness, should behave differently. We were sent back to NICU and luckily, after testing for everything (for 48 hours we thought he was dying from meningitis until test results came back) and furiously feeding him with both pumped milk and formula, he regained most of his lost weight and we took him home. So the first week was hell, followed by severe PPD (I still believe it was induced by the series of events). But he made it home, and I forgot the pain, although never the fear.
I don’t think her saying that her 27 hour labor that didn’t go exactly as she expected makes her entitled, just because she got to bring home a healthy baby. Every birthing experience is different. Some are easy, some are difficult. Some are short, some are long. Some end in joy and others end in sorrow. Some go exactly as planned, some take a big detour and a change in plans. Some are eagerly anticipated, some are endured. None are exactly the same. My heart truly breaks for those who won’t bring a healthy baby home, but I am also very happy for those who do. I hemorrhaged and ended up back in the hospital and almost died after I had my daughter. I almost lost my son at 4 months pregnant, and he was born 3 weeks early. After he was born I was told not to have any more because either one or both of us would most likely not make it. But those were MY experiences and I know there are many who had it worse, and many who had it easier. If someone told me to just sit down and shut up because what I went through wasn’t that bad, I’d be offended. Just like I’d be offended if someone said that I’m complaining and being a drama queen, because they had it so easy. It’s not always easy, it’s not always fun, and it’s usually pretty messy. But we do it, and many do it again, because the end result is all worth it. Now if men had the babies….