Dusty my mum had the same experience with me. It wasn't until she saw me at home with my first child that she started to grieve for and think about the time she lost with me while we were in hospital after my birth. She said that she was sorry she had missed those early days with me, and thirty-odd years after the event even wept a few tears over it.
Its hard isn't it. It is like women will always feel some loss or guilt when it comes to birthing/mothering, even 30 years later. My MIL is incredibly pragmatic and I think she thinks birthing and parenting is very fussy these days. Although I reckon she would have embraced current thinking if it were in her time, but they did what they did in those days because there was little other choice.