Is the first birth inherently traumatic?

[Lenny]

I think majority of first births are tramatic to a certain degree or so because of the not having taken that path before. No matter how much you read, watch, hear, learn during your pregnancy, nothing really prepares you for labour and birth. And really that should extend to the first year of life. Then on top of all that, I dont think there is an a real way to describe the pain you will feel, how the drugs will affect each individual, etc.

Yes, this is so right. It is totally life altering for a lot of us. Perhaps it is such a huge experience the first time around, that all of our emotions relating to the first birth are very amplified. We aren't often exposed to birth prior to our own.

(ETA - I don't mean our own birth, i mean the first time we birth a child ourselves)