Dachlostar, I agree 100% with what you said in your post, I wish I could articulate that well! I too, nellbe, came away from Kaleb's birth feeling upset and traumatised, and it took me a good month before I could write the birth story. I think it also affected my ability to cope with him in the beginning, and definitely had an impact on my breastfeeding. I remember when I took him to the GP for his 10 day checkup and the doctor asked about the birth. I told him it was a C-sect and he asked why and I was so ashamed telling him about it - I mean, 'failure to progress' - even the terminology, 'failure', makes you feel useless. The doctor totally picked up on this and told me in the 'good old days' when the baby was occipital posterior, as Kaleb was, I would have died and the baby would have died, end of story. It was a bit of a wakeup call. Anyway, all I'm trying to say is that it is wonderful that a lot of women have a positive, empowering birth experience - I can even look back on mine now and think fondly about parts of it. But be prepared to go with the flow and be open to whatever it takes to get to the end of it with a healthy mum and a healthy bub. And like Dachlostar said, I wish I'd spent more time finding out about baby care and breastfeeding before the birth instead of focusing solely on the labour, it would have been way more beneficial! Labour and childbirth, although a momentous occasion, really is just a tiny speck in the whole scheme of motherhood.