Anouchka Talks

On January 7, 2014, my life changed forever when Habibi and I welcomed our baby Hulk into the world.  After three months of violent "all day" sickness, six additional months of a low-risk-but-high-intensity pregnancy, about 22 hours of labor, four hours of pushing (at least two and a half to three of which involved crowning), a third degree "starburst" tear, and one operation later, I was finally able to hold my wiggly little girl. I worked hard to earn the title of "ummi." As I was going through pregnancy, labor and delivery, and the subsequent postpartum period, I didn't realize that my experience was unusual; I simply thought that everything I went through was standard procedure.  It wasn't until later on when my somewhat befuddled doctor informed me that I ended up having more sutures "down there" than I would have had I opted for a voluntary c-section, or that most women don't push for four hours and tear that bad, or that m