Description

Preface

I never thought I would write a book about my pregnancy! And here we are! Thanks to Doctor Heindel for birthing this idea!

Like the title suggests, Bumps and Rides is a journey of my pregnancy that can best be described as a bumpy ride.

Throughout my pregnancy, I had some difficult situations and unpleasant experiences that put me in a fix. This was partly due to the fact that I saw different gynaecologists during the period and transferred from a private hospital to a public hospital in my 8th month. The other part was that I had two failed attempts at induction, membrane sweeping and my water breaking, yet there was no sign of labour so I had to have an emergency C-section.

Bumps and Rides bares it all and narrates my experiences as a first-time mother with pregnancy, labour and delivery, juxtaposing it with the thoughts of my doctor.

In this book, my doctor and I review all the stages of pregnancy and educate pregnant women on the need to stay healthy. I also allay fears associated with pregnancy and address the many myths surrounding pregnancy, the labour ward and operation theatre. My doctor also provides expert advice on how to respond to complications and other challenges, and attempts to answer all the questions often associated with pregnancy.

This project was not like my first book, A Life With Purpose! I will have to admit that the most difficult part of the writing process was recounting the memories of my pregnancy and how I dealt with fear. This is particularly enlightening for first time mothers.

After I had my son, I realized that so much fear had been put into women with regards to childbirth, and they were mostly culturally based and not scientific.

People had passed them on from generation to generation and they had become widely accepted as the truth.

Having gone through 9 months of pregnancy, I came to this conclusion: no two pregnancies are the same. Every pregnant woman and every pregnancy journey is unique.

Although I felt my birth story should have been a certain way, I learnt not to dwell on what I felt I missed out on and to accept the fact that Caesarean birth is birth.

Looking back, I’m filled with a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation to God for what He’s done for me. Despite all odds, I came out strong and with a healthy baby too. My son is a testimony of what faith in God can do!

I chose to requite the favour and grace shown me during my pregnancy by putting it all into a book. I realised that by sharing I could encourage other expectant mothers to trust God with their pregnancy. I could encourage them to live out their pregnancy in faith.

I hope we can all learn something and drive home the point that every pregnancy is unique. I hope you can share in my joy and exercise your faith even as you receive your own miracle.

To those who think anything other than a natural birth is inferior, this book will inform you better.