In film and television, we have seen real life situations portrayed millions of times. One of them is motherhood, which is portrayed from its beginnings in pregnancy and childbirth, to life with children. But despite the fact that fiction is inspired by reality, it is often very different.
Therefore, today we have prepared a list of those things about pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood that we have seen in series and movies, but that are very different in real life .
It’s easy to get pregnant on the first try
Let’s start at the beginning: conception. It is common to see that women get pregnant on the first try or the first accident: either the protagonist couple decided to have a baby, or a night of drinking ended in casual sex. But although it can happen, in real life it is not always easy to get pregnant with just one sexual relationship .
Although this varies according to various factors and is different for each couple, there are studies that say that you must make love 104 times to conceive a baby, an average from the moment you decide to have it until you achieve pregnancy. It is an average of 6 months with about four sex sessions per week.
You can eat for two
This is one of the most popular myths of pregnancy, which is justified by the fact that “since you now have another little person inside you, you must eat for both of us” and even, many women take pregnancy as a free pass to eat what they want as much as they want.
But this is not correct and in fact, more than ever you should take care of your diet , both to provide the baby with the necessary nutrients, and to avoid gaining excess weight, as this could bring health complications for both of you.
Pregnancy is always beautiful
They call it “the sweet wait”, because it is a long period in which we look forward to the arrival of our baby. However, sometimes the wait is not so sweet , despite the fact that in most movies pregnant women always look happy, radiant and full of energy.
In reality, there are many things that can make pregnancy not like in the movies. From nausea and discomfort in the first trimester, to the weight and discomfort of a huge belly in the third trimester, pregnancy can be full of things that make this stage a bit uncomfortable .
The appearance of contractions indicates that the baby will be born
We now continue with delivery, which is also quite different in fiction. For example, when the pregnant protagonist begins to feel the first contractions, a rain of wisdom surrounds her and very sure of herself, she says that “it is time” and everyone goes crazy for rushing to get to the hospital.
But the start or appearance of contractions is not an indicator that the baby is about to be born . In fact, there are six different types of contractions, and some are felt from early to mid-pregnancy. And although there are strong contractions, they are a sign that labor is approaching, several days may elapse between its appearance and the birth of the baby.
Water breakage is always notorious and exaggerated
In movies and series, they usually indicate that the baby is about to be born when the pregnant protagonist breaks water, an event that is quite an event, because we see the jets of water fall and wet everything in its path . In real life, stock market failure isn’t always that exaggerated (in fact, it rarely is).
However, it is usually easy to identify because you will feel a trickle of hot water wetting your legs, as if you had urinated on yourself . In many cases, pregnant women only expel small jets of water through a fissure.
Labor lasts only a few minutes
It is evident that for the duration of the series and movies the births are shown as something that lasts only a few minutes or at most a couple of hours . For this there is a special name for when it occurs quickly and in a matter of hours: precipitated labor.
But the usual thing is that labor lasts much longer: on average – and if everything passes normally – about eight hours , since it goes through five different phases that have their own process and evolution.
The exaggerated screams of women
A cliché of movies and series is that at the time of childbirth women transform and screams of terror come out of them (and woe to anyone who gets in their way or tries to tell them something!).
Although it is true that childbirth can be very difficult, and that there can be screams and groans of pain , they are not at all similar to what the fiction shows, because at that moment they are more focused on breathing and pushing.
Dad faints
Another cliché of childbirth, but focused on the partner of the woman in labor, is that comic and absurd scene in which the father faints from the shock, or also loses control of what his eyes are seeing and goes crazy (Although there have been a couple of viral cases of photos of parents passed out in the delivery room).
While it is true that witnessing the birth of a baby is something impressive, parents are often focused on emotionally accompanying the mother while the doctors and nurses attend to the mother, and with the emotion of the moment, they are more concerned that she is fine and they may not be so attentive to the expulsion of the baby.
Babies are born clean (and huge!)
Something that always attracts the attention of those of us who already have children when watching childbirth scenes in series and movies, is how clean, big, round and smiling newborns are when they are delivered to the mother .
All of us who have seen a newborn know that most are born with some remnant of vernix that usually accumulates on the back, in the flexion folds and on the scalp , and that it is also beneficial for them not to remove it immediately after delivery .
The belly disappears as soon as the baby is born
I clearly remember a scene from Matilda that has always made me laugh: the one in which the parents leave the hospital after the baby is born and we see the mother walk as if nothing had happened, while wearing tight pants .
But in the real world, the tummy doesn’t go away as soon as the baby is born . In fact, it can take weeks and even months to return to your pre-pregnancy size (or never be the same again, and that’s normal!)
Starting breastfeeding is super easy
Breastfeeding Everyone tells us that it is the best (because it is), but they do not tell you that starting it is not always easy. And the few movies that show it do not help either by putting it as something super simple and without problems.
But establishing it can be difficult at the beginning and various difficulties can arise , from a grip that is not achieved well, to the rise of milk, which can be exasperating.
Recovery is quick and painless
Once the mothers of the fiction are discharged, they return home to enjoy their new life with their babies and without a single sign that they had given birth days before . But although recovery is different in each case, postpartum is always accompanied by some discomfort.
Some are very well known, such as wrongs, excessive sweating and constipation, although there are also many other things and discomforts more or less “secret” or not so well known, but perfectly normal and that new mothers often go through.
Postpartum is easy
And finally, we have those sweet scenes of the new mother relaxing at home with her baby in her arms while everything in the world seems to be in harmony . It is true, it is wonderful to go home and start this new stage with one more member of the family, but postpartum is anything but easy.
In fact, postpartum is possibly one of the most difficult stages of motherhood , not only because of the adaptation process with the new baby, but also because of all the hormonal changes that are still happening, and that can affect the mother physically and emotionally. .
Fortunately, in recent years there have been films and television programs that show us a motherhood more attached to reality, which not only make us feel identified, but can also help new mothers have a realistic idea of everything that is coming.
In Babies and more | The postpartum that nobody tells you about: the photo and the story of a woman three days after giving birth, still without sleeping, The photos that show what a mother’s day is really like
