Random Thoughts Thursday

Ok, so on to my second blog. Not every Thursday will be full of random thoughts (don't get too excited, they might not be all that interesting of thoughts) but for now that title somewhat applies. And it might be less random in the fact that I am blogging in response to something I watched on my DVR last night....the most recent episode of 16 and Pregnant.
I know exactly what you are thinking...why in the world would someone watch that show? Some people are more captivated by senseless reality TV and I happen to be one of those people. Also, even though I am not 16, not unwed, no longer living with my parents (the almost month that we were there for our renovations does NOT count) and on perfectly good terms with my family and significant other (husband), I do share something in common with these girls....I am pregnant! The similarities stop there.
Just a little bit of background before I get to my point. The girl in this episode, named Samantha, is in her senior year of highschool and pregnant. She seems smart enough, book wise, but clearly just not quite mature enough to be a mother, not that many (if any) 16-17 year olds are. Ironically, her mother had her at 16 and is also pregnant at the same time as her daughter.....at this I really cannot make too many comments, although I could probably go on and on about that topic for a while.
ANYWAY. So Samantha finally goes into labor and it's not progressing very quickly. After 18 hours or so she is only a couple centimeters dilated....not so unusual but what made me take notice of this enough to blog was how she was responding to the labor......she literally was screaming and rolling around during each contraction like someone was trying to KILL her. Literally blood-curdling screams. And crying, more like sobbing. And I am not sure how to put into words the sounds when the doctor finally came in to break her water. The nurse (who I am sure wanted to throw her patient out of the window) calmly tried to explain that she needed to be at 3 centimeters to get her epidural, she was close, she could make it, and various other phrases said to help calm women in labor. More hysterical screaming and crying.
*In a funny side note, my husband is sitting there watching with me (he got to pick the show we watched before that) and is completely horrified, wide eyed and open mouthed at every scream.*
When we return from a commercial break we find that even though young Samantha has not reached the coveted 3 centimeters, they will give her an epidural anyway....surely just to shut her up and not scare the entire rest of the hospital to death. And in the end, she has to have a C-section. I am pretty sure all the viewers got lucky on that one.
The point to this entire post is that I hope and pray and KNOW that no matter how bad my labor hurts, I will NOT act the way this girl did. I have a pretty high pain threshold but have never experienced a contraction before and am sure I am in for some pretty big pain. I just don't want to scream and cry more than my new infant will! How embarassing! Although, for the record, my birthing experience will NOT be filmed by MTV or any other camera crew.
So maybe I don't know at all what labor will really be like since I have never experienced it first hand. And maybe my high threshold for pain will diminish in one gripping contraction. But, thanks to Samantha and MTV's enthralling reality TV show, I know exactly how I will NOT behave during said labor!!! And I've still got 23 more weeks to go but this show will stick with me. In the moment when I am in such pain I will think back to Samantha....and I will grit my teeth.....and do the exact opposite of her! (Maybe I'll try to be more like Kourtney Kardashian, who I don't think even made a peep while pushing out her son....but that is an entirely different reality show!!!)