[post_page_title]A traumatic birth[/post_page_title]
The numbness stayed with her all the way to her water breaking. Childbirth was extremely difficult – she was injected with epidural but since she was already numb, it only made her feel completely paralyzed.
She couldn’t even push during birth. For hours on end, nothing was happening, and while the baby started crowning, he seemed to be stuck. Eventually, by pushing down on her stomach, the baby finally emerged. Shahaf was so exhausted by the end of it that she didn’t even want to hold her new son – just sleep.
[post_page_title]Not strong enough to be a mother[/post_page_title]
Hoping that maybe her baby was pressing down on some nerve, she thought she would find relief after giving birth; she didn’t. Shahaf suffered from terrible back pain and still couldn’t move her legs.
Doctors told her it was because the epidural was still circulating around her body, but it wasn’t getting any better. Since she couldn’t care for the baby, the entire family moved to her mother’s house. She found herself unable to function, and so her husband and mom took charge of caring for the newborn.
