In the case of becoming a mother, pregnancy is obviously the most indispensable process. Pregnancy and childbirth is a woman's mother's job, but this does not replace the various worries of "expectant mothers": on the one hand, they will be full of worries about the growth and future of their children, on the other hand, the pain of pregnancy and childbirth in October is really frightening - from the beginning of pregnancy to morning sickness, the process of giving birth to a child is like "upgrading and fighting monsters", and I really don't know what difficulties I will encounter.
Miura Yoshiki, whose pen name is "Cherry", used her life's work to create the world-famous "Cherry Pills", she "gave the world's wind objects a lively presence with brisk brushstrokes", and also let us remember the naïve to some silly heads, but also frank and informal, full of optimistic cherry pills. Unfortunately, miura, the "mother" who created the image of Cherry Maruko, died of breast cancer on August 15, 2018, at the age of 53. Although life is full of trivialities and all kinds of unsatisfactory, Miura Yoshiki has attached optimism and innocence to the back of this chaotic world, bringing people to reflect on material pursuits and memories of the simple life of the Heisei era at a time when the economic crisis was in the turn of the Shōshō era.
Miura, pen name "Cherry".
Except born on May 8, 1965
(This day is actually the birthday of "Cherry" Miura Miura herself)
In addition to the "child" cherry pills, in real life, Miura Yoshiki gave birth to her eldest son in 1994, and she wrote her own mother into the book "Peach Has Joy" in the essay collection "Peach Notes", writing her many observations and experiences of pregnancy and childbirth, and sharing her growth experience with words. Apparently, the real "Cherry" is also a very cute mom in addition to her hard-working cartoonist status.
Like other "mothers-to-be", after the sudden "encounter" of pregnancy, "Cherry" Miura Yoshiki also encountered many things that were difficult to say: such as sudden nausea and morning sickness, loss of appetite, and feeling that everything was boring; being trapped, tired and irritable taking turns to visit, sudden "world-weariness" and the feeling of depression with nowhere to vent; from "queen of bowel movements" to "no stool", the whole body began to itch in the middle of pregnancy, and there was no way to wear socks and shoes on her own with a huge stomach The time is approaching and the child has to consider a caesarean section but has no sign of entering the pot, and at the same time has a great fear of natural childbirth and is associated with the terrible episiotomy; the anxiety of not being able to return to the previous work, the face of the newborn child without the imaginary feeling of the sea of emotions; the "postoperative pain" after anesthesia, postpartum depression, the effort to "exhaust" in front of the nurse, the strong hunger of being able to eat on the third day, and so on.
"The responsibility of being a mother, the fear of having a baby, the uneasiness of being able to continue working, the moment you see the pregnancy test stick, it all becomes a reality." With her witty, delicate brushstrokes, Miura Yoshiki depicts very well all that happens to an impending mother's "expectant mother" in the face of an impending newborn.
Cherry pills a family
I had morning sickness and something in my stomach was sucking my nutrients
One night in late August 1993, I suddenly felt a pang of nausea and rushed to the bathroom. Spitting out, I suddenly remembered that my period this month had not yet come. If you think about it, I didn't have a period last month.
The next day I went to the pharmacy to buy something called a pregnancy test stick. This kind of thing is very convenient, as long as you put urine on it, you can detect whether you are pregnant. Three pregnancy test sticks are sold in pharmacies. I was hesitating to know which one to buy, and the pharmacy owner said, "Oh, this, although there are three kinds, in fact, they are all similar, there is no need to buy expensive ones." Cheap ones are also accurate, yes, this one, just put the urine on the stick can be measured. It's simple. "As I spoke, I handed me the cheapest one, so I decided to buy it."
As soon as I got home, I immediately went into the bathroom and dripped urine on the pregnancy test stick, as the pharmacy owner had told me. The waiting time is two minutes. The result was very clear that I was pregnant. A very complicated feeling struck the mind. The psychological shock of pregnancy from "suspected" to "factual" is enormous. I have never seriously considered this matter so far, but what will my life become from now on?
The responsibility of becoming a mother, the fear of having a child, and the uneasiness of whether or not to continue working have become a reality the moment they see the pregnancy test stick. I couldn't accept this reality for a while. In my stomach, there is now one thing, something that is not poop. As I sat on the toilet, he was also doing cell division. No matter how hard I was hit at this point, he was still absorbing the nutrients in my body.
In my stomach, there's one thing now, something that's not. Illustration of "Peach Yuki".
Nausea has no appetite and is completely defeated by "world-weariness"
On the way home from the hospital, I couldn't resist buying two boxes of dumplings, and when I was in a good mood, I bought some sushi and fruit, and I carried these bags home.
When I got home, I told my husband, "It seems like it's been three months." I see the heart! The due date is said to be March 30. My husband was overjoyed, shouting, "Next spring, looking forward to it!" banzai! ", start eating the dumplings I bought.
I was thankful that the dumplings had filled my husband's stomach when I suddenly felt nauseous and uncomfortable. This is the prelude to the most difficult days.
Cherry pills full of optimism.
That bad time began the next day. The first is no appetite. I also know that not eating is not good for my health, and I am forced to eat it out of a sense of responsibility. I poured some soy sauce on the canned tuna and ate it as a dish, and I didn't want to eat anything else. It was only because there were still canned tuna in the world that I was able to get out of the crisis of my life.
Although I didn't eat anything, there was always an indescribable strange feeling on my tongue, and even the taste of saliva was very mindful. I kept tilting my head and saying, "Something is wrong, something is wrong," but in fact, the most wrong thing is myself.
Although there is not much nausea and vomiting, the period of mental pain has arrived.
There's no reason, I just think everything is so annoying. Work, games, TV, music, everything that bored me. This feeling is also the first time in my life for me. Even my own presence annoyed me. Not sitting all day, nor standing. I tried to let myself lie casually for a while, but there was an urge to throw my lying self aside. You can forget all this after falling asleep, but as soon as you wake up, you are back to the reality of being bored with everything. I was in a dilemma and had nowhere to run. This kind of thing can't be solved even if it is told to others, and I can only endure it silently by myself.
In the days when only sleepiness, fatigue, and irritability took turns visiting me every day, the deadline for the manga was approaching. What small pills, Yuzo, ah Hong, it doesn't matter to me at this time, but the work must be taken seriously, and this sense of responsibility still remains in my sanity. Therefore, I conceived boring laughs and lines in a deep bottom mood, and I wanted to cry even more when I thought of my situation.
Completely defeated by the world-weariness, I tried to hide this unhappiness deep in my heart, and tried to maintain the same speech and behavior as usual in front of others. In the eyes of the people around me, although I was slightly less interested than usual, because there was no exaggerated behavior such as morning sickness, everyone said "Oh, you have almost no reaction, too relaxed", or "You look very energetic, or are you in good health". Everyone was full of praise for my early pregnancy stage. Even my husband didn't notice that my heart was caught in an agitated vortex, "Peaches is really going well, so good!" That's great! "It's a very pleasant smile.
The big thing still happened
For pregnant women, the same thing to pay attention to as controlling weight is to prevent constipation. It is said that more than 80% of pregnant women have constipation, but I am a kind of "smooth home" twice a day. I am proud to be able to have a smooth bowel movement twice a day after I am pregnant, and I believe that I am a "pregnant woman with excellent bowel movements".
One day in the fifth month, I suddenly wanted to eat fancy bread, donuts and other things, although I knew that I should control sweets during pregnancy, I still ate a meal with a beautiful heart. I also knew that not taking fiber seriously would lead to constipation, but I always felt that it wouldn't happen to me, so I didn't eat vegetables much. I am absolutely confident in my smoothness.
Cherry Maruko and Sakura's wife Sakura.
"There can't be a poop that I, the queen of defecation, can't have!" - I have extraordinary confidence in the bowel movement, even a little blind.
However, the "big poop" thing still happened. First of all, there was no bowel movement that day. I'm a little worried, but I haven't given up hope for the next day – tomorrow I'll even get out of this one today! So, the next day, people continued to eat and drink wordlessly. As if the previous day's no defecation had not happened, I ate some of my favorite noodles, but still did not eat fiber foods, naively thinking that "I would have a big poop".
Needless to say, there was no bowel movement on this day.
In the notes of the Magazine of Pregnant Women, there are countless records of fissures caused by constipation causing tears, and there are also countless notes about the fissure turning into hemorrhoids, and the pain persists until the postpartum period. In addition to hemorrhoids, some people are also sent to the hospital for rescue because of the accumulation of stool that compresses the intestine, causing severe abdominal pain; others have become as hard as stones due to severe constipation...
In short, the tragedies caused by constipation are numerous.
Never expected to become an "itchy pregnant woman"
The fifth, sixth and seventh months of pregnancy pass smoothly and smoothly. However, there is also a troublesome thing in the physical aspect, that is, the itching on the body is unbearable. I used to know from books that some pregnant women will itch from the second trimester, and I never expected to become one of the "itchy pregnant women". I suspect that this is mostly the "hormonal balance" at work, and unsurprisingly, it is indeed it.
Dr. Shinno also said: "By the tenth month, it will inexplicably stop itching, but before that, there was no way to do anything, I had to endure." "Even Dr. Shinno couldn't do anything about hormones, and I had to die."
Even if I was dead-hearted, it was still itchy, so I often scratched around. Some places scratched too hard and bleeded, but I couldn't help but keep scratching. When the back itches so much that people want to jump up, it is called the "little grandson's hand"
(also called "tickle tickle")
The weak scratching tool had no problem with me using my husband's hand. If I didn't let my husband help me to scratch my back up and down like a storm, I would feel itchy and suffocated. Often, when my husband was helping me scratch my back, I also scratched my legs, arms and abdomen vigorously, as if my whole body was on fire, and I tossed and turned upside down.
In addition, I am very healthy, have smooth bowel movements every day, are not anemic, and the fetus is developing smoothly as expected. The stomach grew larger and larger, and at eight months it gained ten kilograms of weight. I didn't eat that much, but I gained a lot of weight, which is amazing. It seems that in order to ensure that the baby receives sufficient nutrients, the body knows that it must take foolproof countermeasures. My brain has never issued that kind of command, and my body can respond automatically, and I have to say that this system is really mysterious.
After the stomach gets bigger, the most painful thing is to "wear socks". If you accidentally use too much force, you will fall backwards like a tumbler. Illustration of "Peach Yuki".
Is natural childbirth a "pain that makes life worse than death"?
By the time of the next obstetric check-up, the child was still not in the pot. Dr. Shinno frowned and said, "Well, there's no sign at all." It's been nine and a half months, and it's really troublesome if you don't get into the basin again. I asked, "What happens if it doesn't go into the basin?" "You can't be born without going into the pot." It must be in the basin! Dr. Shinno only stressed this. I asked again, "But what if I don't go into the pot like this until the due date?" "Then it can only be cut open." Dr. Shinno said.
"Cut open!" That is to say, to have a caesarean section! I hadn't considered a caesarean section until now, but the possibility suddenly came. It seems that the probability is still quite high, about fifty percent.
I suddenly felt very uneasy. So far, I have always thought that the caesarean section information published in the Mother and Baby Magazine has nothing to do with me, and I have never skipped it. Anyway, it's about cutting open the stomach. What a caesarean section! That's how Yukio Mishima died.
Although my resistance to caesarean sections is growing, I have a huge fear of natural childbirth. The women around me who have had fertility experiences describe natural childbirth almost in unison as a "pain that makes life worse than death." In the fertility notes I have read, some people say that it hurts like the lower body is torn, and some people say that it hurts a hundred times more than diarrhea. An ordinary diarrhea, has been tossed out I want to rip out the stomach and throw it away, if it hurts a hundred times more, it is really painful. There is also episiotomy. It is surgically cut in the perineum and "clicks" at once, without any anesthesia. Imagine what it would be like for gentlemen to put a pair of scissors between their "rod" and their anus. Can you feel some of the fears of women?
If you give birth naturally, you have to endure severe pain and "clicking"; if you have a caesarean section, your stomach will be painfully opened. The thought of either one makes me shudder. But even if you are afraid of both, there is no way back now. From the moment this little life came into my belly, the countdown to that moment of horror began. No matter what means are taken, the child in the belly will eventually come out. Sooner or later, in just a month, this matter will become a reality. The more I thought about it, the more terrifying it became, and my heart began to beat faster.
Cherry balls are always so happy.
In this state of mind, I still have one more job to complete. Work must be done, and this is the responsibility of being a human being. I allowed myself to sit at the table, holding my stomach in pain, but without any thought at all. I began to hate this exhausted self and savored the sense of despair of being a writer.
Having a child seems to have "an incredible dream"
The day of surgery has finally arrived.
Having a child is known as one of the most touching things in a woman's life. After a few hours, what kind of emotion awaits me? "Roar..." I wanted to shout, and my mood was too happy to suppress. I stared quietly at the wrist with the hanging needle inserted to dispel the anxiety in my heart.
When I was about to enter the operating room, my husband's face appeared in my field of vision, and the expression on his face made me instantly read his thoughts: "Although this life may be separated, I believe that such a thing will not happen!" I thought to myself, "Maybe we won't see each other again." Thankfully, it was me who was sent away. ”
As soon as I entered the operating room, the doctor injected anesthesia into several places on my back. I asked, "Is it general anesthesia?" The doctor told me, "No, it's local anesthesia." I smiled inside and closed my eyes.
The surgery seems to have begun. Although I felt my stomach being opened, I didn't resist it at all. I felt like I was in the closest state of my life to death so far. The state of having a large cut in the abdomen is obviously closer to death than the usual state, but because it happens to be in the middle of the operation, no one panics about it.
……
I went back to my room. The baby had already arrived in the room first, lying in the cot making a "uh-uh" sound. An old woman with experience in nursing said, "Look, Mom's back!" As he spoke, he picked up the baby and put it on my bed and let him lie with me.
Postpartum Depression, Illustration of "Peach has Joy".
I whispered to the child, "You, what is the fate that made you run out of my belly?" The child just frowned a little, as if I was asking a very troublesome question. The more I looked at it, the more I felt that his pointed lips resembled a little parrot, and since my husband and I were both single eyelids, the child's eyelids were also a layer. No matter what, his life will not be with The Janis Studio
(A well-known artist agency in Japan, mainly engaged in the promotion of male artists and male idol groups)
What's the connection between such a place?
I waited for the emotion to strike like a sea of emotions, but I didn't wait for that feeling until nightfall. Am I such an untouchable person? I was slightly disappointed in the roughness of my own sensibility. It is also strange that for babies sleeping in the small bed next to them, there is no particularly worth mentioning feelings. But if you think about it, I am such a personality that I don't have feelings for anyone at once. Besides, I was originally a person who was afraid of life, even if the baby I met for the first time today said to me, "Hey! Come and love me! ", I can't do the mother's love outbreak as soon as we meet."
With this in mind, I decided to go to sleep and not think about superfluous things. Anyway, it won't be long, even if I don't want to, my heart will be taken away by this little person. My time, my feelings, my physical strength will be occupied by this little person in large quantities.
"Peach Notes", by Cherry Zi, translated by Han Yanmei, Nova Press, April 2019.
This article is compiled from "Peach Notes: Peach has joy", the content is deleted from the original text, and it is authorized by the publishing house.
Author Cherry
Excerpt from Ho An An
Edited by An Ye and proofread by Xue Jingning