Pregnancy is awesome. We see glamourous pregnancy photoshoots, celebrities celebrating their baby bumps, designers creating maternity lines, and pampering spa packages, specifically for a pregnant woman. Pregnancy wasn’t always glorified and celebrated. Our mothers had it much differently, so let’s compare, now vs. then.

Finding out

Now: Pee on a stick. Your choice of digital or traditional. And, if you don’t believe the first one, take another, and another, and another.

Then: A urine sample from home had to be transported to your doctor. After a couple of days, it was confirmed if any pregnancy hormone (hCG) was detected in your urine. Eventually, the e.p.t. test became the first home pregnancy test to hit the North American market and became popular in 1977.

Diet

Now: Pregnant women worry about their diet constantly—there are lists of foods to avoid that seems to constantly grow. The research on alcohol consumption while pregnant is fairly conclusive nowadays. And, the idea of a woman smoking or even being around smoke while pregnant is shocking now.

Then: Pregnant women were encouraged to continue eating and drinking as they always did. There are even stories of new moms being told to drink dark beer for their iron levels. Perhaps the most shocking is that some doctors told pregnant women to not quit smoking because quitting would raise blood pressure.

Fashion

Now:  Maternity bras and panties are so comfortable, it’s hard to get rid of them post pregnancy. Your favorite brands come in maternity styles, and wearing bikinis is completely acceptable. Clothes that emphasizes your “bump” is sexy! Comfy maternity clothes are even comfier.

Then: Trapeze dresses, smock tops and Peter Pan collars were the norm, often finished off with big, floppy bows and outrageous prints. Maternity fashion was like a crash course in dressing your toddler. It was also very unflattering and made every pregnant woman look enormous.

Labor and Delivery

Now: While labor rarely goes according to any woman’s birth plan, there are options. Options include midwives, doulas or doctors, as well as hospitals or home births. There are even options when it comes to pain relief.

Then: Believe it or not, women had little participation in the labor and delivery process. Doctors made the birth plan and most decisions. The popularity of epidurals started to rise in the 80s, giving women more choice in their pain management.

Hospital stay

Now: Babies are roomed in the same room as their mom so the bonding (and sleepless nights) can begin right away. A hospital stay of 24 hours is the norm for vaginal births without complications. For women who choose to have a hospital birth with a midwife, they can leave soon after the baby is born.

Then: It was believed that mothers and babies needed to stay at the hospital, and newborns were often placed in the nursery, away from their mother for about 24 hours for observation. They were brought to the mother on a schedule; mostly for feeding. Dads and grandparents would stare at the rows of babies in a nursery behind a glass window. New moms stayed in the hospital for several days; sometimes up to a week.

Times have changed. Birth is more comfortable and much more celebrated than the generations before. Technology has made it possible for more comfortable births, and women have gained more control of their birth plan.

Why not take the next step and open a dialogue with Shared Conception? Give us a call today and see if surrogacy is the right decision for you! You can also visit www.deliveradream.com to begin an application to become a gestational surrogate and find out more information!