I must say I agree with British actress Tilda Swinton on this one. Don't believe what you see in the movies, the actor said recently; natural childbirth is a 'truly murderous business'. Murderous, yes, but with the greatest return — a pink, slippery, squawking newborn in your arms.
How would it feel to be cheated of this miracle moment? In June 2010, Sydney mother Grace Wang was left paralysed from the waist down and suffering from extensive nerve damage after she was injected with antiseptic instead of a saline solution during an epidural while giving birth.
According to a recent study published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia the chance of suffering permanent damage epidurals during labour is much lower that previously thought; as low as one in 80,000. Not that such statistics offer Wang or her husband Jason Zheng any comfort.
I first came across the 33-year-old mother's terrible story not long after having my second son. Her plight resonated with me emotionally, spiritually and physically.
I recalled my own epidural experience with my firstborn, looking fixedly down at the floor trying to ignore the blood pooling angrily around my feet and hoping to God that I stayed still long enough in between violent spasms for the anaesthetist to insert the rather large needle safely into my spine.
With her nervous system effectively shut down Wang lay on the hospital bed looking more like a car accident victim than a woman who had just had her first child. Two months on, she was still unable to walk, sit or breastfeed.
Late last month, Wang and Zheng celebrated their son Alex's first birthday. Propped up against a battalion of pillows, Wang smiled for the cameras, watching on as others kissed and cuddled her son.
'When all those nurses hold Alex, when they kiss and hug him, I feel really sad because I really hope I can also hold him just like the others do because our Alex is so cute,' she heartbreakingly told SBS Mandarin News Australia.
How do you begin to reconcile what should have been the happiest day of your life with such a nightmare outcome?
It's a question that took on a sharp clarity as the mummy wars raged once again in the dailies. Up against the frivolity