Misty Copeland

And experiencing just the, I mean, leaving injury out of it, just the pain of what it takes to train in ballet and be an athlete, the mental strength, all of that, I think was very innate, very natural for me.

You know, I couldn't have felt more prepared for labor, you know, by being a ballerina.

I felt so completely emotionally, mentally, and physically prepared to give birth.

And I still don't think that anything compares to Swan Lake.

Oh, my gosh.

And I know everyone has very different experiences with childbirth, and there's no way to know what someone else feels.

You know, I really enjoyed giving birth to my son.

Like, yes, it was difficult.

There were some complications that happened.

I almost had a cesarean, but my doctor pushed for me not to do it.

And I ended up giving birth without any pain medication in the end.

But there was something that was so...

familiar to me that I just kind of walked into.

And it was like, oh, I know this feeling of preparation, of mental preparation and kind of preparing yourself for the pain and breathing through the pain and just staying as calm as possible.

That it was so interesting because I hadn't been on stage, you know, in some years and

And I felt like I was preparing for a performance.

And when I gave birth to my son, I looked at my husband.

I said, I want to do that again.

He was like, you're crazy.

Yeah.