I can do anything: My birth experience Part I
While I was pregnant with my daughter, all sorts of thoughts about what giving birth would be like constantly ran through my head; many of them bringing on feelings of anxiety. Would I actually be able to do it? Would I know how to push once that time came? What about the pain? Would it be unbearable? Would I be able to endure it? Would I have to deviate from the original plan of giving birth naturally, and possibly without medication?
What I wasn't expecting was news about having to potentially give birth to a breech baby on one of my routine antenatal visits at my chosen hospital in Norway. As I sat there listening to the doctor's advice on how to best prepare myself for breech birth, I began shedding tears. I wondered what I could have possibly done so wrong that my baby refused to get into an anterior position.
As far as I was aware, none of the people I knew had experienced giving birth to a breech baby, and so I spent a lot of time worrying about it, watching videos about breech births and familiarising myself with breathing exercises that would help with the contractions once they started.
I can't deny that I was also occupied with all the negative information there was about breech birth as well, some of them involving potential death due to complications. I was terrified.
Going into labour
I gave birth three days ahead of my baby's due date, and what a lengthy labour I endured. 17 hours to be exact!
On the night my contractions started, I had experienced a bloody show a few hours prior. Having read somewhere that losing one's mucus plug didn't always mean that labour would follow soon after, I thought that I had maybe a week more to prepare myself for the arrival of my daughter. How very wrong I was!
I woke up around a 1.45 a.m. on the day of my daughter's arrival with what I thought were Braxton Hicks contractions. Little did I know that the contractions I was experiencing were the real deal, and not just my body preparing me for labour ahead of time. However, once I realised my contractions were the beginning of labour, I went and told my mother, who immediately got dressed as, according to her, the baby could arrive at any moment.
I assured my mom that the contractions weren't so bad and that I was planning to try to get some sleep and wait for the waves to become more intense. As I paced my bedroom and spoke to my mom, all while pausing to take deep breaths each time I felt a contraction, I felt a warm gush explode into my underwear. Thinking it was blood, I immediately panicked, but when I went to check, a puddle of water exploded onto the floor (just like in the movies). Although my midwife had told me that most women never experience their water breaking as dramatically as it does in movies, I guess I was one of the few who got to experience it.
Having been instructed to immediately lie flat on my back if my water ever broke before making it to the hospital, I did just that. And I have to admit that it was rather comical watching my mother run around in panic while asking for the number my midwife had told me to call once I was in labour.
My contractions increased in intensity as we waited for the paramedics to arrive, and once they finally did, I was asked a series of questions before they carried me out to the ambulance on a stretcher and rushed off to the hospital.
Despite the paramedics' reluctance for my mom to come with me (due to Covid guidelines), I insisted that I needed her to be by my side every step of the way.
A device was stuck to my finger to make sure my blood pressure remained stable throughout the journey, and a tube inserted into my hand in case I would need any fluids either during the ride or at the hospital. After each bump on the road, I nervously expressed to the paramedics that I couldn't feel my baby's movements, to which I was told not to worry about.
Once we finally arrived outside of the hospital, I was immediately rushed inside. My mom was left on her own in the dead of night, and they only let her in after I asked whether I would have to give birth all alone.
While I waited for my mom to join me, a midwife checked my cervix for progress, and I was surprised to learn that I was already 5 cm dilated!
It was on this very day that I would learn exactly what strength I possessed and how much I would appreciate my mother's support through the whole process.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
