My Experience on Giving Birth – Part I

by Marcia Wade

I remember being a bit anxious about giving birth, as I had not done it before and no matter what people tell you, it is something you just get to know once you have done it yourself.

Having said there, I felt very reassured about the whole thing after going to pre-natal classes at St John’s Hospital. During the classes the midwife go through what to expect during labour, how to recognise you are in labour, plus all the options available to the mother-to-be during labour as well as some after care for the baby and advice about recovery for the mother. I highly recommend first time mums to have some pre-natal classes as it may not stop mums from getting a bit nervous about labour, but it kept my mind at ease, as I knew more or less what to expect, as the midwife goes through the whole process with mums and dads, in this way dads know how to help his partner during this anxious but magical time.

continued below ....

The more I learnt about labour the more confident I became about giving birth, I think knowledge is very important as it reduces stress and help relax, because the mum knows what is going on and what is going to happen next, more or less.

Here I am telling about my experience about giving birth, but everyone is different, and what is best for one person, may not be the best for another.

Firstly, I was diagnosed with preeclampsia at 37 weeks of pregnancy, then I was constantly checked at the hospital for the next two weeks and although my condition was stable my consultant suggested that I should be induced at 39 weeks in order to avoid any complications for the baby and myself.

So I entered the hospital at 9.30 a.m. on the 06 June 07. It was finally going to happen, the moment I have been preparing for so long and yet it was as if it wasn’t real, as if the penny had not dropped – I think it must be a way of the body to defend against stress – So, even though I was a bit anxious I was quite relaxed about it as well.

Thankfully, I had prepared the hospital bag in advance with all the bits and pieces for my stay; Jon also had one with lots of chocolate and biscuits. He also had the camera with him.

I had two sessions of stretch and sweep during the two weeks before I was admitted to hospital, to help dilate the birth canal, this was a bit painful at first. Once I was admitted to hospital the midwife monitored the baby for half an hour with a CTG machine that checked the baby’s heartbeat and his movement in the womb. She also did an overall check up on myself to verify my blood pressure etc. Then I was given a medicine to initiate the induction. At about lunchtime I was not feeling any pain and went for a walk in the hospital’s car park. Then early afternoon I started feeling a little pain in my tummy, just like period pain. About four o’clock in the afternoon I was given another dose of the medicine and then I just had to wait for it to take effect.

During the afternoon and evening the pain started to increase and became really strong. I found that the massage and breathing technique I had learned at the pre-natal classes was really helpful to alleviate the pain. In the evening Jon was there with me and he gave me moral support and also helped me to massage by back and support my body. I remember crying on his arms for a bit, I just wanted the pain to go away. Looking back on it now it does not seem that bad.

At this point I asked the midwife to check on my progress and to my disappointment I was only 3 centimetres dilated, in order to give birth, the canal must be 10 centimetres dilated. I was a bit frustrated, how could I be only 3 centimetres dilated with all that pain? She told me to have a bath and I did so, a bit reluctant to use the hospital bath, but I felt much better while in the bath, it was very relaxing and took some of the pain away. Jon went home and I had to wait until the next morning to check on my progress, so I was given some tablets for pain plus a sleeping tablet to help me to go through the night.

Tweet This Tweet Me!