Monday we had a short antenatal class with our doula, I hope William learned a few things. I think he’s still hooked on the idea of me going to his mum’s for a week after Tazlin’s birth – I still say; if she wants to help then she can come to my place, I wish we had money to hire someone for a week, but we’re not financially stable now for such things.
I started drinking Raspberry Leaf tea, I hope it really helps as well as everybody says. It’s supposed to help soften the cervix, shorten the 2nd stage of labour, help with the milk let down and make your uterus contract back to its normal size faster. I had my first cup Monday evening and at about 1h45am Tuesday morning I had a rather strong contraction on the left of my abdomen and it shot down my leg, it was more of a numbing pain than anything else - but it faded away and I am still waiting for more.
I get people telling me that I look relaxed a lot. I haven’t noticed but do woman tend to get so badly stressed out at this time of pregnancy that you can tell they are stressed by the look on their faces? I just don’t have any reason to stress I suppose! I did ask God for peace in my spirit, and even with the contraction of last night I’m still at peace. The only thought that ran through my mind was; “If this is how it hurts now, how much more will it hurt in true labour?” I think I had a split second of panic there for a moment, but I’m fine now!
You always hear about these poor women experiencing bladder incontinence, it must be really embarrassing! And it is, I experienced it first hand and the worst part was that I actually thought I was leaking amniotic fluid! I mean you’d think you’ll feel it coming on if it is urine – but I felt nothing, it would just “pour out”, hence, me thinking it was amniotic fluid! I experienced this on Wednesday and Thursday only though – “Thank Goodness!”
Thursday evening, Elmarie came over to paint as with every other week. I started getting those really strong ‘period-like’ pains again, and decided to time them with my Braxton hicks – who knows, maybe it could be the real thing! They varied from 20-25minutes apart and were consistent, that’s when I knew; this is it – I’m in early labour. My poor friend was so excited, hoping that baby would come that night! But the pains didn’t really get much worse.
I had those pains all throughout the night but it didn’t keep me from sleeping “I simply love it too much!” I did contact my Doula Friday morning and told her I think I might be going into labour, she thought perhaps I didn’t know what I was talking about and simply told me I should contact her again when the pains get too much for me to handle. At about 1pm I decided to start timing the contractions as they were getting stronger and nothing I did gave me any relief of them. The contractions were now between 4-6minutes apart, I asked my Doula when should I go to the maternity clinic and again she said when the pains gets too much for me to handle. I decided that I’m not going to stay home any longer and phoned my mother-inlaw to take me to the clinic, I also told the Doula that I’m going and of course my hubby – he still asked me if I think I’m going into labour or if I really am in labour, little did he know that labour started the night before already!
When we got to the clinic at 3pm I was 5cm dilated already! My Doula was impressed and apologized for thinking I didn’t know what I was talking about. I could still move around and did just that, we went for a walk and I bounced on the birthing ball to help baby move down into the birthing canal. William was an absolute star! It was like having my own cheer leader/ support team by my side.
Most of the pain was in my back and the contractions were on top of each other, by 6pm they moved me into the labour ward and had me bouncing on the birthing ball to get baby into the birthing canal. By now, I wanted to push with each and every contraction I got, but I had to keep myself from doing so as neither me nor baby were ready for birth. By 6h30pm they finally gave me the go-ahead to let me push, it was difficult! The sister wasn’t very clear on what she wanted me to do, she expected me to give one big push without stealing any breaths in between, how on earth can one push like that for how long ever!?
It was finally time for her to go off duty and another sister came in to help us. She was absolutely brilliant! When pushing she told me to take a quick breath and carry on pushing. William was there by my side all the while, cheering me on and telling me how well I’m doing; all this from the man who was scared to go into the labour ward just a few months ago!
At exactly 7pm our beautiful daughter was born, at a healthy 3.820kg, measuring 54cm. After all I had just gone through, everything else which happened were in the background, from the third stage of labour to being stitched up; I only had eyes for my little princess. Shame they had to put her into the incubator as it was freezing cold in the labour room since I had them put the air conditioner on during birth, I was burning out and everyone else were freezing cold. I can’t think that any women giving birth would worry about their feet being cold, if they are anything like me – they’d feel like they’re giving birth in the core of the earth!
For some there’s only the pain of birth, for others like me there’s the after pain of birth as well. I can barely walk, it feels like my pelvis is being pulled apart with every step I give, in my life have I never moved this slowly and it frustrates the hell out of me! It looks like I got trauma to my pelvis, just my luck! At least I’ve got a miracle to show for all my pain and suffering.
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