A friend was planning on attending Shelley's prenatal yoga class, and checked with me (I was then 31 weeks pregnant) if I wanted to join her. I was never much into yoga, but decided to go for the classes. My pregnancy till then had been really hectic, so I thought the yoga class would give me some bonding time with my baby. I was hoping to have a natural birth, but was open to other options too. And I certainly wasn't expecting the yoga classes to help me with a natural birth. Little was I to know.
At my 39 week check-up my doctor was preparing me for other options. I had till then not felt any contractions and my cervix had softened just a little. I was a little worried as I drove back home. I thought I was probably going to have a planned delivery. But the very next day, I felt some contractions in the wee hours of the day. The contractions went away in a few minutes, so I thought they were false labor pains. During the course of the day, I felt contractions again, and they kept coming at regularly intervals. Every 30-40 minutes, I felt mild waves. And then the intervals kept getting shorter, the duration of the contractions kept getting longer. My husband came home by 4:00 pm. The cow position (getting on all fours) was helping me. So for every contraction, I would get into the cow position. At 7:00 pm we called our doctor's line. I was told to leave for the hospital in an hour. As predicted by the doctor, my contractions got more intense in an hour and we headed to the hospital.
At the hospital, the nurse checked that I was in active labor. I was 5 cms dilated. I was asked and I said no to the epidural. In the labor room, an IV needle in my arm, with the fetus monitoring in place, we were left to ourselves. It was around 9 pm. The nurse was to check on us every couple of hours. I was watching the clock every so often. I would try to get to the floor for every contraction (didn't feel comfortable getting into a cow position on the bed which was quite narrow). By the time I would get myself off the bed with my husband's help, I would feel the contraction easing away. I remember shouting at my husband for not getting me off the bed faster. Eventually I got tired of getting off and then back on the bed. I am just 5 feet tall and getting back onto the bed was a huge effort (my husband was keeping a safe watchful distance to comply with my wishes). Then I decided to just sit out the contractions. I remember closing my eyes and remembering Shelley's mantra "ride the pain waves, embrace pain". And it really was easy after that. I didn't budge from the bed after that. My husband was keeping a watchful eye on me. At 11:10 I remember paging the nurse. I was 7 cms dilated. Again we were left on our own. I slept. The contractions would wake me up, and I would ride the pain waves. Both me and my husband were snoozing though. I again paged the nurse at 1:00. I was about 10 cms dilated. My water bag was blocking the baby's descent, so it was broken by the doctor.
The contractions started coming in at a greater intensity, but the pain was gone. However, I wasn't prepared for pushing. The pushing part was the most painful part of my labor. Every push was encouraged by my husband and the nurse. The doctor periodically checked on me. I was also given oxygen whiffs a couple of times. After about an hour of pushing, I was almost about to give up. At that stage, I just wanted the baby out. I kept saying that I won't be able to do it. I asked for a mirror to check on the baby's progress. I was told that it would not help much. After what seemed like an age, the doctor started putting on gloves, and a mirror too was provided to me. That really encouraged me, I could see the crown of my baby's head. After some time the baby's head descended and it started hurting me so much that I really didn't need any more encouragement to push. The last big push. And my baby boy was born.
No comments:
Post a Comment