It was my first mother’s day as a new mom. YAY! My baby Aleita officially turned 1 month old yesterday so I decided to write down and share her birth story least I forget.
My labour started on Saturday the 10th of April, the day before my baby’s estimated due date. I remember being so convinced that day that the weekend would not pass before my baby’s arrival even though I had not experienced even one Braxton hicks contraction during my entire pregnancy.
I was a mash-up of emotions that day, swivelling from nervousness to excitement. As it was my first pregnancy I really had no idea what to expect labour wise apart from reading tonnes of birth stories and lots of pregnancy books for some preparation. My partner and I had also attended two birth classes in which we were inundated by pregnancy and labour information.
I woke up at 6.30 a.m. that morning feeling heavily pregnant. I immediately proceeded to the kitchen to make a lot of mandazis (a traditional donut like pastry) for breakfast as I could not sleep any longer. Looking back now I can only assign this to a bizarre manifestation of the nesting instinct as I am not an early riser! Later that day I texted my good friend Nancy (who was also my doula) to inform her that I was thoroughly convinced that bub would arrive before the weekend was over. She said that she would cancel her night shift at work and come over to my place later that afternoon to keep me company and see how things went. I really hoped, that for her sake at least, bub would make an appearance sooner rather than later otherwise it would have been wasted effort.
I washed my hair that afternoon and had my mum braid it so that I wouldn’t have it bother me during labour and the first few weeks after the birth. It was while she was braiding me that I started experiencing mild period like pain. The time was 5pm.My initials thoughts were that this could go on for days or weeks because the pain was not as intense as I thought it would be. It was quite bearable. My contractions were very consistent at 10 minutes apart and lasting for 45 seconds. This was the case up until 1.30 am when I finally decided to go into my bed and get some sleep as the waiting for ‘something major to happen’ was taking a toll on me.
At exactly 4.36 am, my waters broke with a loud pop and gushing of waters. I woke up with a start and informed my partner of the happenings and I have never seen him shoot up so fast from bed.I think I was calmer than he was at that moment. It was so funny that I tried my best to stifle a laugh because I didn’t want to precipitate things further at that stage.
We got to the hospital at 5.45am and by 6am I had already been checked into my birthing suite. My birthing team consisted of my partner, my doula, my mother and a new midwife was assigned to me during the hospital shift changes as I was under shared care.
By 8.30 am my contractions were still consistently at 10 minutes apart/ 45 seconds long so the midwife suggested that I they might have to inject me with oxytocin in order to progress things further. I objected to this as I felt it was better to leave my body to its own steady rhythm.
By 10.30 am my cervix had dilated to almost 4 cm naturally and I was happy with my decision not to induce labour. It was after the doctor had given me the internal check that my contractions became painfully acute. I was already managing my pain with gas/air and the TENS machine and had to increase the doses at this point.
At 1.30 pm I was entering the transition stage, which to me was the hardest yard. It took all my will power to resist the urge to push even when my body was screaming for me to push because the baby’s pressure was unbearable. The contractions felt so severe at this point that in the end I felt the gas and TENS machine were not helping in easing my pain at all, although it did help a bit to bite onto the gas pipe as I rode each contraction. My doula and midwife agreed to inject me with pethidine at this stage as it was in my birth plan. In retrospect the TENS machine did help take the edge off by sending tingling sensations up my back and in so doing it distracted me from the intense pain and pressure down below.
It took an intense 45 minutes for me to push my baby out. This stage was not painful but was highly uncomfortable akin to the urge to push a brick out of your rear end! My efforts were not strong enough as my baby’s head kept retracting back after the each contraction. Finally at breaking point, I remember calling out to Jesus to give me the strength I needed to push my baby out once and for all.With the next contraction I really gave it my all as my doula voiced encouragement.Aleita was expelled out fast and hard onto my chest within a fraction of a second at exactly 2.46 pm. All I managed to say was, “ Oh my baby! Isn’t she big!” Almost immediately all the pain was forgotten.
[image: framed cat card]
When I was growing up in Manhattan, a pair of ceramic Staffordshire cats
perched regally on our living room mantle. Years later,...
