Upon waking up in the morning, I immediately went to the bathroom to pee. I noticed a tinge of blood on my underwear. I felt excited because I know that this is a sign of labor. It’s still early so I went back to bed. After a while, I got up and felt that I had a vaginal discharge. My husband was telling me to go to the birthing clinic already. I wasn’t sure if my waters already broke so I contacted my midwife. She told me to come over. I ate breakfast, took a shower, and double-checked our hospital bags and went to the birthing clinic with my husband.
We arrived at the clinic at around 9 AM. My midwife did an IE. It was painful. She told me that it seems my bag of waters is still intact. I was only 1 cm dilated. She contacted her partner OB and told her about my case. The OB came over to check me. She did an IE (ouch). She suggested that I be induced. To be honest, I don’t want to but today is a good time to give birth because my midwife will be leaving tomorrow. And the OB told us that she will also go to Manila. I felt pressured at that time because I wanted to wait naturally for the contractions.
Finally I decided to be induced. I was put on IV. Buscopan was used to induce labor. At around 11 AM, I felt mild contractions. It was tolerable. Then at 2 PM, the OB did an IE (ouch again). I was already 5 cm. Still, the contractions are tolerable. My husband and I timed the contractions and they are getting regular. Then at around 6 PM, I was already 8 cm and I felt pain on my back but the OB is wondering why the baby is not descending. Then at 9 PM, I was already 9 cm (almost 10 cm) but the baby is still at station 0.
Then the OB asked me what I want to do. I could wait at the birthing clinic or I could go to the hospital. She will break my bag of waters there and I’ll deliver normally if it goes well. But if the baby still wouldn’t descend, then she will have to perform CS operation.
I was worried. My mind was set on giving birth naturally. I even wrote my dream birth expecting I’ll be having one. My husband and I prayed and decided about this. We decided to go to the hospital and have my bag of waters be broken.
When we arrived at the hospital, a nurse changed the access port of the IV. She was not familiar with what was used on my hand so when she removed the access port, blood oozed from my hand. I felt dismayed but I was focused on my pain due to my contractions. My husband was not with me because he was filling some forms. Thankfully, my midwife’s assistant came with us. She was the one who massaged my back whenever I had contractions. Unfortunately, she had to go back to the clinic because the OB forgot her phone. Then I was transferred to the fetal monitoring section. A nurse strapped me with a fetal monitor for one hour. That time my husband came and he supported me.
The OB came over and as she was about to break my waters, it suddenly broke. But she said that it is already meconium-stained so I have to undergo CS operation. When my bag of waters broke, the contractions were intense. I remember telling the nurses and the doctors over and over again ‘Ang sakit’. I wanted my husband to be with me but it’s not allowed.
I told the OB I feel like I want to poop. She said let’s see if you can deliver normally. She reached through me but she said it’s still high so they prepared for my CS operation.
Someone did an allergy test on me. Then someone positioned me for the anesthesiologist. Then I was injected. After I was injected, I felt relieved. It was amazing. The pain was immediately gone. Before starting the operation, the anesthesiologist led the prayer. I was grateful and in my heart, I was praying the whole time. I was scared of the unknown but I’m thankful I remained calm the whole time. After a while, I felt tugging in my abdomen. After that, I heard my baby cry. I was glad finally she’s out.
The anesthesiologist took a picture and she showed it to me. I felt relieved when I saw her. Then everything was a blur. I dozed off. I woke up in a different room. My husband is assisting our baby to breastfeed. I could feel our baby sucking. After that a nurse put a diaper on me then another nurse asked me to lift my legs. I couldn’t so they let me stay there. Suddenly I was shivering. After a while, they came back and asked me to lift my legs. I could lift my left leg but I couldn’t lift the other one. They left and came back to check if I could lift both legs. Finally, I could lift my legs so they wheeled me to my room. We wanted to stay in a private room but all the private rooms are occupied so they let us stay in the OPD room for the meantime. It’s a room with 4 beds. When I woke up, I noticed an IV placed on my vein. Then a nurse came and advised me to try to move for faster recovery. I rise from the bed with the assistance of my husband whenever I breastfed my baby. Thankfully I was wearing a binder so it helped.
When I wasn’t breastfeeding, I just laid on the bed in a supine position. It was really painful to move sideways. Then I noticed that I had a urinary catheter. I wasn’t aware they inserted that. At first, my baby and I were the only ones occupying the room so it was spacious. After a while, a patient came. The doctor came over to my room to check me. She said I won’t be eating or drinking for a while. But when I’m ready, I could eat a soft diet. A nurse removed the urinary catheter to my relief but the process of removing was painful. Another nurse came and asked us to fill in a form for our baby’s birth certificate. Then the next day, we were transferred to the OB ward.
Comments