They say every pregnancy and every birth is different and I believe it 100%. You can never know what will happen with your pregnancy until you give birth. You can never plan your pregnancy and birth and that is exactly what happened with me.
To prepare for the birth of Chhori, I planned to take off from work two weeks before the due date. I knew that I might have the baby a few days before or after the due date. As my due date was 4 March ,I decided to make 19 Feb my last day at work. That day my boss and my colleagues had planned a farewell for me and it was going to be a nice send off for me.
They made this sign 🙂
I was already having some contractions from a few days before and when I googled it ,all seemed to be normal. It was just my body getting ready to give birth.
So on the morning of 19 Feb, I drove to work as normal. I was experiencing some contractions and when I timed it at work, it was coming in at around a 10 minute intervals or more.
I was a bit concerned so I called the midwife and she told me that it is normal before the birth and I might even be around a week from giving birth. She suggested to keep recording the contractions but go on with my normal life. The contractions were painful but after talking to the midwife I felt better. I kept working and wrapping things up as it was the last day for me at work for a whole year.
Because of the pain it was getting hard at times for me to stay clam but I tried my best to stay normal and complete the day. The farewell stared in the afternoon and I loved the special cupcakes and food we had. I was also given a nice gift for the baby and I had a great time with my colleagues and it was a fun day.
By the time I said goodbye to everyone at work, it was 5 pm and my contractions were getting stronger. I just wanted to go home and rest but we were invited to another dahi chiura at one of my friend’s place.
So I drove there, had the ceremony and was home around 11pm. I was really tired and the contractions were making it worse. I went to bed straight away hoping the pain of contraction would go away. I was glad that from the next day I would be home resting before the baby’s arrival.
But God had a different plan for me. I couldn’t fall asleep as the contractions were getting stronger and coming quicker. AS was also awake supporting me through my pain. We kept timing the contractions and around 1 am they were 7 minutes apart and very painful. We decided that it would be wise to call the hospital and let them know what was happening. The nurse on the line gave us the option to either wait till the contraction were 5 minutes apart then calling back or to come in for and observation. We chose the latter.
It was the middle of the night so the drive to the hospital was quick. I was admitted for observation and the nurse told me that the baby was doing fine but recommended me to stay the night as my legs were very swollen and due to the contractions I was not able to feel the baby kick. In the morning they would be able to recommend how to proceed.
Because I was in pain, I couldn’t sleep so the nurse recommended that I take some morphine. At first I refused as I didn’t want to take unnecessary drugs but she reminded me that I would need all my energy for the labour so it would be better for both me and baby to have some rest.
I am glad I listened to her as I fell asleep with of the help of the morphine. I still felt the pain but I was able to sleep. AS slept next to me in a chair.
Around 6 am the next morning I was woken up by the noise of people talking. When I opened my eyes, there was a doctor and nurse talking about my condition and what would happen next. They did a few tests and there were people going in and out of the room for the next few hours checking up on me. Then the doctor came back and told me that I would be going to go home with the baby.
I was not at all prepared because I had just finished work the day before and was expecting at least a week before the baby’s arrival. I had plans to pamper myself and rest but all the plans went out the window.
They assured me that I was doing well and so was the baby but because my contraction intervals were not consistent they decided to induce me. If the pain I had before was not bad enough, once the chemical started to work, it was worse. I asked the midwife if I could have epidural as I had heard that it is nearly a miracle drug for pain but she told me I can’t as I was not dilated enough. Instead she gave me the laughing gas. I was in so much of pain that I was happy to take anything to feel better.
Once I started taking the gas, I slowly lost control of my body and at the end I was so out that I had to lean on AS fully for support. It was still painful with every contraction but I was too drugged up to do anything.
After what felt like forever, finally I was dilated enough to take the epidural. An epidural is a painkilling drug which is passed into the small of your back via a fine tube. It is called a regional anaesthetic, which means the drug is injected around the nerves that carry signals from the part of your body that feels pain when you’re in labour. The result is that your belly feels numb, giving you very effective pain relief.
Once the drug started to work, I was in heaven as I didn’t feel any pain. I didn’t even feel like I was in labour. After more than 4 hours of severe pain, I was pain free at last.
The midwife told me that I was doing well and the labour was going well. The process continued for another few hours and I was very near to giving birth when suddenly the midwife called the doctor as the baby was refusing to come out and she was head bridged.
No matter how hard we tried, she refused to come out and her heart rate was started to fluctuate.
The doctor decided that it was risky to wait so they decided to perform and emergency cesarean. They explained to us that it would be riskier the longer we waited to perform the cesarean and asked me to fill a consent form. I had no choice but to sign whatever paperwork they gave me.
Suddenly there were more than 10 people around me doing different things. They transfered me from the bed to a stretcher and I was rushed to the operation theatre. They told AS to wait outside until they prepared me for the operation.
After they were prepared, AS was allowed to sit next to me and hold my hand while they cut open my body and after a while I could hear the baby cry. That was one of the best moments of my life.
AS cut the cord and brought the baby next to me. When I saw Chhori for the first time, I couldn’t help but cry. Everyone got worried because they didn’t know why I was crying. They asked me to confirm if it was a happy tear or I if was in pain. I seriously couldn’t feel anything so I was not in pain.
I was so happy when I saw my Chhori for the first time that I got too emotional. We also decided we were going to call her little M right there in the operating theater.
Finally after more than 17 hours in the hospital, we were the proud parents of a beautiful girl who would call us mum and dad.
I will write more about being mum soon ,till then take care everyone,
M from nepaliaustralian
XOXO
