Emma's Birth Story

I awoke bright and early Monday October 26th, 2009 at about 5:30am and felt some pain in my lower tummy and felt a pop in my passage way. I tried to go back to sleep as the pain was mild, however, at 6am I had to get out of bed because the pain was much stronger. I woke my husband, got out of bed and told my mom I was having pains but was unsure of what it was. I kept feeling like I needed to go to the toilet and I actually did, however, nothing came out. Then I began to get cramps and realized I was having contractions. However, the contractions were quite painful and coming about every five minutes. My mom said "No this cannot be labor as the contractions are coming too fast". Nevertheless, i called my midwife and she assured I was in early labor and asked me to leave home about 9am since the birth center was about 45mins from my house.

As 9am approached, my contractions became very, very painful and I needed to hold someone when I had one. I was nearing crying and they were about 2 minutes apart now, not giving me much time to rest in between. Meanwhile, my loving husband went to the grocery and got some snacks and lots of Gatorade and coconut water for me to have during labor as advised by my midwife. I also finalized my birth bag making sure I had everything ready to welcome my baby girl into the world. My mother-in-law also prayed with me for a safe delivery before we left. We left the house a little after 9 with my mom in the backseat holding my hand, my niece sitting next to me very excitedly, my mother-in-law in the passenger seat and my hubby driving.

On the way to Mamatoto (the birth center), there was quite a bit of traffic and my hubby decided to drive on the shoulder since I was in a lot of pain. A police man stopped him and when we told him I was in labor he didn't believe us because I was eating a cookie, or rather trying to eat as my midwife advised me to eat because I needed the strength. It was only when he saw me have a contraction he believed and let us go.

Upon reaching Mamatoto, they midwife took my blood pressure and urine and did and exam and I was 2cm dilated. They then escorted me to my room, which was very beautiful. I was having extremely painful contractions at that point and wanted to have a warm bath hoping it would help with the pain. Meanwhile, the midwife filled up the bath tub for me. During my shower I remember my hubby being with me taking pics etc, and he asked me something during a contraction at which point I slapped him...lol. He knew better than that. The back pain was incredible, like my back was about to burst open! I then came out of the shower and they put me on the birthing ball to sit with my head on the bed while my hubby rubbed my back. Didn't really help with the pain! All this while I was having contractions every 2 minutes and not allowed to scream, instead I was doing breathing exersizes which the midwife and doula were doing with me. They really encouraged me a lot and the doula was giving me sips of coconut water after every contraction so I was not dehydrated or tired.

I then was instructed to walk up and down a few steps to help the labor progress, this helped my water bag to burst, I remember standing against the wall with my head in my hand on the wall and swaying my hips side to side. Then I went into the tub hoping the warm water would help with the pain, this was not the case. I was 5cm dilated. I stayed in the tub almost an hour, i remember wanting to push soooooo bad, just feeling like I had to because of all the pain and heaviness in my bum. At the end of the hour I was 9.5cm dilated and it was time to push! This was at 3pm.

I was made to sit on a birthing stool with my back against my hubby, he was almost holding me. I began pushing, and pushing. This was soooooo much pain. The "ring of fire" was set ablaze! I pushed with all my strength, however, only the very top of her head was showing. Bear in mind, throughout all of this, my blood pressure was being taken almost after each contraction for fear that my blood pressure would rise. They were also listening to the baby's heartbeat. They then put me on the bed to lay down as the midwife tried to insert a catheter as she thought maybe my full bladder was holding back the baby. The catheter did not want to go in, so instead during a contraction, Nalini, the midwife gave me a tiny cut and the baby plopped out. Apparently, her heartbeat was beginning to drop.

As she came out at 3:45pm, they put her on my chest and she pooped on me...lol. I held her for a while and my hubby cut the cord. They took her into the other room and gave her oxygen and cleared her airways etc, where I heard she pooped on everything! My very excited cousin and his wife and 3 children as well as my mom, sister, mother-in-law and her friend were in the other room with the baby whilst I was being sewn up with my hubby by my side. I really couldn't have done any of it without him!

The baby was then brought in my room after being clothed and I looked at her but was too weak to hold her. I felt like I couldn't lift my hands. My hubby then got me dinner (Chinese from Jenny's) and his mom fed me  some. I was so weak I couldn't feed myself! Then my dad came to visit and after they left, it was me, baby and hubby left for the night. I remember the first time I had to pee, I was so weak I couldn't walk by myself, my hubby had to hold me and I had to lean on him while I peed, I was dizzy too. The midwife actually helped me wash up and got me back into bed. My hubby and I slept, not very much but still we had some sleep whilst the midwives took care of the baby and brought her to me to breastfeed when she awoke. She however, was not interested in breastfeeding but preferred to sleep. We could see her little eyes trailing after the midwives as they waked past her. I remember one episode where I was in the bathroom and she started to cry so my hubby picked her up and as he was holding her, she gradually slipped lower into her blanket that swaddled her so that her eyes would be blocked from the bright bathroom light...lol.

We were awaken at 4am by the midwife, and I was starving. I ate the leftover Chinese and the midwife helped to bathe me which I was grateful for, then we tried breastfeeding again. This time she took the breast and drank well. We changed her clothes, took some pics with the midwife, got her footprint taken, oh yes, she was weighed earlier that night, about 8pm. She weighed 5lbs 2oz and was 22inches long. So after receiving her birth certificate from Mamatoto, we were on our way home. She slept the whole way and I stared at her! We were greeted home by my mom and quickly put her onto my bed where she would spend most of her hours sleeping and playing!