My Birth Experience – It’s All Worth It!

I started writing this a week after I gave birth, but it has been sitting in my draft folder for quite a while. I haven’t really had the chance to sit down and finish it till now due to lack of sleep. Sean is now sleeping with his dad so I thought I should really get this finished otherwise I would forget all the details my birth experience.

It’s been more than seven week since I gave birth to Sean. It went pretty well I think because the morning after I gave birth, the doctors and nurses kept telling me after Sean was born that I looked so good like I didn’t just gave birth. The Sunday before my delivery date, I started monitoring my contractions. To be honest I didn’t know till then what contractions felt like.: your abdomen hardens for a minute or so with occasional pain.

The whole day the interval between start of contractions was 30 minutes, but later in the evening the interval got closer to 19 minutes. The next day the contractions intervals were much closer. I called my OB and told her about it. She said you better get closer to the city because it can happen really soon.

I already packed my hospital bag weeks before, so after taking a shower we were able to go right away. It was already about 4 pm so we drove as soon as we can to meet the doctor. On the way to the city, I had some pain in my abdomen so I called my OB and told her about this. When we arrived in her office at around 6 pm she did an IE  and told me I was about 1-2 cm dilated. She suggested to give me some medicine to help accelerate the labour if it doesn’t happen that night. We agreed with her suggestion. So after the check up, we went to find a hotel for the night. By the way, I was advised not to eat too much. I continued monitoring my contraction when we got to the hotel.

The following pictures my hubbie took while we where in the hotel before I gave birth to Sean.

The next day, we had breakfast ( I had a tapsilog ) and then continued monitoring my contraction intervals again. Now the intervals were getting shorter though still irregular, sometimes 8 minutes, sometimes 4 minutes apart so I called my doctor to tell her about it. She told us to go to the hospital to get admitted. My doctor arrived and did an IE. She said I was still only 2 cm dilated but she said she was going to give me something to make the contractions more regular.

She told me not to eat anything anymore but milk. At around 1 pm she gave me the meds. After that the contraction pains worsened. My doctor told me she will give me something to make me sleep for a bit if it becomes really really painful. A couple of hours more and it became really unbearable I almost cried. At around 7 I think, I told my hubby to call the doctor as I cannot take it anymore. I want drugss, NOW!!! My doctor adviced against an epidural because this was my first child birth and I would not be able to feel when to push.

It was hurting like crazy! My doctor arrived just before 8 pm. She did an IE and I was  7 cm dilated and that means that the show could begin! I was brought to the delivery room and they started preparing me. My hubbie was not allowed to enter, a bit disappointing for us. I was cleaned and shaved. At that point, I was just waiting to get instructions from my doctor. I was tired and hungry, I just wanted things to start happening so we can get it over with.  It was tough. We still had to wait for the anesthesiologist to really get started.

I  heard that giving birth is painful but really you don’t have an idea till you are actually experiencing it. While laying there, I thought to myself: ” This is the first and also the last time I will give birth”.

My doctor said when I get contractions I should start pushing. The time came when they said I should start pushing. “I asked how do I push?” Yes, I really had no idea. It’s just like when you are pooping, she said. Oh okay I thought and so I pushed. They then told me that I should try to prolong my push and should not make noises with my voice because I was wasting energy. It was really painful, I grabbed somebody’s hand and squeezed it while I pushed. It seemed like I was pushing for like forever.

My doctor said, I can see the head. Give it your best because it’s dangerous if you push and midway his head gets stuck. I was determined to get my baby out, a nurse helped by pressing my belly, after a few moments he was out. I heard him cry and they handed him to me after he was cleaned. It was the best moment in my life. I love this little guy!

And then I thought to myself: forget I thought ” This is the first and also the last time I will give birth”. I totally rocked it and can definitely do it again.

Thank you all for the greetings and gifts ! They are all greatly appreciated.