Gina’s Birth Story

I was expecting my first baby and I started getting some cramp-like pains in the office one morning. At first, I thought that it was the usual discomfort of birth but soon thought otherwise as the pain appeared to go and come back after some interval. I decided to call my doctor who advised me to monitor the pain for another 2 hours and if the pain persisted, then I could go and see him later that afternoon. I decided to take the rest of the day off from work and called my husband to drive me home. As I arrived home, the pain seemed to become more frequent and now was convinced that I was in labour. My husband and I decided to have some early lunch and then we would go see the doctor after but as I walked into the house, I felt a wet sensation and on looking down at first thought that I had passed urine until my husband shouted, “Your water has broken!”

On calling the doctor, he told us to proceed straight to the hospital. On reaching there, the midwife did a vaginal exam and found that I was 3cm dilated. I was quite surprised since apart from the cramp-like pain, I was not in much pain. As per the hospital procedure, I was hooked up to a fetal monitor for around 45 minutes and was admitted into the labour ward. Together with my husband and doula, I walked around and did a variety of exercises – lunges, walking and swaying, climbing stairs, whilst taking liquids and some snacks. After two hours, the contractions started getting painful and things were heating up. I sat on the birth ball as my legs were tired for around one hour and then ran the shower and was there for around 50 minutes. I then felt like I needed to go for a long call and suspecting that I could be getting close to the second stage, my doula and husband rang the bell for the midwife.

The doctor who had arrived did a vaginal exam and announced that I was 9cm dilated and would be ready to push soon. Our baby girl was born at 7.05 pm and was healthy. However, my blood pressure started lowering soon after birthing the placenta. My doctor asked that I be put on stirrups so he could examine me better and he discovered a cervical tear which he determined he could repair without going to the theatre. After the repair, the bleeding reduced and my blood pressure went back to normal. The doctor decided to sedate me for a few hours and when I woke up, I was able to breastfeed my baby.

By Gina

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