We are all hear stories about labour and how hard it is and how terrible it can get. That is not totally untrue. However for me, the pregnancy itself was even a harder experience than the labour. Yes, mine wasn't easy but to be honest I can't say I hated it all. Despite being a long 45 hours experience I would never say I won't go through it again or I wished I had a C-section.
It really saddens me when I hear many women now in Egypt actually choose to get C-sections, either thinking that it is the easier option for them, or it's a sign of luxury since they can afford it or they are just to posh to push. It saddens me because it greatly show the lack awareness about the risks of unnecessary C-sections and the benefits of normal labour for you and your baby. And on the other hands, how some doctors now a days lack the good conciousness and drive some women, who actually did want a natural birth, into have an unnecessary C-section cause it's gonna take him half an hour instead of a day or three and he is gonna get triple the money.
So, the bottom line is, yes labour is hard but it's not the worst thing that can happen to you and trust me when you are done with it you are gonna feel like a hero. You will actually have done something that LITERALLY no MAN can do. Plus, once it's over you become your regular self in a snap, no pains no aches no nothing.
My story is pretty fascinating actually, cause I had this birth plan and I ended up having totally something else, the only thing that I stuck to was the "No epidural" policy.
So, my original birth plan was having a water birth,
in the birthing centre not the hospital, cause it's a more natural environment, and no pain killers other than the ETONOX which is also called the laughing gas (it a 50% oxygen + 50% nitrogen mixture that you breath in and numbs the pain and makes you sort of drunk, LOL) it doesn't completely take the pain away (well,nothing does but the epidural) but it makes it more bearable.
However, that wasn't what happened. As I was getting closer to my due date, there were absolutely no signs that I am gonna have this baby any time soon and I was absolutely miserable. I couldn't sleep of my SPD, I could hardly walk because of it as well. My feet hurt like hell because of the oedema. And to top it off with a cherry, Ahmed's visa was about to end just a week after the supposed due date, so if i didn't go to labour before then, I might have to do it without him which was the scariest part for me.
Bottom line was, I had to have that baby on my due date which was the 7th of march.
So, I asked for a consultant's apportionment, and I discussed my case with him and I stressed that I need to be induced for both medical and social reasons, and since it was gonna be on my due date anyway, so he saw no harm in doing that. And indeed I was scheduled for an induction on the 7th of March and a membrane sweep on the 5th. That meant that my birth plan has almost completely been changed, cause an induction can only take place in a hospital, under the supervision of doctors. But, at that point, I didn't mind that cause I was in a need to be put out of misery.
Then, on the 5th of march, I had the sweep (which btw is not fun at all, infact it hurts worse than labour) , and I also I noticed reduced foetal movements, which meant that I couldn't feel the baby move like it used to, so Friday morning I went straight to the hospital and I was put on the CTG machine which a device that monitors the baby's heart rate and the uterine contractions.
The heart beat were fine, but the baby still hardly moved. Then the doctor came and reviewed my case, and saw that since I was scheduled to be induced on the next day anyway, the might as well do it today cause it's risky to wait now. So, they told me to go home, bring my hospital bag and come back at 6:30 pm.
We came back and I was admitted, but I wasn't induced until next morning because the ward was so busy, that the midwives couldn't risk putting another woman through labour through all the hectic madness that was going around.
To be continued xxxx
It really saddens me when I hear many women now in Egypt actually choose to get C-sections, either thinking that it is the easier option for them, or it's a sign of luxury since they can afford it or they are just to posh to push. It saddens me because it greatly show the lack awareness about the risks of unnecessary C-sections and the benefits of normal labour for you and your baby. And on the other hands, how some doctors now a days lack the good conciousness and drive some women, who actually did want a natural birth, into have an unnecessary C-section cause it's gonna take him half an hour instead of a day or three and he is gonna get triple the money.
So, the bottom line is, yes labour is hard but it's not the worst thing that can happen to you and trust me when you are done with it you are gonna feel like a hero. You will actually have done something that LITERALLY no MAN can do. Plus, once it's over you become your regular self in a snap, no pains no aches no nothing.
My story is pretty fascinating actually, cause I had this birth plan and I ended up having totally something else, the only thing that I stuck to was the "No epidural" policy.
So, my original birth plan was having a water birth,
 |
| birth pool in the uk |
However, that wasn't what happened. As I was getting closer to my due date, there were absolutely no signs that I am gonna have this baby any time soon and I was absolutely miserable. I couldn't sleep of my SPD, I could hardly walk because of it as well. My feet hurt like hell because of the oedema. And to top it off with a cherry, Ahmed's visa was about to end just a week after the supposed due date, so if i didn't go to labour before then, I might have to do it without him which was the scariest part for me.
Bottom line was, I had to have that baby on my due date which was the 7th of march.
So, I asked for a consultant's apportionment, and I discussed my case with him and I stressed that I need to be induced for both medical and social reasons, and since it was gonna be on my due date anyway, so he saw no harm in doing that. And indeed I was scheduled for an induction on the 7th of March and a membrane sweep on the 5th. That meant that my birth plan has almost completely been changed, cause an induction can only take place in a hospital, under the supervision of doctors. But, at that point, I didn't mind that cause I was in a need to be put out of misery.
Then, on the 5th of march, I had the sweep (which btw is not fun at all, infact it hurts worse than labour) , and I also I noticed reduced foetal movements, which meant that I couldn't feel the baby move like it used to, so Friday morning I went straight to the hospital and I was put on the CTG machine which a device that monitors the baby's heart rate and the uterine contractions.
 |
| illustration of CTG monitoring |
We came back and I was admitted, but I wasn't induced until next morning because the ward was so busy, that the midwives couldn't risk putting another woman through labour through all the hectic madness that was going around.
To be continued xxxx
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