Liam's Birth Story

I was 19 when I fell pregnant with Liam. Other than aunts and uncles who had babies, I had no personal experience with even handling newborns. I visited a Gynea recommended by a friend of mine to confirm the pregnancy and since I knew nothing about birth, left everything from that point in his hands.

My pregnancy progressed without any problems other than morning sickness and hormonal mood swings. We were just going to have a baby, so all we did was carry on and count the days until the pregnancy was over.

I was due on the 3rd of October and had my last doctors visit on the 23rd of September at 38 Weeks and 4 Days. We happily went to the appointment in the morning, but we were surprised when the doctor said I was having contractions after keeping me on the monitor for about an hour. Before we left he advised us to get checked into the hospital to be induced. I had no idea really what that meant, but on calling my mother, she advised against it because it was so painful.

We left the doctors office, excited but a title uneasy as I was not feeling anything at that point. We drove to church to attend a session at our conference and said goodbye to all my friends since I would be having a baby any minute and might not see them for some time.

On the way back from church, Hubbies fathers Minibus broke down in the middle of a very busy highway. We pulled over to try and sort it out, visibly worried because we were concerned that I could have this baby any time now.

We eventually did get home and just sat around for the rest of the day. At around 7pm I was starting to get worried that nothing had happened yet, so we decided to pack up and drive to the hospital to be induced. When we got there, we were warmly welcomed and placed in a room. Hubby was asked to leave and he could return in the morning. I was hooked up to IV's and told to get some rest as they would start inducing me at around 4 of 5 am.

Early the next morning I was awaken to start with the induction. I was under the impression that it was being attached to my IV as that is how I watched nurses do it on TV. Turns out, they had a little square pill which was to be inserted into my cervix. Once it was done I laid on the bed with monitors strapped to me for about 3 hours, but nothing happened. At 8am, the nurse on call made the decision to induce me again. There had already been a Shift Change at this time and I was not familiar with any of these new faces. The people who had welcomed me so warmly were gone and replaced with not so friendly people. I was taken to a labor room where they inserted the second pill. This time, it hurt so much that I screamed. The Nurse who had her hand up my gown said "you are going to scare all the other mothers in the ward, don't squeeze your legs and keep quiet". At that moment, I was extremely unhappy and just knew that things were not going to get any better.

My Hubby was with me as I started to have contractions that literally felt like they were going to hit the ceiling every time. I was not allowed to get off the bed and the monitors and the nurses kept encouraging hubby to place the gas mask over my face. At one stage, I cried and said to hubby that I could not do it anymore. He just sat there and cried with me.

Most of this time is very hazy because the gas made me dizzy and almost sleepy. I However remember going got the bathroom where a nurse stood in front of my open door saying that she did not want me to deliver the baby in the toilet. I had only dilated to 3 cm at this point. The pain was endless and not being able to get off the bed to manage the pain made it so much worse.

At one point, there were students in the room taking notes and then i heard one of the nurses say that the doctor was on his way because I kept asking for him. He was the one I knew would stop all this that was going on.

It was only about 12:15am when my doctor walked into the room and said we needed to have an Emergency C section because I was not progressing. Before I knew it, I was being wheeled off to theater. I was scooted over to a table to place my spinal, and as soon as it was in, a feeling of relief washed over me. The pain was gone.

I was laid down and hubby came in to be with me while Liam was taken from my womb. Within 5 minutes of tugging, he came out screaming at 1:05pm on the 24th of September. The nurse in the room showed him to me, rushed him off to be checked and then sent him off to the nursery. I sent hubby with him because I did not want him to be alone. I was wheeled into recovery and left in an Icy cold room for quite some time. I had a sharp pain in my left shoulder that I told the anesthesiologist about when he came back into the room, but he brushed it off as not very serious.

I was eventually wheeled into the ward where I took a nap. When I woke up, I asked Hubby to bring Liam to me. I just wanted to see him. He was a very pale baby with lots and lots of soft curly hair. He was so gorgeous but not like I had imagined him to be.

The Cesarean Section recovery was very rough as a major surgery should be, but I guess it was not what I was expecting, although nothing was.

SIDE NOTE:
- I had done no previous research on birth before I had my C Section.

- I was told that I was not Dilating, hubby did however tell me that I had Dilated from a 0 to a 3 in      the time after the induction.

- There were numerous occasions where I was told to be quiet as I was making a lot of noise from not    being able to manage the pain.

- After Liam was born, I got PPD and He was mildly colic

-Liam was given formula in a cup before he was brought to me