Vinita’s Birth Story: Be positive, its really helpful

That morning I woke up at 5 am with slight abdominal pain. It gave me a sensation of loose motion, which is usually considered as after-effect of castor oil (which I had last night). It was a recurring one. After a few false trips to loo, I realized that I can ease these pain with deep breathing exercise. I started timing the contractions after a few hours. They were 5 mins apart with each contraction lasting for 30 secs. In the meanwhile I kept walking and doing breathing exercises.

By 11.30 am, contractions slowed down and turned irregular. I assumed them to be false labor. Still I kept my gynaec informed about the same, to which she asked me to get admitted when pain is unbearable. Contractions further subsided after having lunch. Suddenly, I felt the urge to vomit and my entire lunch was in wash basin. Severe contractions started again.

I tried to sleep through the pain but this time they were unbearable. Having attended information session on labor at P101 along with Ankit (my husband), I was aware of various ways to ease the pain. I applied all of the techniques learnt there i.e squatting, walking, deep breathing and sitting on the exercise ball. I was fortunate enough to have Dhwani (P101 yoga trainer) as my neighbor. She gave me back massage. (Oh That was so relaxing)

By 2.15 pm, I had a maroonish discharge called as “BLOODY SHOW” as well. It was enough sign to get admitted in hospital. I had my hospital bag ready and we left. I was accompanied by Ankit, my mother-in-law and aunt-in-law. I was quickly examined by my doctor, she notified that I was already 4 cm dilated. This gave me a lot of positivity as it was a huge progress. Ankit really helped me sail through the pain by walking along with me in hospital premises & talking silly things to divert my mind. We clicked selfies too.

I was 6 cm dilated by 6 pm. I could no longer walk as contractions became more intense and frequent. There I was lying on the bed, banging the wall beside it. What made it worse was my urge of frequent urination. With every contraction, I had to get up from bed and travel to loo. By that time, baby’s heart rate was also constantly monitored by using a machine which was tied on my bump. It was so irritating that I felt like throwing it away. But there was something alarming i.e baby’s heart rate was on higher side. I became very nervous. There were thoughts running on my mind – now definitely it’s a C- Sec. I haven’t been under knife before.. No I wasn’t prepared for that at all.I put a stop to these thoughts and focused on positivity.

I told myself that I shouldn’t give up at this moment after bearing so much pain. It’s a matter of few more hours and I can definitely do it. I was asked to save energy and stop banging, so my aunt held my hands (from behind) during each contraction. This helped me a lot. To divert my mind, I also asked Ankit to play gayatri mantra on my mobile. Listening to such calming music proved quite beneficial in soothing and bringing positivity.

By 7 pm, I was induced as it would’ve taken more time for natural progress of labor. Intensity of pain increased tremendously and I was immediately shifted to OT. I was looking for Ankit but he was nowhere to be seen. I so wanted him to be with me in OT. Anyways, now was the time to start pushing with all the strength. But I was so tired to gather any strength. Still I was focused to push at every call of anesthesiologist.

After several unsuccessful attempts at pushing, (doctor had prepared for C-sec delivery) at the opportune moment, I saw a suction pump in the hands of my gynaec, which instantly reminded me of the delivery scene in 3 idiots and I thought it would be much easier now. With this thoughts I pushed with a fresh quota of strength and that was the last push at 8 pm. Right behind me was Ankit (he came somewhere in middle of push stage).

He was the one who held our baby for the first time. He was speechless and there I was babbling unconsciously to give my baby for skin to skin contact; having read the importance of this in my Hypnobirthing book and Dhwani had taught me in P101 classes too. As per my birth plan, my child was skin to skin with me. That moment was magical.

Suddenly, everything around me started to get blurry. For the next 30 -45 mins, I recollect sliding down a lane in some animated world, as I was dizzy (That was actually after-effect of anaesthesia for episiotomy stitches). When I came back in senses, all that I did was to look at a beautiful creation and wonder about miracles that a human body can do. I was filled with happiness and sense of achievement that (YAY) I delivered normally.

Thank you Rita’s Pregnancy 101 classes. Really made a huge difference in my pregnancy and birthing.