Swati’s Birth Story: P101 Prenatal class teaches you how to be prepared for C-section

Life is unpredictable and that’s the beauty of it.

On 11th June, after having made me special through a dinner date followed by a quick drive we returned home late night. Before going to bed, I told my husband that something is going to happen tonight (I think the mother in me, anticipated that it’s time now) but without a second thought he replied everything’s going to be fine and Just relax and sleep.

His comforting words were my only support system. It did give some relief for a couple of hours but after sometime I started feeling that pressure on my pelvic area, every so often. It kept me awake. So I decided to walk in the room and later I laid down. Within a minute or two, I felt like clots coming out like we have in menses and “BURST”!! At around 1:00am my water bag broke. Immediately, I got down from the bed and woke my husband.

A special Thanks to Neeru Mam & her labor classes’. We now knew all the things like ‘how much time we have’, ‘what I have to do and how my husband has to support in this situation’, ‘how to keep calm’, ‘what to eat or drink’, ‘NOT panicking ’ and many more Dos and Don’ts.

Pain had also started (although not that strong). I took a shower at around 2 am & did my regular pooja. Had some dry fruits & warm bournvita milk. We were damn excited; our first baby was finally on his way to us.

Hospital Processing
Around 2:45am we left for the hospital. We were told to directly go to the labor room. Contractions had become a little stronger than before. The doctor checked me and said I was only 1cm dilated, which was not enough for labor. They further decided to admit me so they could start my IV antibiotics and that way reduce the chances of infection. Throughout the night, nurses kept a close check on my vitals, contractions and fetal heart rate. Everything was normal and perfect.

By morning of 12th June, my contractions had not progressed. So the doctor decided to wait till the pains starts on its own. The whole day I did walking, squats and did every possible thing to let my pain starts on its own naturally but nothing progressed. After dinner, they called me for fetal monitoring, but results were average (not so good). They said don’t worry, we will check in the morning again.

On 13th, after breakfast went again for NST. They kept me on monitoring for 3-4 hours, results were not satisfactory. Baby’s movement had become less and his heart beat had dropped down. Nurse immediately called the doctor. He examined and told me it’s time for “C-Sec”.

I was like “WHAT”!! I was crying from within. I was scared, sad and totally unprepared. I felt like I had failed myself and failed my baby by not being able to give him birth the way I had been planning for months. Because right from the start, I wanted my baby’s birth to be as natural as possible. I had no choice, but to have surgery.

This was the time when I recalled what Neeru ma’am used to tell us, the whole pregnancy is very unpredictable and you have be ready for all situations to keep your baby and self safe and healthy.

C- Sec
I was wheeled into the OT. It was freezing inside. It was my life’s first visit to any OT. The big lights on my head, monitoring machines, set of trays-scissors, knifes, injections, gloves…were really few things I had seen in movies only.

My husband was not allowed to stay with me during operation. The doctors’ team came in, introduced themselves, cracked jokes, asked my favorite songs, and answered to my every query, just to calm me down.

Cannula was put in. The anesthetist briefed me about the position which I had to take for my spinal injection. We did practice the position before the actual action. So first was the local anesthesia and then the spinal. I am terrified of injections, but I can tell you neither of these hurt at that time. The difficult thing was making sure I didn’t move. Almost immediately, the lower half of my body felt warm and numb. They laid me down. When they were sure I was properly numb they put the curtain on & began.

Doctors kept talking to me in between about random things which I don’t remember but it completely took my mind off, what was happening. The first thing I felt like was that I had been pinched in the stomach. There were pulling and tugging that I could visualize but not really felt it. Literally 5mins later, I was told the head was out, then body, then bum and finally legs. My excitement was no less than being on top of the world.

I was so relieved to hear little crying noises. My new baby Boy was out and more so, with us now. The feeling of having baby went directly from my belly into my chest and is truly beyond description. It was so incredible yet so natural and pure.

The whole experience was just amazing and nothing like scary, I had imagined!! My Recovery has been great too. I was discharged after two days as healthy and 20 days later I feel like I haven’t had any kind of surgery.

The prenatal classes are highly recommended for today’s moms to be as it not only helps in building inner confidence but most importantly prepares you to handle every situation sensibly.