My second child, Emerson, was born at full term, exactly on the due
date, 23rd
April 2008.
He weighed
3.48 kg and was 50 cm in length. The birth was gentle and trauma-free for my baby and he
didn't even cry when he arrived into the world. Instead, he was very
calm and alert as my labour was drug-free and unmedicated. I had only
used
hypnosis,
relaxation and breathing techniques for
the childbirth.
Emerson started smiling at 3 days old. Below is my pregnancy and birth
experience:
A smooth pregnancy
My second pregnancy was a smooth one, without any hint of nausea or
morning sickness. As usual, I took folic acid and prenatal vitamin
supplements and continued on my vegetarian diet. My two pregnancies have
shown that a vegetarian diet during pregnancy was not a hindrance to a
healthy pregnancy or the baby’s development in-utero. As this was my second
pregnancy, I was pretty upbeat and positive about my pregnancy and the
birthing process. All I wanted this time around was an easy childbirth and a
trauma-free birth for my baby. I had read “Birth without Violence” by
Frederick Leboyer and wanted my baby’s birth to be gentle and without
trauma. I had also read that the effects of childbirth and the immediate
postnatal time can positively or negatively influence character development
in a child and that the type of birth can contribute to personality
patterns. Therefore, I was determined to give this gift of a gentle birth to
my baby.
I wanted a drug-free natural birth, for my own as well as my baby’s
sake as I experienced its benefits during my previous childbirth. If a
mother wants a drug-free natural birth, she has to resolutely stick to her
decision and motivate herself on her reasons for such a decision. She also
has to have determination and patience, because if she doesn’t, she could
just succumb to pain medication or various medical interventions. I told
myself that I had a 35-hour labour and augmented with pitocin the last time
which made my surges more intense, but I still managed it, without pain
medication. Therefore, I resolved to do the same for my second child.
I had a supportive doctor who had endorsed my birth plan with 25
requests just as he had with my first childbirth. I also prayed that the
baby would arrive on time. My first child was born naturally, 17 days after
the due date and I had a 35 hour labour, which I managed using hypnosis and
without any chemical painkillers. I had chosen not to do an ultrasound scan
during pregnancy and I also did not know what the sex of my baby in-utero
was. Anyhow, I was confident that everything would go well.
The start of labour
It was already 40 weeks into my pregnancy. I had been having some
light bleeding since Sunday morning, three days before I gave birth. I
thought that my labour would be starting soon as my previous labour started
after some light bleeding, which meant that the mucus plug had released.
However, nothing happened on Sunday or Monday, and it was now Tuesday. I was
hoping for some indication that labour was starting.
The surges started at
3.30 pm on Tuesday afternoon.
They were quite mild and felt like menstrual cramps. I was so happy as I
knew that I would be meeting my baby soon. The surges came every half hour.
I started to get my bags ready to bring to the hospital. At night, I went
out for dinner, while still feeling the surges. The surges were now 15
minutes apart.
I told my husband that we would probably have to go to the hospital
during the wee hours of the morning. He told me to wake him up if necessary.
I had hoped that we would not have to go to the hospital too early, so that
we could at least have some sleep. However, due to excitement and the
surges, I didn’t have much sleep that night and got up almost every hour. At
3.00 pm, I decided that it
was time to go to the hospital as the surges were 5 minutes apart. I got
ready and woke my husband up. I woke up my maid and asked her to take care
of my other son, Sheldon, 20 months, who was still asleep.
The hospital experience
At 3.50 am on Wednesday morning, we left for the hospital. It was raining and
the road was slippery and wet. I asked my husband to drive carefully and to
take his time as there was no need to hurry just yet. We arrived at the
hospital at 4.20 am. I gave the nurse my admission slip and she immediately checked me
into a room at the labour ward. My husband went to make the guarantee
payment at the cashier. I was given a hospital gown to wear. I was asked if
I had any allergies to any medicine and my medical history was taken. I was
given a menu and was asked to select meal choices for breakfast, lunch, tea
and dinner for the day.
At 4.45 am, a nurse told me that she would be strapping me on the electronic
fetal monitor for twenty minutes to assess the baby’s condition. The graph
showed that the baby’s heartbeat was fine. The nurse did a vaginal
examination and said that my cervix was already 6 cm dilated and that the
baby was quite low. I was happy as I felt that this was quite a good
development compared to my first labour, when I just 1 cm opened when I
checked in to the hospital. After 20 minutes, the nurse removed the electronic fetal
monitor. I was not strapped to the electronic fetal monitor anymore after
that. I was free to walk about the room and to labour in any position I
wanted, as requested in my birth plan.
At 5.30 am, my obgyn came and assessed me. He said that I was at 6 cm
dilated. In the meantime, I just listened to the Birth Affirmations CD and
some relaxation music. All the while, I was labouring in an upright
position, even while on the bed. I sat on the birth ball as well. The room
lights were dimmed. At 8.45 am, my obgyn dropped in again to check on how I was doing.
At 9.45 am, I felt like I wanted to have a bowel movement. However, I dared
not in case the baby accidentally came out into the toilet bowl. I told the
nurse that I wasn’t sure if I whether it was a bowel movement or to push
(bear down). The nurse said that the only way that we could know was to do a
vaginal examination. She examined me and said that I was 9.5 cm open and
nearly ready. My husband and I were pleased with this development.
The nurse asked for my preference in birthing position. I told her
I wanted to squat for the birth. She started to prepare the room. She asked
me to sit on another chair and proceeded to lay a mat on the floor. She
removed a cushion from the bed and placed the cushion down on the floor in
front of a chair which my husband would be using to sit on to support me.
The nurse got the equipment ready and said that she would call the doctor.
She said “Anytime you feel like pushing, press the bell. As this is your
second baby, there might not be time for me to call the doctor.” However, my
surges suddenly slowed down after that and I did not even feel the urge to
push. When my doctor came in at
10.20 am, he was surprised that I
was sitting on a chair and was not about to give birth yet. He went back to
his clinic as he had patients waiting.
I had requested intermittent electronic fetal monitoring and was
pleasantly surprised that I was not strapped to the electronic fetal monitor at all
for the remaining part of my labour. From
time to time, a nurse would come in and just check on the baby’s heartbeat
by putting the electronic fetal monitor on my belly, without strapping me or
requiring me to lie down.
I had my all meals (breakfast, lunch and tea) as usual, but I found
the hospital food tasteless and unappetizing. Sometimes, when I requested
it, my husband would do some light touch massage. This created goosebumps
which released endorphins (feel good hormones) which counteracted the
sensation of pain. These sensations created by the endorphins really felt
good. I found that by taking several long and deep breaths during a surge
helped to lessen its intensity. Hypnosis made me relaxed and sleepy. Several
times, I dozed off while sitting upright on the bed. It was easier to manage
the surges when I dozed off.
At 2.00 pm, my doctor assessed me and said that I was at 8 cm. I started
laughing at this revelation. I wondered whether the nurse’s assessment
earlier that I was at 9.5 cm was wrong. I told him that I could feel something oozing out. He
said, “That’s your waterbag”. My waterbag had not released until this time.
Around 3.15 pm, I
told a nurse that I felt the urge to push. This was a different nurse. She
assessed me and said that I was only 6 – 7 cm open. I was surprised and
disappointed. It was an anti-climax to the expectation that was build up
earlier. I said that I was at 6 cm when I checked-into the labour room and
that the doctor later assessed me and found me at 8 cm. My lesson here was
that I should not depend so much on these measurements are they are just
estimations and one gets different measurements when different people
measure the cervix. Several times I told her that I felt the urge to push
but she said that I wasn’t ready yet as my cervix wasn’t fully opened. I was
also quite irritated that this particular nurse didn’t believe me.
I was surprised at the development of my labour, which I felt was
slow. I was wondering if this was going to be a replay of my 35 hour labour
for my first child, of which 29 hours were spent in the labour room. I put
my hand on my belly and mentally told my baby, “It is safe for you to come
out now. Mummy and daddy are waiting to meet you. We will be taking care of
you and you also have a brother who’s waiting for you at home. Immediately
after that, the surges got more intense and came every 2 – 3 minutes. I got
my husband to fill a water bottle with hot water as a heat pack and put it
behind my back as I had some lower back ache during the surges. It was a
pleasant sensation feeling the warmth of the bottle on my lower back.
As the nurses said that my cervix was still not fully dilated yet,
I felt that there was no point in pushing when I felt the bearing down
sensation. Thus, whenever I felt the urge to push, I just blew out air
through my mouth and vibrated my lips at the same time. That relaxed the
bearing down sensation. Also, a tense jaw results in a tense cervix,
therefore I was mindful to keep my mouth and jaw relaxed. I also visualized
my cervix opening like a rosebud opening.
After several intense surges which came every 2 minutes, I rang the
bell and told the nurse I felt the urge to push. She did another vaginal
examination and said that my cervix was still not ready as I was around 8 cm
opened. She told me to inform when a surge was coming. When the surge came,
she put her fingers in my cervix and suddenly there was a pop sound. I was
quite surprised to hear the pop sound. I believe that was my waterbag
breaking. Immediately, I felt the sensation of bearing down and started
spontaneous pushing. The nurse told me to do some deep breathing and that
lessened the bearing down sensation. She quickly told my husband to press
the bell, and another nurse came running in. The doctor was informed and the
nurses rushed to put on their overalls. At that time I was lying 45 degrees
on the bed, the position I was in for the vaginal examination. The nurses
thought that I would not have the energy to squat and that I would remain
lying on the bed for the birth.
Gentle birth for baby
When the doctor arrived, I told the doctor, “I'm alright. I want to
squat.” So I walked a few steps and squatted on the cushion that was laid on
the floor. My husband sat on the chair supporting me. When a surge came, I
followed my body sensations and pushed whenever there was the urge to push.
I had requested not to have coached pushing. Thus, there were no nurses
shouting at me to push, as usually portrayed in the movies. I did it according to my own instincts in my own
time. The baby emerged slower this time compared to my first labour, when
the surges were stronger as I was on the pitocin drip which increased the
intensity of the surges. The doctor encouraged me saying that I was doing a
good job and that he could see the baby’s head. Then the baby’s head and
body came out. I tried to look at the baby. However, the legs were not out
yet. The doctor asked me to push harder and out came the whole baby. The
doctor guided the baby gently onto the cushion. The baby was out in about 3
surges and was greeted by dimmed lights in a calm and quiet atmosphere. The
time of birth was 4.35 pm.
I looked at my baby. The first thing I said was, “He’s a boy. He
looks like Sheldon (his brother)." His eyes were closed and he looked so peaceful, still
sleeping after arriving into the world. He was not even crying. I wondered
if he new that he was out in the world. The birth was trauma-free for the
baby. This time, the doctor did not carry the baby upside down by the leg
for suctioning. The baby was laid on a cushion on the floor for suctioning.
Following my request to him earlier, the doctor guided the depth of the
suction tube so that it was not too deep into the baby’s throat, which could
be traumatic for the baby. The nurses took the suction tube and suctioned
the mucus out. That was completed speedily. This time, my baby was not wiped
or swaddled in a blanket. Instead he was immediately passed to me for
breastfeeding and skin to skin bonding. I noticed that his head had no molding unlike my first child whose head had some slight temporary molding
when he was born due to pressure on his head as he went through the birth
canal.
In my birth plan, I had requested for the cord to be clamped only
after it had stopped pulsating. The doctor waited until the cord stopped
pulsating and then clamped it. My husband cut the cord. The doctor then
milked the cord to retrieve some blood for testing. All the while I was
speaking softly to my baby. As I was feeling a little tired from sitting
on the floor, I requested to lie on the bed with my baby. I got the baby to
latch onto my breast and he started nursing. The doctor, who was waiting
patiently for the placenta to come out, said,
“This is your placenta, coming out”. He proceeded to pull the placenta out
gently. He did not give me any injection to expel the placenta. In addition,
I had chosen not to have episiotomy and had preferred to tear naturally. The
doctor said that I required several stitches and proceeded to suture the
perineum.
My baby was with me for the first 2.5 hours. During that time, the
nurses rolled in a portable weighing scale and weighed the baby. He cried a
little when he was removed from my arms onto the scale. He was 3.48 kg (7
lbs 10 ounces). On the whole, my baby was very calm and alert as my labour
was drug-free and unmedicated. He was very aware, conscious and started
looking around. While breastfeeding, he even observed the thermometer that
was in my mouth and tried to turn his head to look at the nurse who was
taking my blood pressure reading.
On the whole, I felt immense satisfaction having the type of birth
that I desired. It was a major accomplishment in having a gentle and
trauma-free birth for my baby. I would like to thank my doctor who was
supportive of my birth plan. It is indeed heartening to know that my doctor
is open to such requests and practices on natural childbirth that are hardly
heard of and still new in
Malaysia. I was
also happy with the treatment I received from the nurses who adhered to my
birth plan and made my labour a more comfortable experience.
