Every contraction brings me closer to my baby – Karita: (in English)

I was at home as my water broke. I did not have any contractions at that time yet (or I did not feel the contraction) and I called the hospital. They said that there was no hurry and I could relax at home and go to the hospital within three hours.

After the three hours we drove to the hospital and as they did CTG, I could feel light contractions, so no pain yet. The midwives and the doctor explained that if the labour would not start naturally, they would need to give me antibiotics after 12 hours and after 24 hours they would need to initiate the labour and that I should go rest to the station and a nurse would show a place for me.

My husband went home to sleep and I tried to relax but slowly every contraction became stronger so that I could not lie down anymore but I had to sit and breathe as each contraction came but still it was not too painful.

After 8 hours since my water broke I went to get the antibiotics as we had agreed with the doctor to do this earlier so it would not be in the middle of the night. At that point I also told the midwife that the contractions were so strong that I could not sleep and she gave me a sort of relaxant.

I went back to the station. Contractions became harder and about 2 hours later I called my husband as the contractions had become so strong that I needed his support and I could feel that we were getting closer to the birth. He came and we went together to the labour room and the midwifes took a CTG again.

I had to lie down during the CTG and that was the most unpleasant part during the opening phase and the contractions were painful. Concentrating on breathing and a lot of back massage by my husband helped and I could manage. After some time I was realeased from the CTG and could walk again.

I was walking between the contractions and sat down during one and my husband continued to massage my back. After a while the midwife asked if I’d like to take a bath and I thought that why not. So I went to the tub and it felt great and like 50% of the pain had been taken away.

Well that lasted around 10 minutes and the I felt it – the baby is coming! My husband called the midwife and she came and said that I could push whenever I felt like it. And so I started pushing. Yes, this part was painful but somehow I was more concentrated on helping my baby come out than on the pain itself so that it was bearable.

I did get some oxcitocin so that the contractions would be stronger and longer and after a while our beatiful baby boy was there! Once he was out all the pain was gone and a mixture of euphoria, happiness and relief kicked in. The most beautiful feeling ever as I could hold him in my arms *heart*

Just amazing. In the end it took from beginning to end about 13,5h and the only pain killer was the relaxant I got earlier. I have nothing against painkiller but happily I did not get a feeling that I would have needed more. All in all I had a very positive experience with the most rewarding feeling at the end.

What I learned is the following:

• Contractions are like waves. They come, become stronger and fade away again and between contractions also the pain goes away. It is not constant pain.
• What helped me was that I kept on thinking that each contraction brings me closer to the baby and during active labour you are working together with your baby.
• Listen to your body.
• We live in 2017 and there are all sorts of painkillers available and if you need something, use it.
• I took some acupuncture sessions before the labour. I don’t know if it helped (they say it does) but it did not hurt. I also did yoga for pregnant women and I found that helpful due to the breathing exercises and you learn to endure some unpleasant positions by concentrating on breathing. I had only tried yoga once before so I was a total beginner in the course.