My First Child
Finally I was pregnant, after trying for 5 years. The pregnancy was wonderful; nothing could have spoiled my joy at being pregnant with a long hoped for baby.
I worked right up until two days prior to her arrival.
I had a busy day, packing the contents of a vacation home that we had just sold and had driven back to my home.
When I got home I thought I had wet myself, because I was bursting to go to the toilet.
I changed and shook it off. Half an hour later I had the same sensation, I had wet myself again, I was puzzled. My husband arrived home and I told him about my day, and mentioned my accidents.
He wanted me to call my mother; I wasn’t due for another five weeks. So, I called my mother and we had a chit chat and I mentioned the accidents to her too. Mom asked to speak to my husband and she calmly informed him that my water had broken and that I needed to go straight to the hospital.
I called the hospital and they agreed that I should go directly to them. I argued that I was in the middle of cooking dinner, could it wait? They assured me no!
All the books I had read throughout the pregnancy and still I was clueless, I guess that I didn’t think this day would really arrive. I had some treatments to get pregnant and was under the care of a specialist and I had to travel far to the hospital where she practiced, so it was an exciting journey.
When I arrived the nurse asked my where my bag was, I replied that it was in the car, she laughed and said, “well you are going to need it, because this baby is on its way and will be here tonight”! I was shocked and excited and nervous.
I had what the doctor called a “cherished child” for that reason; we had elected to have a c-section. The race was on to get me into the operating room before contractions began. I had general anesthetic and the next thing I knew I was in recovery.
My daughter weighed 5 1/2 lbs and was perfect. So far everything had been a breeze, the pregnancy, the hospital, the surgery, no pain, no anxiety, no problem. What’s all the fuss about, I thought, having a baby is easy!
Post surgery was a very different story, it was so painful, it was hard to sit up and the anesthesia had given me a cough, which hurt so much with every little cough that I tried to stifle. Baby was so tiny; she slept most of the time and was fed by the nurses.
When my milk finally arrived after 2 days I was so engorged the poor tiny baby couldn’t get near me to latch on. I had a number of midwives and nurses and pulling me around to try and get this tiny wee baby latched on a breast the size of a watermelon.
My doctor ordered a poultice for my wound, which was really relaxing and suppositories for my pain, at the five day mark I was feeling much better, baby was feeding and I got out of bed for the first time.
I have never looked back; my pain arrived after the birth, so I am even with all the moms who do go through hours and hours of labor. Nature always wins! |
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