My Personal Story of Labour and Birth

Before I start forgetting all the details (they say anaesthesia is to blame), I wanted to share my personal story of labour and birth.

Looking back, I had a relatively good pregnancy, with all the typical symptoms like being really tired in the first and third trimesters, as well as morning sickness in the first trimester (I think it should be called all-day sickness). Took prenatal vitamins and I strongly recommend Elevit. Watched my diet (even treated myself to chocolates and sweets here and there – just can’t help it, otherwise my diet was really healthy), tried to avoid stress, walked when I can, and did my pelvic floor exercises. I also kept on praying for a healthy baby and pregnancy, as well as normal delivery.

I figured my mother and sisters all had normal delivery, so maybe – just maybe, I can have luck by my side and have normal delivery as well. To me, the thought of having a C-section was way scarier… I even watched videos to prepare me for birth, so maybe that wasn’t such a good idea since I felt I just scared myself more.

my personal story of labour and birthThe Start of Labour

It’s been 40 weeks — exactly my due date, and we’ve been eagerly anticipating the arrival of our baby girl.

I took a late afternoon nap since I felt so tired. As I got up at 6pm to prepare dinner, my water broke! Water and blood were gushing out!

Good thing my hubby called and was on his way home.

From then on, I’ve been in touch with the hospital’s maternity team on the next steps. As advised, I took a bath and had dinner. We were monitoring my contractions every hour and left for the hospital at 9pm.

The birthing suite they led us to was a nice, spacious, private area that we had to ourselves. I really love it! The nurses constantly monitored me and the baby. At this point, I can still smile and was even asking about contractions. They said that once it comes, I will not be able to smile and that I will know for sure.

I thought I was just anxious… But apparently, my blood pressure was alarmingly high! They gave me medication and made me do blood tests while they gave my doctor a call.

Then at a certain point, the contractions became so intense and way too painful! Boy, were they right! They gave me gas to help with my breathing, but it didn’t help alleviate the pain.

I cannot find the words to describe how PAINFUL it was. It was excruciatingly painful to say the least!

I badly needed an epidural! They said the epidural can also help lower down my blood pressure. It took a while to be administered since we had to wait for the anesthetist. Once that was done and I felt numb, they let me sleep through the night while we waited for my cervix to open.

my personal story of labour and birthFinally, It Was Time to Give Birth

Morning came, my blood pressure finally stabilized, cervix was fully dilated, and we were apparently ready to push. I even asked the nurse to help me push since I didn’t know how. What I read up on was apparently wrong…

She said to take a deep breath, and then hold it as long as I can while pushing. Then do that three times in one contraction cycle. Whew! Pushing for more than an hour drained my energy and contractions were painful again. I didn’t realize that it’ll take that long!

My doctor can already see the baby’s head, and he said that he might need to assist me by using forceps. Yikes! So I tried to give it everything I got, pushed as hard as I can, and after what seemed like an eternity, I gave birth without the use of tools. Woohoo!

At 955am, we finally saw my beautiful baby girl and heard her first cry!

my personal story of labour and birthI was just so relieved that after 16 hours of labour, the most excruciating experience I’ve ever had in my life was over and I finally had my baby in my arms. She was such a beautiful and adorable baby!

Even though I had pregnancy complications, what’s important to me was that she was healthy and normal.

I was extremely happy that I didn’t really notice the episiotomy and the amount of blood I lost. My doctor was quite worried and was literally scooping what came out to be 1800ml of blood!

I was confident that we had a good team helping us and I just trusted them to do what needs to be done. The entire process was so intense both physically and on our pockets, but being blessed with a healthy baby girl is priceless and definitely worth it.

I hope you enjoyed reading my personal story of labour and birth. How was your own birth story? I would love to hear about your experience. If you would like to share your own stories, just leave your comment below.

8 comments

  1. Bri says:

    Raquel,
    Congratulations to you on the blessing of your healthy baby girl! Pregnancy, labor and birth is one of the most intense experiences for every woman, and I think it is important to share your story to empower other women! Thank you for sharing!!! Blessings to you & your family!

    • Raquel says:

      Thanks Bri! It’s an experience that I will treasure forever and never ever want to forget. Giving birth is a beautiful thing and a baby is such a huge blessing. Hope this does empower other women. Cheers!

    • Cherree says:

      First of all, I want to say … your baby girl is “SO” beautiful, and adorable.

      I wish there had been a site like yours when I was a young mother and breastfeeding my children. It would have made things so much easier.

      Good luck to you, and may God bless you and your family.

      Cherree

      • Raquel says:

        Thank you Cherree! She is our pride and joy! Definitely hope to reach out to other mothers. All the best!

      • Tammy says:

        Wow, I feel so lucky. My first baby came in 5 hours, the second in 3, the third in 2 and the last, I delivered myself in the hospital bed because the doctor didn’t get to room fast enough. Labour for her was 1.5 hours. I had my second baby at home (by choice) and no medicine at all with all the births; because I wanted to breastfeed right away. The doctors say I have an amazing amount of pain control. I was suffering though. I would just look at the clock throughout the contractions and kept telling myself it only lasts a minute or so. I had no one in the room but doctors and nurses. Their dad usually didn’t make it to hospital in time and I had to drive myself except the first one. The second of course was at home so he was there. With the last two, there just was no time. That in itself was scary. By the way, I love all your articles!

        • Raquel says:

          Thank you Tammy! It may be faster for you during the times you were in labour, but you were also in some ordeal yourself. Really can’t imagine going through it without epidural… You are one tough cookie! Your pain tolerance is indeed amazing! Cheers!

        • Andrea says:

          I had really fast labors. My first was born in 10 hours, my 2nd in 4 hours, and my 3rd in 2 hours! I barely made it to the hospital with my 3rd! I had my second at home with a midwife, it was a beautiful experience. My 3rd would have been born in another town with a midwife (they don’t normally deliver babies where I live), but he was born too quickly! The pain was strong, but I handled it. I thought about all the women before me who had birthed, and I saw the whole process as a right of passage to motherhood. I felt so strong and proud of myself after they were born.

          • Raquel says:

            That is indeed something, Andrea! Giving birth at home must indeed be one of those precious moments you will never forget. You are lucky not to spend so much time in labour and to be able handle the pain. You’re absolutely right, you do have much to be proud of! All the best!

            Leave a Reply

            *