My Natural Birth Story!

Tuesday, December 10^th, 2019

I was facetiming with my mom and sisters in the evening and I mentioned to them how it'll be great if my labor starts in the morning since I read that one has well-rested all night so has more energy to get through the labor. And they said "Aise thodi hoga. Be ready for anything". I also mentioned the same to Anish saying "I wish my labor starts only in the morning." They also asked me to show my belly and said it looks like baby has come down. I told them "Yes baby has attached to the cervix but the doctor checked just 3 days back and said it will still take about two more weeks."

Skip to the night, usual bedtime routine. Anish was kissing me goodnight and also wishing our baby in the belly. Out of the blue, he happened to say “Ab bass ho gaya, kitna wait? Don't you wanna meet me now? Don’t you love your daddy?” And this was super strange because every other night he always said "Don't come before the due date. Gain a good weight and then arrive!"

And lo! Hum aa gaye!! Obeying both mom and dad about coming only after a good night's rest and coming the very next day when dad asked to! :)

Wednesday, December 11th, 2019 (38 weeks 5 days pregnant)

I woke up a few times during the night feeling something in my belly - some tightening (which now I know was part of the labor). Every time I thought it was maybe just me dreaming due to all the anxiety and wait now.

I woke up at @5am to use the washroom. I came back to bed to go back to sleep and noticed some watery discharge coming out of my vagina. I rushed to the washroom thinking my water could’ve broken. I noticed some blood spots on my panties and realized that something surely has happened. I went back to our room and woke Anish up and told him about it. Anish told his mom about it. She asked me if I was in pain, I said no I am not feeling anything at all. We all decided we need to go check at the hospital for sure. We started prepping for leave. His mom said “Since pains have not started at all, it’ll mostly take time now. I think they’ll check and let us go and wait for labor. Let’s not carry everything.” But having read so many other experiences where things are super unpredictable and could change. I was sure I wanted to carry my hospital bag & exercise ball even if we had to get it back home (again good decision).

We had kept our hospital bag packed. I drank a glass full of milk since I knew they might now allow me to eat or drink once I get admitted and we left for the hospital. Before leaving for the hospital, I called my parents and told them that we were leaving for the hospital. My parents stay in Baramati which is approx 6 hours away by road. My parents immediately left for Mumbai.

By the time we reached the hospital, it was 6am. The nurse there checked me and told me that I was still only 1cms dilated. She asked me if I was having contractions and I said no (little did I know the tightening of my belly was a part of early labor). She asked me to get admitted and informed us that if the labor doesn’t start in a while we will do a scan and might induce it. After admission, she checked my belly and told me that it was tightening and that the contractions had already started - I WAS IN LABOR!

That’s when I thought to myself if this was labor pain and I am feeling literally no pain yet, how bad could it get after all? The nurse told me they were putting me on IV and I had to stop eating and drinking now. I quickly grabbed a protein bar and ate it to get some energy for me to get through the labor. And now to think of it, it was the best decision because after the labor pains started, I hardly let the IV be in my hands, I kept using the washroom, moving around, sitting on the exercise ball, etc.

Until 8:45am, I was chatting away. I kept bouncing and doing some exercises on the exercise ball (P.S. sitting on exercise ball helped majorly in fast-forwarding my dilation later). I and Anish were also recording the contractions which were pretty irregular but not more than 5 minutes apart. The doctor and checked me, I was only 2cms dilated. She asked me if I wanted to go for an epidural (painless delivery). I told her no, I will do it the natural way. She gave me some medicine through my anus for stool softening.

Around 9am, slightly painful contractions started coming in. I had read about changing certain positions during labor. So I tried doing some exercises on the exercise ball. The doctor came in again at 9:45am, checked me and mentioned I was still only 2cms dilated. They will artificially break my water in an hour if not broken already by then. The contractions were as painful as my menstrual cramps this time. So I was doing just fine, breathing deep during the contractions and relaxing between the contractions. 

Around 10:45am, the contractions started getting intense and they were just 2mins apart. The doctor checked me, I was still just 3cms dilated. She broke my water and mentioned that now the contractions will get intense and will be closer. There was a gush of water in the bed, almost 2litres of water! The contractions started getting super intense now and they were just 1.5-2 minutes apart. I was screaming at the top of my voice. I couldn’t relax between the contractions thinking about the next one on its way just in a minute. I was sweating during the contractions and shivering between them (since the AC was on and I wanted it to be). The pain was so bad, I started asking for epidural. Fortunately, I and Anish had been discussing many things throughout my pregnancy and he knew exactly what was important for me. And that even if I give up, don’t let me take an epidural. I kept on insisting on epidural and he kept avoiding it. When I kept on forcing for epidural over and over again, he warned me that if I ask for epidural, he’ll leave. I was in so much pain, I told him “You May leave, I don’t care! I can’t bear the pain. I need a painless resolution”. Anish s mom also had come in by this time and both Anish and his mom kept massaging my back and my head for me to relax during and between contractions. I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes. 

This continued till 11:50am when the nurse came in to ask me to come down to the labor room for the doctor to check me and continue my labor in that room on the bed. They laid me down on the bed in the labor room, attached some equipment on my belly to check on the baby’s heartbeat. 

At 12pm, the doctor checked me and said I was only 4cms dilated and that we were looking at least 3-4 hours more to go. I then begged her to give me an epidural, she told me the anesthetist doctor had left since I said no for it earlier. And that he will only be back after an hour. When the doctor informed me this, I screamed at Anish “I told you to let me take the epidural, you did not listen. Now I cannot manage the pain, I am going to go for c-section”. I was screaming at the top of my voice. Both Anish and the nurses kept reminding me to breathe and not scream to save the energy later for pushing. The contractions were less than 30 seconds apart now. The good thing was, I couldn’t discuss or talk much with Anish either and had to focus on the contractions. I had this urge to push and thought I wanted to poop, so I got up to use the washroom and sat down there since the contractions were so intense, I was scared to walk to the washroom. I held Anish tight in this sitting position, while he kept massaging my back which helped a lot!! My parents had reached the hospital meanwhile and my mom came in to see me. She had tears in her eyes seeing me in pain. I asked her to leave because I couldn't see her cry watching me cry at that time. Wasn't helping! Haha!

Around 12:30pm, I suddenly started having this uncontrollable urge to push and it got so bad that I laid down and started pooping on the labor bed. The nurse noticed this and started wondering why in just 30mins was I wanted to push so bad. She checked me and told me that I was already 8cms dilated and that she could feel the head during my contractions. She went running to call the doctor and started prepping for my delivery. Now the pain got so bad that I couldn’t think through and kept crying out to Anish that I couldn’t do it. And the contractions were overlapping now not allowing me a break to refocus or reposition myself. While they were prepping for my delivery, Anish screamed loudly “Neha we’ve done it! You’re almost there! You’re 8cms already? You can do this! We are about to meet our baby.”

They started prepping for my delivery now and at 12:45pm I was lying in the side lying position when the nurse asked me to get into the pushing position with my legs apart but I could hardly move as the contractions were now just overlapping each other and I had no break! The nurse warned me “If you keep your legs pressed, the baby’s head will get blocked and suffocate so give it space to make a way out!!”. When I heard her say the baby will get harmed, I got all the energy to get into the position asked.

As they were prepping me for the push, the doctor asked my husband to leave the labor room. He was surprised since we’d discussed it already that he’ll be there in the labor room right from the start till the end. The doctor said, “You won’t be able to handle the sight of blood”. Anish said “I’ll be fine doctor don’t worry I can handle it. I’d like to be here with her!” The doctor again requested him to leave and instead of wasting time in that crucial moment, he had to leave. The doctor then gave me anesthesia which today I feel wasn’t really even necessary but was more given just to increase the cost a little bit. Or maybe because they’d anyways called the anesthetist in for the epidural but my labor progressed so quickly that they couldn’t do that so did this. Because before asking me to push they gave me the anesthesia and later when asked said because you weren’t pushing we’d to give it.

Anyways, so after the anesthesia, I started getting unconscious of course. And I wasn’t aware that they’d given me anesthesia. So I felt like I was fainting and in my head, I was screaming “Are they aware of what’s happening to me and that I am not conscious about what’s happening?” Then in the second push I felt this pressure relief from my belly as the belly vacated and I heard baby’s cry and saw the doctor holding Ved. She asked me- “Neha, what is it?” I looked at his testicles and said: “It’s a boy!!” She said yes. I was aware until they told me the weight of the baby. And then I dozed off. I missed out on immediate skin to skin with Ved due to unconsciousness. I kept waking up in between while she was stitching my vaginal cut. They took me to the room after that. By the time I held Ved in my arms, it was 2pm. I was feeling quite dizzy even then. I just fed him and we both slept off. Our first sleep together! :)

It seemed unreal, it all just happened to fast and just in 8 hours of when I knew labor had started, Ved was already in my arms! :)

A big shoutout to Anish, without whom I could’ve definitely not been able to get through this. He was such big support during the whole labor. He kept reminding me to keep focusing on breathing, kept massaging my back and kept motivating me telling me how great I am doing and that we could do this together. Not once did he lose his calm or stop doing what he was doing. Having a pillar-like supportive partner was a major help in me having a vaginal delivery. 

And to all of you who are reading this, I hope that I was able to give you a little insight into my birth. Don‘t take anything to serious though, since each birth is so different and unique! What might have been hard for me could have been easy for you and the other way around? But I hope that you enjoyed reading about it. 

Let me know if you have any questions!