Every labor experience is different for every woman/pregnancy and since
many people wanted to know how my experience was, I thought I would
share it with everyone. It wasn’t a very good experience and causes
me to reconsider if I would be able to handle it again.
It all started during my regular obstetrician appointment on May 23rd
at 3:30 p.m. I was having a lot of problems with swelling and it is
a very common problem with pregnancies in the summer heat but since
the days before the appointment were cooler, the swelling should have
gone down but instead it continued to get worse. At the appointment
the doctor had noticed that my blood pressure had increased, there was
+2 protein in my urine and I had a major weight gain due to the swelling
within a small period of time. She recommended that I go over to labor
and delivery to get assessed.
At labor and delivery it was determined for the safety of the baby
and me, that I should be induced. They had inserted jelly in me to start
the process of softening my cervix. I was sent home and told to come
in the following morning once a bed was ready for me so I could be induced.
The following morning on May 24th at around 10 a.m. Vic and I went
to the hospital where they had induced me and the waiting game started.
The contractions slowly started and to speed up the process they broke
my water in the afternoon. The contractions began to intensify but I
decided to hold off on any pain relief for a while. With help from Vic,
I was able to handle the strong contractions but since it was taking
so long, my energy level was disappearing. I decided to use the gas
for pain relief but found it didn’t do anything. So I asked for
the epidural. It did relieve the pain but it didn’t last too long.
I had to ask for a more pain relief since it started to wear off. At
around 11 p.m., I was fully dilated and ready to push. After pushing
for some time, the doctor found that I wouldn’t be able to push
the baby out since I was too swollen and that I have to make a decision.
Option 1 was to use fore sups but if it doesn’t work it would
need a cesarean. Option 2 was to have a cesarean.
Since I didn’t want the fore sups knowing that it may not work,
I thought it would be better to have a cesarean. So they rushed me to
the operating room where they had to perform an emergency cesarean.
This is where the horror began. Vic was not in the room yet since they
were getting him dressed and cleaned up. By the time he walked into
the operating room he was shocked to hear me screaming in pain and crying.
What happen was, they began to start cutting me open and I felt everything.
They didn’t freeze the area yet and wouldn’t stop cutting.
They were trying to calm me down and informing me that “it’s
coming”. You would think that they would wait until I was frozen
before cutting me, but that was not the case. I’m not sure about
anything after this moment since I had past out in shock from the pain.
I don’t remember when I woke up its pretty much a blur. The baby
was sent to the nursery while I was in the recovery room and I wasn’t
able to see the baby for a long time.
After a hard delivery that I don’t ever want to re-live, a beautiful
healthy baby boy was born at 1:30 am on May 25th. Emilio Antonio Alvia
was born weighing 5 lbs 14 oz, with a height of 50.5 cm. He did spend
an extra week in the hospital since he was slow at eating but he has
no problems now.