BIRTH STORIES: 2 MIM Mums Share Their Experiences

What was labour like for you? Two Mums and fans of Motherhood In-Style Magazine share their uniques experiences.

Chiomah Momah, mum of 4

I have been blessed with somewhat fast deliveries for all my 4 children.

My last child, a boy, arrived after a 7-year gap. I had always wanted 4 children, so was overjoyed to be pregnant again. I was happy when I found out that my sister who I would stay with to deliver lived 8 minutes from the hospital. Something told me this labour would be the
fastest, so I wanted to be as close to the hospital as possible. Since I was not sure when I conceived, I had a couple of EDDs and by the time the last one passed, I was tired. I had thought being my 4th child, the baby would come fast.

My doctor scheduled me to be induced but three days before the planned delivery, I started feeling funny. I was dressed to go to church with my sister and it seemed like I was having the normal Braxton hicks but they were more regular, so I told my sister we couldn’t go to church till I was sure what was going on. After a few minutes, the contractions seemed more regular and I started feeling pain in my back…this was it! It was almost 10am and I asked my sister to take me to the hospital, praying I wouldn’t be sent home for a false alarm.

Once we got there, I was checked and the nurse confirmed that I was 5cm and ready to have the baby…it was 10.30 am. I asked the nurses for a hot water bottle as the pain had started to get intense and asked if they could check me and I was 8cm. A few minutes later, at my request, they checked me again and I was 10cm. Everyone was shocked! I had only been there for about 30 minutes! At 11.15am, my adorable baby boy came into the world!

My younger sister can’t stand the sight of blood and had planned to run away when active labour started not knowing it would be that short and she would witness the whole thing. It was a beautiful experience!
My husband was present for two out of my 4 labours, and being a Medical Doctor, he was always quite calm and obviously excited when the babies arrived.

Mrs. Fafiyebi is also a mum of 4

I wasn’t expecting to go into labour the day my first baby came as my due date was less than 3 weeks away. I went for my antenatal appointment that morning and my gynaecologist and I had gone over the signs that I would use to determine the onset of labour. A few minutes to 11 pm that night, I was sitting on the sofa when I felt water gushing out of me.

My husband got my things into the car and we were off to the hospital. I felt so excited that I was going to have my baby. Inside the car, the water was still coming out but by the time we got to the hospital, it had stopped.

After about an hour, I was moved to another room where my husband and I slept that night. By 3am the following morning as I finished urinating, I felt the ‘plug’ fall into the toilet and I informed the nurse on duty. Shortly after that, I started feeling light menstrual cramps and my excitement grew. By 7am that morning, my gynaecologist arrived and I was moved into the delivery room. By then, the pain was getting more intense and the contractions were coming at intervals.

My husband was with me all through, at first I felt relieved when he was helping me to massage my waist but as time went on and the intensity of the pain increased, I felt irritated by his touch and told him to stop. I told the midwife and nurses too to stop talking and coming to listen to the baby’s heartbeat or check how many cm I had dilated because it felt so uncomfortable!

A drip was fixed for me and the doctor said it was to make the contractions come stronger. All this while I was shouting instead of using the breathing techniques I had been taught; all those flew out the window when the pain came. I told my husband to come closer as I needed to hold his trousers for support.

In the afternoon, when the doctor said I was ready, I was told to push only when I was instructed to, I tried, later, I felt such pressure on my buttocks as if I was going to poo, and I mentioned it. The doctor said that it was the baby that made me feel that way and I should go ahead and poo on the bed if I felt the urge. It happened again and when I pushed, I was tired, but my husband encouraged me and told me he was already seeing the baby’s head.

The next time I pushed, I felt the doctor’s scissors cut me but it was painless and this funny looking creature, all wet and white, covered with fine hair with a head that was a little elongated and a cord on its tummy, came out. Our (my husband and I’s) first reaction was, what is this? I thought I was mentally prepared, but when I saw the real thing, I knew I wasn’t.

I asked for the sex of the baby and was told it’s a girl. My husband went out with the nurses to get her cleaned up after all the necessary documentation while the placenta came out and the doctor stitched me up. They came back with my beautiful princess who weighed 2.9kg, born on the 2nd of December, 2006.

The time between labour and delivery got shorter as I had more children. My first baby’s was about 12 hours. For my last baby, it was about 3 hours. Thankfully, I had normal deliveries for all of them.

Like to share your birthing experience too? Send your entries (short write-up and photos) to info@motherhood.com.ng