Welcome to the world… finally

15 February 2012

16:44 PM

Ok I know, I know. I've been bad. i haven't updated my blog in a while but can you really blame me?! I had a baby! She finally arrived after months of holding out on us. Yes, I said it, US! So I wanna share the story of my ordeal in labour because I have to tell you.. It's one hell of an interesting story!

On Tuesday, January 24th, I went for another check up and this time the Ob/Gyn ordered that i need to have a ultrasound done to confirm the babies "age". After hours and hours of bruising my bum( the public health system needs to get more comfortable benches yoh), I finally had a scan done. The scan determined that I was only38weeks pregnant(that's 9 and a half months for the rest of the population). Unfortunately the midwife didn’t buy what the scan said and so, she referred me to Bara for a second opinion for Thursday. Imagine my indignation when she said Bara. I don't have anything against that place but like really, Bara has some scary stories attached to it.

Anyhu I did as i was told and on Thursday morning I set off to Bara with my dad. We arrived there and as usual, I had to plant my ass on a solid wooden bench for a few more hours. The cool thing though was that one of the admin ladies who was starting a patient file for me there adopted me. Lol.. She even pimped her sons off to me. She was very cool. Anyway after getting another check up and having the gynae stick her fingers in places I do not want to mention, she admitted me there and then! That's right. No time to even go home or breathe or anything. She just filled in some forms and sent me off to get officially admitted to be induced. Luckily though, I wasn't the only one that was admitted that day and I managed to make friends with some pretty cool ladies whom, like me, were also overdue.

We all got changed into our gowns and pj's and then had to lay down for an hour strapped to a cardiograph machine(it listens to and records the babies heartbeat) after we were done, a lovely and cheerful nurse(sarcasm) escorted us to the maternity ward where we all took up residence until we went into labour. Since our labour were meant to be induced, we all started on a course of medication(forgot the name) to start the process. To my disgust, we had to consume this stuff every 2 hours! Well like a good girl, I drank my medication. After the first gulp of the stuff, I had quite strong contractions, safely let's call them pains. Lasted for a good 5 minutes. Well went through the night like that and each time the pains got stronger. Around 2am, after taking my 6th dose of meds, the contractions got super bad. I mean I was feeling contractions every 15 seconds! I told the midwife on duty about this and, well, they came to check me. At one point one of the midwives even shouted at me telling me that I didn't know what labour was so I must just keep quiet. She soon swallowed those words!

At 5am, the nurses woke everyone up to go take a bath. Well that was a fail for me because I was just in too much pain! I made it to the bathroom but I just sat there trying to manage my pain. Many of the ladies felt sorry for me because at one point I had tears in my eyes. Well I managed to drag myself back to bed where I was then hooked up to a cardiograph. This time it was also recording the intensity and frequency of my contractions as well as Aiko's heart rate. After an hour or so when the nurse came to check the chart that this thing was spitting out, I could tell by the look on her face that something was wrong because after she took it to the other sisters, one of them came to me with a drip. I was then put on a drip and told to get my stuff because I was going to the labour ward. Believe it or not, she made me walk, yes… WALK, to the labour ward in my condition. And she looked a bit irritated when I stopped to let the pain subside. Mxm.. Well I eventually made it and was hooked up to another cardiograph. This time i had to remove my clothes. Imagine that!

After about 15-30 minutes of bearing through my contractions, something unexpected happened. The pain became so intense that I started pushing. After my first push, my water broke. When I told the sister this, she didn't believe me. 5 minutes later, AT 07:05, I ended up pushing again and there kicking and crying between my legs under the blanket was lil Aiko. The crazy thing though is that I gave birth without a doctor, nurse or even midwife in the room! Yep! I was completely alone when I brought my child into the world. Luckily the nurse had come back just in time and everyone in the ward was now in my room rushing around and going through the routine of cutting the umbilical cord and checking the baby and everything. It was rather frantic in there. Yet here I was, very calm and not saying a word to anyone. Before I knew it, Aiko was rushed out the room and I was left alone with the nurses and midwives who were now fussing over me.

The worst thing though is that by delivering Aiko on my own, I had badly damaged my vagina( oh get over it, I said vagina).it was so badly damaged that the nurse who was meant to stitch me up, ended up first calling every single sister in the ward to come and observe the damage. I felt like a textbook. My room had officially become a drive through medical observation centre. I half expected one of them to walk in with a camera and start taking photo's. I wouldn't have cared if they did. That's how numb and tired i was. Spent the next 4hours just laying in that room. Between getting stitched up, informing all the necessary parties and bleeding out, I managed to fall asleep. Finally at around 12, I was discharged from the labour ward and transferred to the maternity ward where I was reunited with my bundle of pure joy.

I can't really explain the feelings I experienced when I saw her again. I had only been with her for a few minutes when she was taken away from me but then there she was again. Her tiny frame just made me melt and I fell in love with her. Her father felt the same way when i sent him a picture. She was perfect and I thank God that she was born healthy..

Introducing Aiko Layla Precious Boguo. Aiko at 5 hours old