I literally just stepped out of one of the most intense child birth sessions I've ever witnessed and to say I'm a bit traumatized would be an understatement. Certainly, I can't go into details due to confidentiality purposes but here goes something.
Yesterday, we had a new admission in the labour ward. A young lady, 2cm dilated on assessment and in her first stage of labour, came in with her husband. Immediately, her vital signs were taken and we ensured she was well settled in.
Just for proper context, there are four stages of labour. First is dilation of the cervix to enable passage of the baby. Second is the delivery of the baby. Third is the expulsion of the placenta and the fourth stage is the recovery stage.
Usually, it takes hours to move from the first stage to the second stage of labour. Seeing that I was working a morning shift, I concluded that I may actually miss out on the delivery of this very fine lady. I made peace with this and consoled myself with the fact that other ladies would give birth in the early hours of the day during my morning shift. But as usual, during the course of my shift, we ensured that she and every other admitted patient were comfortable.
I was welcomed to my shift this morning by the screams of a woman in labour(delivery). Immediately, I changed into my uniform and went into the theater. This was her first ever childbirth and she decided to do it vaginally. Without a doubt, one could tell she was in extreme pains. She screamed, wailed, called on God for help and screamed some more but nothing could be done as it was time for the baby to be delivered.
Eventually, the baby was delivered, let's say in under twenty minutes. Then came the time for the removal of the placenta. This too didn't take so long.
Now, the real pain began when it was time to suture her up. During the delivery of her child, there was a tear in her perineum and this caused extra bleeding. To prevent excessive loss of blood and a possible hemorrhage, she had to be stitched up without anaesthesia. If you think she screamed during delivery then imagine the screams multiplied by three. This lady screamed till her voice seized but she still kept at it.
This was the point where I got emotional. I tried fighting the tears that were trying to form in my eyes and for a while, I did because I wasn't about to cause a scene in the theater. Normally, people shed a tear or two when they see blood but I have no problem with other people's blood nor mine but you see people's pain? I can't stand that, especially when it gets too intense.
Call me emotional if you will but I believe it's this particular emotion that drives me to alleviate such pain. Drives me to work towards ensuring that they feel little to no pain but rather comfort and satisfaction. This is what drives me.
Now, this particular experience was a bit traumatic for me because I'm female and I've always wondered; is this how it is going to be when I finally decide to procreate? It gets even more heartbreaking when there is no form of support from the spouse, friends or family during delivery. It's just you facing one of your worst fears in the midst of total strangers.
I usually do not write a lot of medical content but I felt some relief after writing this down, so maybe I may continue on this path. However, here's a question for you: to the mothers鈥揾ow was your child delivery process? To the aspiring mothers鈥搘hat are some of your fears concerning childbirth?
Images belong to me.
