Did I have to be induced?
Christabel Ashiono, a mother of two did not know what labour pains felt like until her second pregnancy when the doctor decided to induce her. Many doubts and questions have been lingering on her mind since then, the uppermost being whether she had to be precipitated. She narrates her ordeal to Chukky Mbakaya.
‘HAVING children is an interesting experience that all women go through but when someone thinks of how difficult labour can be, one can find herself concluding. *I will never do it again.* Christabel says as she shakes her head, staring at the wall forlornly.
Her first child birth experience was interesting—she never went through what other women do—the agonising labour pains. She recalls vividly the day she had her first child. Christabel had done her daily chaos as usual, her waters broke while she was taking her dinner in the evening, and being a first time mother, she did not know what to do. Fortunately, she was with her sister-in-law. a nurse, who advised her to go to the hospital immediately.
At the hospital, the doctor examined her and confirmed she had dilated 4 cm however, she was not experiencing any pains. ‘The doctor advised that I be admitted for close monitoring. I did a lot of walking n the hospital but felt no pains. By the following morning. I had dilated 8cm: my labour progressed well without pains and I got my baby before mid-day.’
Things were different during her second pregnancy: she drove herself to the antenatal clinic where the normal examinations were done by the nurse. Afterwards, she went in to see the gynaecologist, who examined her and to her surprise, informed her that she was in labour and she had dilated 4cm.
Christabel looked at the gynaecologist in disbelief as he told her, ‘Christabel you have latent labor, you must be one lucky woman.’ She did not take what the doctor was telling her seriously and immediately started arguing with him. ‘I was in serious doubt about what was happening and what he was telling me, because I was not feeling anything: no pains, yet he was insisting that I was in labour.’
Christabel was admitted and the doctor recommended for acceleration of my labour. She was handed over to the nurse who also insisted that they augment her although they had examined her and found that she had dilated 6cm.
‘I personally was not for the augmentation because I knew my labour was progressing well and I did not see the reason why I should be augmented.’ she says.
As soon as she was in the ward, the nurses broke her waters as instructed at which point she felt the most excruciating pain she has ever experienced in her entire lifetime. ‘I felt intense pain which made me understand what women imply when they say they are in labour. I made a decision there and then never to have another child.’
In the meantime, she could not bear the pain, and kept on walking around the ward even after the nurses insisted that she stays in bed. The idea of being made to stay in bed confused her too: ‘The nurses were insisting that I stay in bed. But I had read several books which advice pregnant women to walk around, to enable the force of gravity assist the baby to find its way out.’
Although Christabel was against the idea of augmentation, her husband convinced her to go ahead with it. ‘My point of view was that there was no need of me going through the painful process when there was a natural way of doing it—and if my baby and I were out of danger, why did they want to make the process quick and uncomfortable?’
The nurse augmented her and within no time she felt like pushing. She was taken into the labour room, and her baby came out within seconds. She was 4.4kgs.
After delivery. Christabel bled profusely, spending almost a whole hour in bed, bleeding.
When her husband noticed that the bleeding was not showing any signs of subsiding after sometime, he became worried and called in the nurses who tried to get in touch with the doctor in vain. ‘I wondered why the doctor was not there yet l had paid a package which included the doctor being available during the time of delivery.’ The bleeding continued, making her extremely dizzy and faint.
It took quite sometime for the placenta to come out and when it finally did, it was in bits and pieces. Some parts remained inside, and they had to be forcibly pulled out – a process that was both very painful and uncomfortable. ‘I was worried that I would die without holding my baby, but I thank God that the bleeding finally stopped. I am now enjoying all the moments with baby Toccarra; but my question still remains, did I have to be precipitated?
END:PG15/55