I had labour pains for 2 days!

Mid-November. Scared, uncertain and prayerful. My due date was just a week away and I recall asking my friends in college how painful labour was. Some of them were married with kids. ‘Not painful’, ‘Scary!, ‘Okay’, ‘Don’t even ask!’ were the various responses I got. While some responses raised my spirits, others got me more and more scared. How had they coped? ‘I cried’, said one. ‘It was so fast and not as painful as I expected’, said another. ‘I almost brought the labor bed down with pain’, added yet another colleague. I was confused and anxious. It seemed that whatever counsel one sought from friends, one simply had to wait to tell her own story. No one can really tell you what labour will be like.

By some stroke of misfortune my exams were set to start on the date I was due. As I attended my classes that week at the Kenya Institute of Mass Communications (KIMC), I was worried that I would miss my papers. But luck was on my side and exams were postponed to February because of the constitutional referendum.

I spent the entire day having intermittent pains

I woke up at five on the morning of 10 November in great pain. It was probably the food I had eaten the previous night, I thought to myself. I did not feel fit to go to college and told my mum that I needed to rest because I was not well. In her experienced way, however, my mother suspected immediately that I was in labour, but I quickly dispelled this and told her my due date was in another five days. Mum wanted to take me to the hospital right away but I was reluctant because I was not sure or convinced it was real labour.

I would feel a lot of pain, then it would fade away for one or two hours. I spent the entire day having intermittent pains but by evening the pain was intense. Because I was terrified of going to the hospital,I guess I did not want to think I was in labour . I did not know what was awaited me; and I could not even contemplate what delivery  would be like and whether the baby would be delivered without complications. I had heard that women cry at this time, I cried too.

It was happening to me! I could not eat supper and though I pretended that I was not feeling pain my face told it all. I did not want my brothers to know what was going on so I put on a brave face. It was a long restless night of tossing in bed and visiting the toilet after every few minutes.

I was in extreme pain

By morning l did not need anyone to tell me to go to hospital and after a bath mum and I headed there. The doctor who had been attending to me during my ante-natal clinics examined me.

I underwent some vaginal examinations; I almost cried after these. The doctor’s words are still fresh in my mind, “This lady is in early labour, admit her”, he told the nurses. I wondered what he meant by ‘early labour’ as pains had started on the morning of the previous day. If anything, this should be ‘late’ labour!

I was in extreme pain. My gynecologist arrived soon after and explained to me the examinations that would be carried out. I was told labour occurs in stages and this was the first stage, l had two more to go! That was unimaginable.

The day dragged on. Occasionally the doctor or nurse would check on me and the nurse was kind enough to rub my back when the pain was unbearable. My mother was also allowed to be with me, only leaving when the doctor was checking my progress. This comforted me.

He did not even know l was in hospital

Let me not talk about the father of my child. He was not there and I was not expecting him. He did not even know l was in hospital. Simply put, he and l had parted ways months before — my reward for having let him whisper sweet nothings into my ear and taking me for a fool which in hindsight l probably was.

The doctor estimated that I would deliver at half past five in the evening. It was now mid-day and there were still ‘many’ hours ahead of me and the pain was excruciating. The doctor assured my mum that he would be patient with me because I was also cooperative. He advised me to lie on my left side to keep the baby moving and showed me how to breathe through my mouth.

‘When will l deliver?’

Finally the appointed hour arrived. I waited with bated breath for the baby to come out. In my naivety, it was more like expecting the baby to just ‘pop!’ and land on the delivery table. ‘Where is this baby?’ I screamed in my heart, ‘When will l deliver?’ Nothing seemed to be going on except more pain. There was no sign of the baby being born.

Mum had started getting worried because I had been in labour for long and she felt that both the baby and I were getting tired. I remember asking my mum on two occasions to pray for me and during those two prayer sessions I prayed with her and asked God to spare my life and forgive all my sins, known and unknown. Was l being punished because my baby was born out of -wedlock? Then I started thinking of death. I begged for forgiveness from my mother too, just in case. She kept assuring me that all would be fine. My sister and her husband also came to the hospital and gave me some encouragement. If words could ease labour l would have had no labour pains at all.

I could not bear the pain anymore and anything the doctor said was welcome to me. At one time l wanted to tell him to take me to theatre and deliver the baby, though I knew deep inside that getting an operation was not my wish. After briefing me and my mum, the doctor finally decided to augment labour. I prayed that it would work because the only other option would be a Caesarean section.

Induced labour

Induced labour, as I came to learn, is quite an experience. The moment the drug got into my body, the bed l lay on suddenly felt smaller. I tossed from one side to the other, with one of my hands fitted with a drip. I had heard that women do shout obscenities while in labour and that some can strangle the man who fathered the baby if he is in the vicinity. Now I understood why, even though there was no spouse for me to strangle. So I cried. Interestingly, I shed no tears!

The contractions were intense and frequently the doctor had to carry out some examinations to feel how the baby was progressing. At half past eight that night I delivered a baby boy. I thanked the doctor repeatedly for his patience with me. My mum, sister and brother-in-law were called into the ward to see me and my baby. Instead of my mum being happy she started crying. She recalled the pain I had gone through and prayed for us. She and the rest of the family left for home, leaving me tucked in a bed at the maternity ward. I was discharged the next day.

The most unusual thing about labour is that you are screaming in pain at one point but after the baby is born the joy makes you forget the pain. Seeing the baby made me feel the pain was worth it, though l wouldn’t wish to experience it again. My admiration and respect goes to all mothers who have braved the agony of childbirth.

END: PG 2/42-43