I Will Never Give Birth Again!
Labor pains get first-time mum, Sophia, into a vowing mood
Every woman, whether she has given birth or not, fears labor pains. Some say the pains are unbearable while others will tell you it wasn’t too bad. Yet others say they have forgotten the pain. But not so for Sophia (the second name withheld). After the birth of her first baby, she vowed that she will never undergo that pain again! She narrates her story to Sandra Mulluka.
I have met many women who tell you how painful labor pains are, and even swear that they will never undergo that pain again, yet after a year or two you see them pregnant again! I know for certain that the pain was unbearable and there is nothing I can compare with labor pains!
I was in labor for one full day and it was terrible. I labored from 6.00 am to 6.00 pm. Initially, my sister-in-law had assured me that there was no need for me to go to the hospital and that I should deliver at home. She delivered her two children at home. I was rushed to the hospital after 6.00 pm in great pain and exhausted, yet the baby was not about to come.
On arrival at the hospital, the nurse performed some very strange and uncomfortable examinations, which I have come to learn are called vaginal examinations. At first, I objected to it but she told me the vaginal examination was necessary to ensure that my baby was alright.
I never attended antenatal clinics; I had never been checked or examined. I knew I was pregnant when my tummy started becoming big, and then later. I felt movements, which I later learned was the baby kicking! My menses were not regular so I was not alarmed when they were delayed. Sometimes they are delayed for up to three months!
Because I had been in labor for a long, the doctors at the hospital decided that I should be augmented, that is put on a drip. The pain was more than what I had felt throughout the whole day. It was so intense that I couldn’t even cry. I could see women climbing on top of their beds and others pulling their hair. I thought that those were ways of relieving pain and tried to do the same, only to realize that the more energy I spent, the more pain I felt. I stood up and tried moving with the drip on my hand. I tried to do what I saw others doing but I could not because of the pain. I had been instructed to sleep on the side and not on the back. Sleeping on the back slows the progress of labor.
After a while, the nurse returned and examined me again. This time I was ready to deliver; the baby was crowning. I was rushed to the delivery room. I started pushing, but I was not doing it the right way, which was to push as I was passing stool. I was screaming and shouting thinking that will make the baby come out. While I was pushing I felt a sharp pain around my vagina and the baby was out. She was a big girl. The hospital was busy and the mothers. delivered within minutes of each other. The nurse helped remove the placenta and rushed to deliver another patient.
Early in the morning the next day someone woke me up. ‘Mama utanifuata niende nikushone’ (madam, please follow me, you are going to get stitched). I did not know I needed to be stitched. The tear was rugged and the nurse stitched it without administering any anesthesia. I told her I would rather the wound decomposed than go through that pain. I thought I would never walk again. I was discharged from the hospital the same day and to be honest, walking was a problem. Passing urine and stool were greater problems so I avoided eating altogether. I took only porridge and when it came to passing urine, I would hesitate to go to the toilet until the pressure was extreme, then the urine would come gushing down and leave me in more pain. Sitting in warm salty water was a feat that required a lot of courage. The salty water would make me sweat and I would leave the bathroom in tears. I wish that my husband had been there to see what I was going through. He had decided that I should deliver at our rural area in Bunyore so that my mother-in-law takes good care of me.
After delivery, I guess because of the pain from the episiotomy and all the pain I had undergone during labor I started passing stool and urine on myself; that was a week after being discharged from the hospital.
Is that what we call post-natal depression? I was taken back to my maternal home so that my mother could take care of me and the child. I stayed in that condition for almost a month. My husband wants us to have another child but I’m not ready though my daughter is a big girl now. My friends have tried to convince me that hospitals have changed now and their services are much better but I’m scared of history repeating itself. I hope you understand why I say I will never have another child. I admire other people’s children but I do not want to have another one. My husband has suggested that next time I get pregnant I should opt for a Caesarean section, but that I guess is a decision I will make when I get there. I respect all women who have given birth whether through a natural delivery or a C-section.
Doctor’s Notes On Sophia’s Labour Pains: By Dr. Weston Khisa
What Sophia experienced was relatively normal labor. If there was any obstruction, it is probably because her contractions were not strong enough to have allowed her to deliver early enough. That. is why when she got to the hospital the sister-in-charge put her on a drip to augment the contractions. When she was augmented the pain got worse. It is true that when you are augmented the contractions are focused and painful. Normal labor pains increase in intensity and frequency as a woman draws nearer to the delivery time. The description she has given is a normal account.
A woman can have tears within the vagina when the baby is coming out. In Sophia’s case, she had an episiotomy, which is a small surgical cut made by a midwife to ease the exit of the baby. These are conditions that make passing urine and stool a problem, as both activities, though normal, suddenly become very painful to perform.
When she felt the urge for bowel movement it was so painful that she did not want to allow it to come out. As a result, she developed urinary and stool retention. When urine is retained it puts a woman at risk of getting urinary tract infections.
If labor was obstructed at some point or other, the bladder expands and gets over-filled with urine and the woman develops over-flow incontinence that occurs after giving birth. A woman can also get urge incontinence of urine and stool, that is, she no longer has the urge to pass urine or stool.
Some of these conditions heal spontaneously, so you might not have to go to the hospital for treatment except when there has been damage to the bladder or rectum. In this case, the woman must get assistance from the hospital. This has nothing to do with what Sophia refers to as postpartum depression.
Postpartum depression, also called postpartum blues, has a different mechanism altogether. The stress that comes with looking after a newborn baby has a tendency to push women into depression. Most women have postpartum blues but they do not know it. This is because it is silent and passes with time, majority of these women improve without much assistance but a few of them require medical treatment.
Immediately after women deliver they should try to pass urine as often as possible, that way the risk of getting the pain that forces them to retain urine is reduced. If a woman gets stress incontinence that is severe enough to affect her normal life, then she needs to be catheterized (removal of fluid from the bladder) to allow the inflammatory changes to settle. If she is catheterized she generally improves spontaneously and may not need treatment. At the same time, she should drink plenty of fluids to avoid getting urinary tract infections.
After an episiotomy, a woman should sit in warm salty water. Once healed she should start exercising the muscles of the pelvic floor. She should be taught how to identify the muscles of the pelvic floor. If you ever have the urge to pass urine or stool and you are in a public place, the muscles of the pelvic floor are the ones that you use to hold back the urine. Another way is to learn how to insert a clean finger inside the vagina and try to hold it with the muscles. Those are the muscles of the pelvic floor that create stool and urine continence.
The pelvic muscles help keep the organs of the pelvis in position and prevent them from prolapsing in the vagina later on in life. If they get weak, the woman will have problems in the future. Her bladder and rectum may sag inside the vagina because the support was damaged during delivery. In extreme cases the uterus can also come down or come out completely – a condition called prolapse. Women should not lift heavy items before they are completely healed;’ complete healing takes up to six months after delivery. After- six months they can carry water on their
head or do any other work.
The hormones produced during labor also predispose the woman to have urge impotence. Sometimes if a woman pushes too hard, she can push the rectum out. That is why doctors advise one not to push until the cervix has fully dilated. If you push you might damage your cervix and other organs; you can also bleed to death because of postpartum hemorrhage.
END:PG 07 /42-43