It was a Monday, April
27th to be exact. I was in my last trimester of pregnancy, huge and swollen
from head to toe. I had completed a full day of work only to come home to my
one and a half year old and husband and work my second full time job as mommy
and wife. I was tired, but determined to keep pushing because we had a few
things that we needed for the house. As I walked from aisle to aisle in Target,
I knew that something was not right, I looked at my husband and said, “we need
to go to the hospital.. NOW!” My water was breaking with every step. We left
the cart where we were in line and scrammed to the car in a panic. Just as we
reached our car, there was a gush, my water had completely broken. Thankfully,
we had planned for this delivery of my son our bags were packed and we had
arrangements with a family member made for my daughter.
We dropped my daughter off on the way to the hospital, contractions getting stronger and stronger by every twist and turn. Within a few minutes of reaching the hospital, the ER nurse was giving my husband his operation room attire and contacting my OB/GYN to inform her that I was in labor. Within thirty minutes of arriving to the hospital, I was completely prepped and in the operating room. I had been given a good dose of some sort of medicine that numbed me from my neck down. I was staring up at my husband, dosing off on and off for what seemed liked forever (but in reality 1-2 minutes at a time) asking him each time I awoke what was going on. In no time, my son had been delivered by c-section. I heard him cry out just before he was rushed out of the operating room to be cleaned up. My son had been delivered three minutes after midnight, weighing 8lbs 3oz at 2 weeks early.
Just as soon as my son was cleaned up he was brought to my room. It was then that I was able to truly hold him for the first time and even immediately begin to breastfeed him. I have always read about the importance of skin to skin contact with mother and newborn and the fact that it promotes a lasting, positive bond and relationship between mom and baby and knew I would want that experience with my own children.
We dropped my daughter off on the way to the hospital, contractions getting stronger and stronger by every twist and turn. Within a few minutes of reaching the hospital, the ER nurse was giving my husband his operation room attire and contacting my OB/GYN to inform her that I was in labor. Within thirty minutes of arriving to the hospital, I was completely prepped and in the operating room. I had been given a good dose of some sort of medicine that numbed me from my neck down. I was staring up at my husband, dosing off on and off for what seemed liked forever (but in reality 1-2 minutes at a time) asking him each time I awoke what was going on. In no time, my son had been delivered by c-section. I heard him cry out just before he was rushed out of the operating room to be cleaned up. My son had been delivered three minutes after midnight, weighing 8lbs 3oz at 2 weeks early.
Just as soon as my son was cleaned up he was brought to my room. It was then that I was able to truly hold him for the first time and even immediately begin to breastfeed him. I have always read about the importance of skin to skin contact with mother and newborn and the fact that it promotes a lasting, positive bond and relationship between mom and baby and knew I would want that experience with my own children.
In Africa, one in 22
women dies in pregnancy or childbirth. In the UK, it is just one in 8,000.
African women are likely to die from conditions such as high blood pressure,
breech births and hemorrhaging because they lack access to good quality health
care or a trained midwife. Only 37% of births in the least developed countries
are attended by a skilled health worker. (Giving Birth, 2012)
References:
Giving
birth - the most dangerous thing an African woman can do? (2012, March 9).
Retrieved November 1, 2015, from
http://www.theguardian.com/journalismcompetition/giving-birth-the-most-dangerous-thing-an-african-woman-can-do
