Here is my birth story. Apologies that its quite long and also filled with TMI but I thought I'd just share how different things are here!
The basics: I woke up at 1am on the 26th with contractions at the bottom of my bump. At 1:30 they were making me pretty uncomfortable so I got up and walked around a bit. At some point I started timing and they were fairly regular so at 4am I woke my dh and at 4:30am I woke my mom. She felt a contraction and said they were real. We started preparing everything for the hospital and I continued bouncing and walking. My contractions were about 5 minutes apart and lasting 40-45 seconds. 6:30am I had a nice bath and tea and toast. By now I was feeling a bit tired so I rested on the couch - bad move. Everything seemed to slow down. Despite the fact it was snowing, my dh and I went for a walk in the hope things would pick up. I had another bath and got the contractions going again but still the same as before. We decided to head to the hospital because my mom said at the rate I was going I was going to be exhausted if we didn't get things moving faster. And this is where things went down hill!
A colleague called the hospital to tell them the foreigners were on their way. Now we were under the impression we'd go to the private room and I'd labour there and get checked every so often and when it came closer to the time I'd be taken to the delivery ward. But when we arrived I was taken away. My translator wasn't there so I didn't know what was going on. I assumed I was going to get checked and then taken back to my mom and dh. I wasn't - I was taken straight to delivery! They changed me and checked me - in the most violent manner I might add. I actually thought I was being raped. I was only 2cm. Then I was informed that my husband and mother wouldn't be allowed to come to me and that I would be alone. I completely freaked - I was in no way prepared for that. I couldn't stop crying and panicking. Eventually my translator arrived and because she has a good relationship with the hospital (a key thing in China!) she was able to get them to agree that my mom could come to me. I calmed down slightly but of course all I wanted was my husband. My contractions were getting pretty painful by now but I could still handle them. At some point I was allowed to go and spend some time with my husband - something they had a lot of trouble getting their head around. They just didn't get why I would want to see him. They then wanted to put a drip in so I had to say good-bye to him (not knowing it would 14 hours before I got to see him again). At 1pm they put a drip in and raped, sorry checked, me again and I was 3cm. I then had to go for a scan and ecg. I also discovered at this point that they offered no pain relief, AT ALL, for a natural birth. Between 1pm and 7pm I was checked 3 more times. The first time I was 4cm then 3-4cm and the third time I was back at 3cm. I was in a lot of pain and I said to my mom I didn't see the point of all the pain if it wasn't doing anything. We made the decision that a c-section was best. I had been in labour for 19 hours by this time and I was so tired. The doctor wasn't too keen on the op and tried everything to convince me otherwise. I was in so much pain I didn't want to hear it - I just wanted pain relief. I'm not sure how it came about but they broke my waters and said they were organising the c-section. When they came to take me to theatre the doctor asked if she could at least check me one more time. I had got to 6cm - in about an hour and a half. My mom then hesitated about the op and tried to convince me otherwise. I kept shouting 'cut' but because the doctors could see my mom was in two minds they kept asking me again and again. Somehow I ended up agreeing to keep going. Then they wanted to give me pitocin because I was slowing down again. I refused because I was so scared of how much more painful it was going to get. They kept telling me yes it would be more pain but it would be faster. Eventually my mom convinced me to agree. My mom was absolutely amazing. She coached me through every contraction and supported me through everything.
I would like to add that by this point I had already watched three other women give birth to their babies and there were three more in the room with me. Nothing private about this! And I have to say that Chinese women are AMAZING at pushing. If any of them pushed for half an hour it was a lot.
About an hour after the pitocin I was at 9cm. I was having a lot of trouble with my contractions because I really needed a poo! So every time I had one I tried to push it out but obviously I wasn't ready to push the baby out so it just caused me a lot of pain! I somehow missed going from 9cm to 10cm because the next thing I knew they were putting stirrup like things up for my legs to push. I eventually looked at my mom and said am I really pushing the baby out now or do they want me to poo?! I had been in labour for just over 22 hours when I was ready to push. I was completely exhausted and not quite with it. One of the doctors actually went out and bought me read bull and hershey's kisses. And the proceeded to feed these to me throughout my pushing. (Three red bulls and chocolate!!).
After about half an hour of pushing I noticed them getting some things ready and suddenly I was shouting 'I don't want an episiotomy'. Again my mom tried to convince me but I insisted I'd rather tear because everything I'd read said it was better. They agreed to wait. I pushed for another hour but I just couldn't get the head out. I was too tired. They told me if I had the episiotomy I would get the head out so again I shouted 'cut'. (I'm known as the girl who shouted cut!) About two pushes later, and a doctor pressing on my stomach, her head came out. And her body quickly followed.
My mom immediately phoned my husband so I could tell him our daughter had just been born. When my mom told me it was a girl I was so excited. I was happy with either but I know my husband was really wanted a girl. I could hear the tears in his voice when I told him.
Now I had to get the placenta out. A doctor began really pushing on my stomach and it was incredibly painful. But nothing was happening. Eventually the doctor reached inside of me to try and dislodge it and all I wanted to do was kick her in the face. She couldnt do it so called the head doctor to come back and she had a go. I eventually managed to push it out myself as I thought I still wanted to clear my bowels. I was sure that during delivery they had pushed my poo back inside of me because thats what it felt like. I discovered later that in fact all that had happened was I had given myself a very bad case of piles with all the straining to push! The doctor then began to stitch me up. But the anesthetic given for the episiotomy didnt cover all the area that needed to be stitched, so some of my stitches were done with me being able to feel everything.
Amber was taken away almost immediately. Thank goodness the pediatrician had told me earlier in the day that this would happen. I was very sad not to have been able to at least hold her but at least my mom got some photos .
Very long, but that is a glimpse into having a baby in China.
