My Journey To Motherhood

I am 36, mother of two 1 boy (6 y.o) and 1 girl (2 y.o), both delivered by Cesarean Section. When I first come to know that I was carrying my first baby my husband and I looked for an obgyne who will monitor my pregnancy. I have monthly or every other month check-ups.  When asked by my doctor how i want my child to be delivered we answered by normal delivery and so we worked on that until the day I felt it was time to deliver.

It was a Friday night, I was still studying in the law school then my husband picked me up and we headed to a nearby grocery store to buy items to sell in our little store that we were running then. Before heading to our home we dropped by at my brothers' house because i feel the need to pee and i can't wait until we get home. When I went to the comfort room i discovered that i was already discharging blood but i couldn't feel any contractions yet.  Earlier that day  it was my 37th week, I had a check-up with my obgyne and she asked me if I was already feeling some pains or if i had blood discharge and I told her there was none yet, so far. She advised that if ever I would feel pains or blood discharge comes we must call her and go to the Hospital immediately as I might deliver anytime that week. I never expected that my baby's response would be that quick. I was a little nervous when I told my husband that I already have blood discharge and together we told my brother that I might be giving birth anytime we also called my doctor who advised us to proceed to the hospital right away. My brother drove my husband to our house to get the things me and our baby will need. When they came back we heeded to the hospital. At the hospital I was asked if I already feel contractions but during that time i don't feel anything painful yet. The nurse who attended conducted IE to me and found that the baby was at 2 cm we were told that since there was no pain yet we can still go home but it was already scared that labor pains would come in the middle of the night so we stayed at the hospital's waiting area. I started to feel labor pains early in the morning the following day started with sharp little pain in my abdomen it occurs by interval as the day progresses the pains occurs longer and interval becomes shorter at 6 cm around 2pm that Saturday I was brought to delivery room I was made I sat at the delivery chair at 8 cm my bag of water have not bursted yet my doctor started to worry as my baby have already eaten some of his poop inside my tummy, he had to be delivered immediately or he will be poisoned and so my bag of water was popped to burst. I was instructed to push as hard as I could which I did but on my third push my obygne got startled as the heart rate of my baby was dropping each time I push and it reached the lowest rate on my third push. She asked me not to push because my baby was chord coiled every time I push him down he gets strangled by his chord. My obygne announced that my baby had to be delivered by Emergency Cesarean Section she told me the situation at the moment and my husband and me had to decide right away. I said immediately as I just want all the pains to be over and I want to make sure that my baby would live. I was transferred immediately to the emergency room my doctor kept on reminding me never to push or else I might lose my baby it was so hard because each time there is contractions the instant reaction of my body was to push but I have to stop pushing to make sure that my baby will be ok. At the emergency room all my vital signs were checked, the anesthesiologist was already home, her house was two blocks away from the hospital and so we waited for another 15 minutes as she was called back to the hospital the short fifteen minutes felt like forever while waiting I was curled-up at the delivery table to prevent me from pushing when contractions occur. When the anesthesia take its effects on me they started to slice me up I can feel the movements in my abdomen but I can’t feel any pain, I can hear what the nurses were talking while trying to deliver my baby, I was shivering with cold and I blabbering in the operating bed I was telling the doctor that it was so cold and they would just tell me to hold on. The doctors were having a hard time in taking out my baby as they found that he has 3 times chord coiled all on his neck which makes delivering him in the normally process to risky. When doctor get held of my child I overheard her say “so you are the baby” the doctor told me that my baby was big aside from being chord coiled. I didn’t saw my baby, I just heard him cry. Then, they started again to stich me up. Based on my baby’ birth certificate he was delivered at 5 :10 pm March 2, 2013 at 37 weeks. After my cesarean procedure I was brought to the recovery room about 8pm and to the Pedia ward around 2 am. Undergone cesarean procedure makes baby caring difficult, first you can’t eat even if your very hungry because you just had a major operation, second you worry about your stich and the pain it give you, third you can’t get hold of your baby unless you are able to manage yourself even if your wounds is just few days old, On my part it became more difficult because 2 days after the procedure some bad air made its way to my stomach the pain was so unbearable it was even painful that the labor pains. I felt better when the bad air was released not just because the pain started to go away but also because I can start to eat and gain back my strength for me to nurse my baby.

I first meet my baby Monday afternoon or two days after I delivered him we named him Daniel Marcus Miguel “Miggy”. I was nervous and scared because I don’t know how to do things for the first time but in I manage with the assistance of my husband and family. Wednesday we were supposed to be discharge when the pediatrician found that my child’s albumin in his blood is high which make him susceptible to jundis. Jundis is a condition that affects the baby’s brain if not prevented and so we were prevented from going home to add with the fact that he needs antibiotics for the poop he has eaten. We were finally discharge Friday or 1 week after I was admitted and on started my journey with my baby.

Two years and seven months later, I was pregnant again for my second baby. This is already almost 2 years after Yolanda we were in Masbate Philippines because my husband was assigned there as Wash Engineer by ACF International. We went back to Leyte December of 2015, when we get back to Leyte I immediately looked for a doctor who will monitor my pregnancy. I intend to have a normal delivery if possible since I will be delivering my baby 3 years already after I had my first cesarean procedure. Fortunately I found the obygyne who helped my mother-in-law delivered her youngest child who by then was already a college student. During my pregnancy I always meet the doctor according to schedule I also impliedly told him that if possible I want a normal delivery and he said we will see about that. For my last check-up the doctor set it on June 10, 2016 it was then we would decide if I will undergo cesarean or normal delivery. However, on June 7th, 2016 early in the morning I fell that my abdomen was not in its normal routine my baby ( I dont know yet my baby’s gender as my obygyne told me not to get an ultrasound just to know my baby’s gender because it is not accurate) was a little more aggressive on that day making so much movements, my baby was restless inside. At about midday I can already feel some pains my baby was just 38 weeks then, I told my mother in-law about the pains and that I might give birth that day she said to just keep on monitoring when blood comes we have to go to the hospital, that day my trip to the comfort room became often I knew I might be giving birth and at  about 2pm the most awaited blood came I was already having spots and little pains started for each movement inside my tummy. At 4pm we headed to the biggest public hospital in Eastern Visayas where my obygyne was working. When we arrived at the hospital I meet my obygyne at the labor room she asked me what I was doing there since I have a scheduled check-up with him on the 10th of that month, I told him I might be giving birth as I already have blood spots and some pains but he said that it isn’t possible yet but told the resident doctor to get me on the list for the cesarean procedure. I was told that since it was like labor season because many pregnant women were either giving birth or waiting to give birth at the labor room. I was lined-up to have my operation at dawn of the following day. I was advised to stay at the labor room, the pains was getting more painful by each minute, at about 7pm a resident obygyne made an IE procedure on me I was at 5cm and was advised to just wait, my pains was becoming unbearable after that IE procedure. Instead of my original schedule I was scheduled to follow the one who was undergoing cesarean at that moment. It was about 8pm when they put on a stretcher outside the operating room, I was already shouting to the nurses and doctors to please let me deliver as the pain was already too unbearable for me and it feels like my baby was already determined to go out then my bag of water bursted I got all soaked but the operation ahead wasn’t over yet and I have to hold-on. By the time I felt like I was going to give birth on my own I was rolled to the operating room. Operating procedures and vital signs monitoring were done before the operation started. And once again my cesarean operation after my labor pains was done. It was like I had undergone another round of emergency cesarean. This time I delivered a bouncing baby girl who was as big as her brother at birth. Today my eldest just turned 6 years old and my youngest is turning 3 years old by June. I am hoping that I am not pregnant yet as I feel I am just starting to get my rest from baby caring but I am already two weeks delayed. If indeed I am pregnant I believe he/she is God’s gift for us because we haven’t planned for him/her to come we tried our best not to have a baby yet but if this is God’s will. Then I say “thy will be done.”