This is my birth story.

On the 29th of January I was 42weeks and the doctors decided to induce my labour at 05:00 in the morning. For two days i only had small contractions and not much progress. I was stuck at 1cm all the way and felt so discouraged. At 01:00 on the 31st they checked me again and I was at 3cm dilated, from here onwards it happened very fast. The contractions came every 2-3 min and lasted at least 50-60seconds. I was all by myself as in South Africa you are only allowed to call your birth partner when you are 4cm dilated. I was in so much pain but went to take a hit shower for Almost 2hours. The hot water made such a difference and I didn’t want to get out but could feel that my legs wasn’t going to stand this much longer.

I went to go sit in a chair and concentrated on each contraction and as soon as it was over I would pass out.

At 05:30 the nurses came to check me and I was 6cm and my water broke. I walked back to my bed to call my mom when she walked in. She asked me how far my contractions were and I said about 30seconds. She went to go fetch the nurses and they said we must just relax cause he won’t be here or nearly ready to come till 10:00 but I could feel that that was not the case.

I sat and bounced on the ball for about 30min and felt like I had to push.

I was fully dilated at 07:45 and started to push but I could not do it so the doc came in after 40min to use the vacuum to get in out. They could not fit it on his head so they had to cut me but at the same time I tore. He was born at 08:45 weighing 3,86kg and 55cm long.

They took the placenta out and was trying to stitch me up (without anything to ease the pain) when they realized that I haven’t stopped bleeding. I had a 6cm long tear on the inside that they could not get to but they were trying.

This hurt 4times more than the birth and every contraction itself. After trying for over an hour and me crying in pain they put me to sleep. I woke up 4hours later with my legs still in the stirrups and still bleeding waiting for the Operation room to open so I can get stitched up. At this stage I have only held my baby for about 15min before they took him away.

I went in to Theatre and got 15stitches on the inside and 8outside.

It was a horrible experience but I could not be more lucky with the support I am getting from my amazing husband as well as my mom. I lost a lot of blood and I’m still very pale and sore but my boy is happy and healthy and my life is complete with him here now.

This picture was taken while they were still busy trying to locate the bleeding.