How Difficult Is Delivery Nowadays?

Many have said that delivery is one of the most painful experiences that they've ever gone through in their entire life. All you mothers-to-be especially would be terrified of the thought of having to push a 3kg baby through their cervix.

Not too long ago, I was one of you. My baby is now 7 weeks old - a beautiful bundle of joy.

I must admit, I was terrified - absolutely terrified of the delivery process. The thought of needles being injected into my spine during the epidureal process was scary enough - not to mention the episotomy (cutting of the you-know-what), and the waves of labor pains.

So, I'm sharing with you my experience to encourage you - to say that actually, it's not as hard as it seems really.

I was admitted at 10 in the morning. The doctor started inducing labor with some drugs that they mixed into the drip. Yes, ouch, the insertion of the drip was painful - especially since I'm sooo adverse to needle pricks :C At 2pm, the waves of labor pain started. It was initially quite tormenting! But within 45 minutes, the anaesthetist had arrived, and in the next 20 minutes or so, the pain in my abdomen, although initially unbearable, had subsided to a dull ache. Also, I couldnt feel anything below my knees. In fact, my thighs were pretty numb too! They had to increase the epidureal dose to a higher amount - my doc was really nice. I hear that some gynaes don't actually allow a full dose of epidureal for fear of the mother not being able to feel her muscles, and hence not being able to push effectively. Well, let me tell you that in my case, at about 6pm, the nurses/midwives came into the labor ward and asked me to start pushing - and amazingly, although I was on full epidureal, I could suddenly feel my legs and was able to push so well that my baby boy was delivered within 35 minutes!

All in all, with the help of the epidureal, a TV screen to keep me distracted from the pain, a really understanding husband there by my side throughout the entire process, and great hospital staff who obviously knew what they were doing, I'd say that my fears were unwarranted. It was a little painful in the beginning...but at the end of the day, very manageable!

And oh yes, I almost forgot - I didn't even feel the episiotomy! :P

So all you mothers-to-be, take heart. It's not as bad as your mind tells you. Don't be afraid. And if you have any questions, please add a comment to this article with your question. I'd be more than happy to help!