“I wondered why they screamed in movies, it’s not that painful”: Nathalie tells us about her birth

• Age at delivery : 32 years old

• Child expected on the date : October 14, 2017

• The baby arrived on date : October 20, 2017

• Time of arrival at the hospital : 9:00 on October 19th

• Delivery time : 9:34 on October 20th

• Baby’s height and weight at birth : 3.8kg – 52cm

My husband and I were thrilled when we found out we were going to be parents. He was a child wanted by both.

From a medical point of view, my pregnancy went without any problems, it was a pregnancy that could be defined as “perfect”. But personally, I found this time long, heavy, binding, not fun at all.

from childbirth, I feared pain most of allWe hear so much about it! I had also established a simple delivery plan: giving birth in hospital WITH an epidural and, if possible, without an episiotomy.

An induced labor and a long wait

The birth was late! The child being calmly installed without intending to move, the doctors decided on October 14 to wait a maximum of 5 more days, and then to snap me if still nothing. I remember walking 20km, carrying water, eating spicy to get it out, but nothing… Still without contractions, on the morning of the 19th, we left quietly for the hospital. I arrived at 9, got into the delivery room at 11 where they put me I don’t know what to pull the trigger. Then began a very long wait…

The midwife told my husband: It will take a long time, you can go to work eh, not much will happen by tonight”. So he left and I spent the day doing crossword puzzles, scrolling through WhatsApp, Facebook… In short, getting a little bored saying to myself: “I don’t know why they scream in movies, it’s not that painful, but what the fuck are we assholes”. After applying the product on me to prime, I didn’t feel any different the whole day. My husband returned around 6pm. On the phone he told me: “Don’t give birth without meiiiiiiiii!!!! » And I answered him: “Don’t worry, nothing is happening, you have time!” »

Around 7:00 pm I started having very slight pains, so the doctor immediately gave me an epidural to be safe. We waited, I was starving but couldn’t eat. We dozed off but the midwives came every half hour to check. I remember hearing “always at 7, ma’am” and tell me “ohlala but it will take much longer ???? »

Read also: “When they grabbed my baby with pliers, I had the impression of being torn apart”: Ambre tells her story I leave

Then it all comes together

At about 5 in the morning I was awakened by severe pain, I realized that it was there, it was starting. At 6 I went to 8, at 7 I was at 9… At 8, the pain was unbearable, I felt like I was being torn apart.

I called the midwives, who confirmed that the epidural was starting to wear off. So they called the anesthesiologist who gave me a dose and they told me “It will go into effect in 15 minutes” and I respond in a slightly aggressive but pain-twisted way ” 15 minutes ?? but you know what I endure there??? ». In fact, after a minute I was completely drunk and I burst into uncontrollable laughter. I remember my husband was a little surprised to see me laughing stupidly and tried a joke “You gave him something good, can I have some too?” » but the anesthetist didn’t find it funny, while I was crying with laughter…

Then I had a fever, I was shaking and my teeth were chattering, I was cold and then it’s all a bit confusing, I went from a silly giggle to the feet on the spreaders. I was told to push 3 times and that was it. I was a little excited, my memories are confused, I saw my husband with the nursery nurse who gave first aid, while the midwife continued with me: placenta (I remember she told me “oh say it, this placenta is huge” and I think “uh… ok… what do I do with this information…?” »). She stitched me up, they put the baby in and gave us a few minutes, then came back and took us to our room.

A good start to three

I didn’t expect the 2^And cool epidural kiss effect, I don’t know what’s inside but crushing is hard!! But having lived a quarter of an hour where it didn’t work, the pain is such that if I had to do it again, I would still do the epidural without hesitation!

When our baby arrived, we weren’t moved right awaywe were a bit lost and concentrated to find out if she was fine, if everything was normal, if I was fine too, and what we should do now.. The midwife answered us a “Go up to your room and enjoy your life”.

The hours that followed went very well, there were the first skin to skin between father and child, then in the afternoon my parents came, everyone was moved and my husband went to get me some sushi! The first night, we sat down and realized what had just happened.

“If I could have gone back to work after 2 weeks, I would have”

The following days, however, were much more difficult. I had a sharp drop in hormones on the second day, I wandered with the baby in the corridors crying not knowing what to do. A midwife came to pick it up and told me “Go get some sleep, I’ll take care of it”.

Then, I remember wondering when the mother could have recovered from such an important physical effort as childbirth without having downtime, since you go from 9 months with a baby in her womb to 24 hours without sleep in the mother’s delivery room every day and night… No downtime. .. It took me a long time to simply recover from the accumulated physical fatigue.

Coming home was fine the first three days as we were both with the baby. When on the fourth day my husband had to go back to work and I found myself alone. Then began a long period of solitude that I would never experience again for the world. Furthermore, our son is an only child and will remain so. The distribution of tasks happened naturally but not necessarily to my advantage: since he worked all day, I took care of the house…

I did it severe depression for 3 months. My husband was starting a new job, so he was away from 8am to 8pm, and I was alone with the baby all day, in a small apartment, with no close relatives… It was winter, so every outing was a move. Then I was closed in the heat but I was bored to death. If I could have gone back to work after 2 weeks, I would have.

In my opinion, if the paternity leave had been longer and I had been accompanied by my dad during the first two months, it would have been very different and we could have considered having another child. But as things stand now, it’s out of the question to relive it.