The Birth of Miss K

I welcomed Likamva ‘ Miss K’  Umi Boxoza into the world on the 18th Apri of 2010 at 2:45pm ever since then my heart has been walking outside my body.

No matter how many books and videos you watch NOTHING can prepare you for meeting your child for the first time

 I had a lazy day Saturday afternoon, 17th April 2010, watching TV and eating I had given up trying to convince baby to come so I had kind of conditioned myself to accept that I will be induced as she was showing no signs of coming! I had no Brixton Hicks, no pains, no show NOTHING…Just a very active baby! The only difference I felt was that I had a lot of energy and couldn’t fall asleep. < I was a week over due>

I eventually fell asleep at about 1am Sunday 18th April and at about 5am woke up to go to the loo, when I got back into bed I just felt this warm liquid go down my legs and I thought I had lost control of my bladder or maybe I didn’t empty it out properly. I got up and put the lights on and this liquid just kept coming out, but still it hadn’t clicked in my mind that my waters had broken. I think after about 2 minutes I realized what was going on and shouted for my mom to come see what was going on and she told me to go take a bath and put a sanitary towel on we going to the hospital. Took my bath and we left for the hospital. I still had no pain, no contractions nothing!

We got to the hospital at about 7 am and the nurse asked to see the color of my water and she just looked at me and said ”this does not look good at all we prepping you up for a C Section the cord is around baby’s neck”. At this point I was beyond hysterical as I thought my baby was dying. She called my doctor while I changed into a gown and put on a monitor. My baby’s heart was beating so fast the nurse went and called my doc again and told him to hurry as the baby was in distress!!! I went and took a bath while I waited to calm myself down as I was in tears and very scared. The day shift nurses came in and were told about my condition and then my doctor finally arrived at about 08:30 he did and internal I was only 2 cm dilated and no contractions, no pain. My baby’s heart had calmed down and doctor asked the nurse to give me drugs to make my contractions come and to increase it every 30 minutes and to keep an eye on the baby. The doctor told me we could try for natural birth but if the baby’s heart rate goes up again I will go for a C section.

At about 9am the drugs were put in my IV and the nurse told me if they get bad and I want an epidural I must tell her so that she can monitor the baby also. The pains started at about 10am and they just kept getting worse but baby was still ok and the doctor and nurses were happy! I was in pain but relieved baby was doing ok. At 11am I told my mother to tell the nurse to call the doctor I couldn’t take the pains anymore and I was still only 3 cm therefore I was not progressing, the nurse asked if I want an epidural as it could help me progress and I said I wanted Pethidine instead as I was scared of the needle in my back…Silly I know She gave me Pethidine and it worked almost immediately. It didn’t really take the pains away but made me sleepy and feeling very high.

 I fell asleep and woke up at about 14:30 and told my mom (my birth partner) I needed to go to the toilet (did not get an enema)she called the nurse and she did an internal and I was 9 cm dilated. I walked to the delivery room she quickly prepped me up and put my legs on stirrups and my doctor came in said he could see the baby’s head. The Pethidine had weared off and was in pain again but all I wanted to do was push, the nurse told me to push and I took one big push and baby’s head was out and then another push and the body was out.

I was waiting to hear a cry/scream and the cry was just not coming. It felt like hours and I had started to cry uncontrollably. The nurse continued to suction baby and gave her oxygen as she was blue and not breathing. The doctor after being called by the nurse several times went over to check what was going on and then suddenly we heard a cry. My baby was alive, my baby was alive

Her initial Apgar score was 6\10 then 9\10. My princess was born 18 April 2010 at 14:45 and weighed 2.87KG, her length was 49cm and her head circumference was 38cm.

After she was wiped ‘clean’ the nurse handed her to me and we bonded and I was now crying tears of joy.

<I spoke to the nurse after I had bathed and she told me it may have felt like a long time where she wasn’t breathing but it was less than 5 minutes. Journey to meeting her was bumpy but so worth it>