Childbirth with an assistant. Personal experience

Childbirth with an assistant. Personal experience.

Katerina talks about her first birth.

It was during childbirth preparation courses that I learned how important a special psychological attitude is for childbirth, how physiologically justified it is to allow a woman in labor to move during labor as she wants and take positions that are comfortable for her.

Before, water calmed and relaxed me, and when I found out that painful contractions are easier to endure in water, I firmly decided that at least the first period - the period of dilatation of the cervix - would be spent at home. Naturally, I would not have decided to stay at home for a long time alone. For peace of mind and in case an unexpected situation arises, I chose a birth assistant. That is, I agreed with an assistant midwife (this is like a doula in the States) from the center that she would come to me as soon as labor began.

As soon as Sveta arrived, my assistant, the turmoil and excitement in the house immediately gave way to peace and quiet joy. The first thing the assistant did when she came in was to congratulate us on the start of difficult work and the imminent arrival of the baby!

True, I had called Sveta many times before and even asked Sveta to come immediately a couple of times, believing that labor had already begun. But Sveta found out in a simple way that nothing had actually begun.

Then the midwife listened to my baby’s heart and examined me - dilatation was already there, but still insignificant. Together with Sveta, we once again checked whether everything was collected for the maternity hospital, drank tea, and watched TV. It’s amazing how easily and naturally this woman fit into the overall picture of childbirth.

I sat on a chair, resting my hands on its back (this position helps to dilate the cervix), and the assistant told me something funny from practice. Quite a lot of time flew by unnoticed.

The opening was slow. The contractions were short, painless and the interval between them was quite large. We did an enema, because it is considered a natural stimulant, and at the same time we shaved our pubis - anyway, these procedures cannot be avoided in the maternity hospital. And literally half an hour later the whole picture changed: I started having regular and already quite noticeable contractions. Svetlana massaged my back, we breathed in a special way.

During the courses, we worked quite well on different types of breathing during childbirth, but in practice it turned out that panting breathing was more suitable for me. At the peak of the contraction, I inhale through my nose with a loud sniffle, and exhale through my mouth, while making a “he-he-he” sound.

Soon it became difficult to relax and I began to ask to go to the bath. After some time, I was already lying in the water and, not feeling my body, was blissful. And time passed, and with it the dilation of the cervix, my baby moved towards the exit, and I became more and more joyful, because soon, very soon, we will meet. But the sensations also became stronger, the intensity of the contractions increased, the intervals shortened, and at some point I even got scared... But Sveta is a professional, and most importantly, she knew me well enough, so she quickly found the right words, easily calmed me down and how - in a special way instilled complete confidence that everything would be fine.

To relieve the pain, we have already used all the means - massage, tried various poses, aromatherapy and breathing, breathing, breathing: Svetlana breathed with me (frequent shallow breathing), helped me not to lose my pace.

The midwife, having assessed my condition, the baby’s well-being and the pace of my labor, as well as the presence of minor traffic jams, made the decision - it was time to leave. We arrived at the maternity hospital almost fully dilated. While the midwife was filling out the standard admission forms, the doctor had already examined me. From that moment on, I hardly remember the exact sequence of all actions.

But I couldn’t help but feel safe and calm because my assistant was nearby. The strength of the contractions was maximum; it seemed that the contraction consisted entirely of pushing. I started to feel stressed. I wanted to scream. But Svetlana was always with me