BABY NUMBER 2 PREGNANCY AND BIRTH CHRONICLES

Discovering I was pregnant again in August 2015 was my biggest shock of last year. I wasn’t planning to get pregnant yet I wasn’t on any birth control, I didn’t even keep track of my menstrual periods, that made calculating my Expected due date hard work for the doctors. It wasn’t a difficult pregnancy, more of an uncomfortable one. The pregnancy was uneventful: no morning sickness, no cravings, no bleedings, nothing. I went to work normally but I got tired easily. And I gained weight, at the start of my pregnancy, I weighed 87kg and by the time I gave birth March this year, I weighed 104kg.

My pregnancy bump was huge. A lot of people expected twins (laughs in Nigerian Economy). I gave birth to a 2.8kg healthy baby boy.

I broke a major rule of registering for ANC. A pregnant woman should register for ANC in two hospitals (one secondary/tertiary public hospital and one private hospital) to safeguard against health workers strikes. Secondly, may we not see complications during labour, most private hospitals refer to secondary/tertiary public hospitals, so we cover that base too. I registered solely at a tertiary public hospital and when I was 32 weeks pregnant, the hospital staff went on strike. So I had to scramble to register at a private hospital where I eventually delivered my baby.

I was hoping that this new baby’s birth would be a Vaginal birth after caesarean section (VBAC) but the doctor told me expressly that the private hospital didn’t have enough equipment for monitoring VBAC so I will have to have a caesarean. A date was picked and I went in 6:30am, surgery started 9:15am and by past 10, I was out of the theatre with my baby. And thankfully there was no post C.S headache experience like I had in my first baby.

I have just one grouse with C.S. The plaster placed on the incision site. Jesus. The person who places that plaster must be a witch. It is like your back is stapled together with your chest and legs. Movement is so restricted. And everything is painful. The relief I get when that plaster is removed is out of this world.

I spent 4 days at the hospital though. On the last day, a woman was brought in around 3am in the morning. She was in labour. Her baby had been in breech position for a while and she had been told she would have a C.S. Upon examining her, her baby was still in breech position. The surgeon was called. And she was being prepped for C.S. Her mum and mother in law started praying and we joined them in prayers where we were.

HER BABY TURNED. It was a miracle. And she delivered herself. No complications. I was happy for her.

Then I started feeling bad for me. Why was my case different? 2 pregnancies, 2 Caesarean sections? Who did I offend?

Then I snapped out of it.What could have happened to me or the baby if I had complications during labour&there was no surgeon/C.S?

See ehn, God is good. The only thing that matters after delivery is a healthy baby and a healthy mother. Were we healthy? YESSSSS.

If God wants to change baby’s position, He will. If He doesn’t want to, He won’t.

Regardless of the birth method or process, God should just take charge. Caesarean section or vaginal birth, a healthy baby and healthy mother is still the topmost priority.

We were discharged some hours later. And the whole family is fine.