Story of a first childbirth

Throughout my pregnancy, I was calm in preparation for the birth. No worse Zen for a girl who is a bit hypochondriac around the edges.

The comments, each more encouraging than the last, came from all sides:

Seriously, I was thinking... We'll see when the time comes. Why get upset? I tell you, I wasn't the worst Zen.

And then, routine doctor appointments came one after the other, week after week. No job. Not dilated. The baby's head is down, but not flat.

Yes… This child is likely to spend his primary school in my stomach and let’s face it, I couldn’t bear living like a beached whale on the couch any longer. The stress slowly began to set in.

And that's when the doctor told me: "We should plan an induction!".

Wait, a what? Induce labor? I had heard all kinds of stories. Long labor, more painful contractions, already they are not known to be pleasant. What if there was a risk for the baby? What if it was really really painful… The hypochondriac took over.

I quickly started looking at dear Dr. Google, much to the despair of my boyfriend. I collected all kinds of stories and tried to anticipate how my delivery would go. You know, this annoying habit that many women have of anticipating what will happen when we have NO control over events. Be careful, the word is strong: no control. Did it do anything? Not too much.

Mom, I have a scoop. Each pregnancy is different, each birth is unique. We can try to understand, read about the subject, prepare and ask questions, but there is no point in anticipating and creating scenarios (especially the most catastrophic ones). Easy to say, but not so easy to do, I know. Stay positive, everything will be fine.

Several methods exist and doctors will adapt these according to the progress of the work. You have to trust. In my case, I was induced with a small gel near the cervix to start labor, at 9am in the morning. A few minutes later, I already had a few contractions, very tolerable, so tolerable that my boyfriend and I considered going to eat a pizza before returning to the hospital for the next follow-up. But um no, we brought it home instead.

We returned to the hospital late in the afternoon for follow-up. I was induced with a new gel. There, things got tough. The contractions really started every 5 to 7 minutes. I was sent home, much to my despair.

A walk, a hot bath, a few words from Church and a friend who didn't really know what to do to help me, we returned to the hospital around 10 p.m., 13 hours after the first induction. An epidural (I couldn't have done without it) and two hours of pushing later, I finally gave birth the next day, at 9:16 in the morning, after 24 hours of labor. A little boy, all pink.

So yes. I had a long, painful labor. But you know what, each body would have experienced this situation differently. Other women can experience induction in a completely different way and give birth in just a few hours.

The key word is to trust. Would I experience induced labor again for another pregnancy? Absolutely. The treasure at the very end is priceless.

Keep in mind that each contraction, each push brings you closer to the greatest gift that life can give you.