My Personal Birthing Experience

Recalling my son’s birth is one experience I wish I had the power to change, to rewind, delete and restart. My only child, boy 13 years is mentally retarded confirmed by the doctors who have diagnosed him owing to his trauma at birth. We stay in Abu Dhabi, the capital of United Arab Emirates where we have a huge expat community working and living here. So when I chose to have our baby here instead of going to our hometown in India, thinking I could get better and quality medical attention, I thought I was making a wise decision. Only later after the birth of my son did I realize things could have been different and my son would have a normal life had I reconsidered my decision then.

Anyway, to recall my experience, pregnancy as such was uneventful, with no complications, undergoing periodic prenatal checkups and ultra sounds all revealing a healthy pregnancy. The only slight problem that did occur was I developed hypertension in the last few weeks prior to delivery.  However, even that was taken care with immediate medical attention and diet control. I went for my checkup on my due date with no pain or any sign of labor when they noticed that I had slight hypertension so decided to induce me and start the labor so as not to stress the baby. Now, it is from this part that I wish I could alter the course of events. I was admitted on that morning, the 6th January 1999 and given tablets to start the contractions It was only much later around late in the evening that I started to have pain that was beyond my tolerating level. I must confess at this point that my threshold level of pain is too low. So, I called the midwife who was to attend my case and she examined me and decided it was time to take me into the labor room. With the intention to ease my pain and discomfort she decided it would be apt to break the water bag right then and gave me to use the oxygen mask as and when I needed. After consulting my obstetrician she gave me a dose of pethidine a pain killer which not only eased my pain but knocked me off as well. So I was lying there with no consciousness unable to do the job what a woman in labor must do – push. Every now and then I would come and go off my senses. Then without my consent or my husband’s who was with me the whole time in the labor room, my midwife gave me a second dose of pethidine. This time I was really knocked off which only prolonged my labor leaving me in there for 18 hours. Until then my OB did not think it was getting too long and do a c-section to get the baby out and ease both our discomfort (when cesareans are easier on the fetus and quicker for the doctor and the mother, if an intervention like a c-section is needed, then I am of the opinion that the doctors should go ahead and do the surgical procedure instead of waiting for hours for a normal delivery and put both mother and child in distress). At the end of 18 hours however, they started me on drip to increase my contractions and finally my senses were awakened and I felt the need to give that giant push which brought my son into this world with a faint cry. However his Apgar scores were normal then. After removing the cord that was around his neck and cutting it, they took the baby to the corner of the room where there was a washbasin to clean him. While doing so they noticed he was turning blue and immediately paged for the neonatalist on duty to rush to the delivery room. After examining the baby he instructed to get him quickly to the NICU which they did carrying him by hand all the way to the floor above. We are talking of minutes being lost here where even seconds matter (from my understanding damage to the brain occurs if it is deprived of oxygen for more than 7 seconds).  What had happened was he had swallowed the fluid and his lungs being filled with the fluid, could not take in oxygen. He was asphyxiated and inadequate oxygen caused him brain damage. His Apgar scores which was 7 indicating normal at birth dropped down to 5 in 3 minutes indicating he was in critical condition. Resuscitation included bag and mask O₂ and volume expansion.  His clinical features which included abnormal neurological signs such as lethargy, hypotonia, poor suck and Moro reflexes was attributed to either the doses of pethidine that was administered to me or the asphyxia that he suffered which resulted in mild hypoxic –ischaemic encephalopathy (brain injury). The first glimpse that I had of my son was a photograph that they took of him to show me in the NICU a few minutes after they had taken him there. Because I had a suffered heavy loss of blood, I was not allowed to walk or get up from bed until the next day. Though I was discharged after 3 days, I was allowed to stay back for my son who was still in the NICU. He was finally discharged after 9 days. My husband and I along with my parents were excited to bring him home finally after the tough battle that he fought. It is heart breaking to see these tender beings fighting life’s war with pain and struggle just as they enter into this gruesome world. Inspite of being in one of the best maternity hospitals in Abu Dhabi that was under European management, attended by a mid wife trained from UK, a well experienced obstetrician from India and a Neonatalist from South Africa who was the head of the Neonatal medicine, I was not given the timely medical attention. We did several abnormality tests even genetic test which ruled out any chromosomal abnormality. It was the trauma at birth that deprived my son of  a normal life. I still wish I could go back and change the course of events, demand a c-section be done when labor was prolonging and have all the necessary equipments in case of an emergency to attend to the baby. Starting from conception to birth, every stage is critical and any stress or teratogens in any form can affect the child’s development. I wish to see my child be able to talk and converse, read and write and do things like any other child of his age and the religious side of me want to believe that my God in whom I have faith, for whom ‘all things are possible’ will answer my prayer one day.  Despite all his shortcomings and incapability, we are thankful to God for bringing him into our lives, for entrusting us with the responsibility to take care of His treasure

As the old proverb goes “Experience is the best teacher” my experience in childbirth has taught me that this is something that should not be taken lightly. If lack of immediate medical attention at childbirth can affect a child’s development and as a result his life, then personally, I feel that giving birth at home as is the traditional custom is too much of a risk. Any complication can become more serious both for the mother and the baby if either have to wait for emergency medical help. True hospital births risk too much intervention (like I received 2 doses of pethidine) but considering the safety of the mother and child I think it is far safer than home births which risks complications. The home birth rate in the Netherlands is the highest in the developed world thanks to a streamlined transportation and referral system that allows women who plan a home birth to access specialist, emergency obstetric care in hospital should complications arise (Sydney Morning Herald, April 17, 2009). Though from a developmental perspective such combinations of traditional and modern method of birthing practices are helpful (Berger, chapter 4 p.118), in my opinion it still poses a risk.

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life/midwife-home-birth-as-safe-as-hospital-says-study-20090416-a8wu.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7998417.stm