The TMI Files. The Things You Think About When You Might Be Dying.
Magilla is now four years old, and every year I think back to how small she was when she was born. Well, small when you consider how tall she is now, but at nearly 4.5kg (9lb 12& 1/2) she was a big baby.It amazes me that I was able to create such a remarkable creature, and that so far I am raising her well. So far. I'll revisit that thought when she hits 12.
Anyway, the labour was long and while not exactly difficult, it wasn't going anywhere. The gory details: I didn't dilate and she didn't drop. Didn't stop the contractions, though, and after 22 hours it was decided to go for a caesar (yay!).
While there was, obviously, a very happy result to all this drama, there were also a few times when I was lucid enough to consider the possibility of not surviving. This is one of the things that modern medicine tends to inure us to - giving birth can kill you. We are not, after all immortal, even if we think so at times.
When thinking back on this earlier this weekend, I remembered what went through my head.
I saw my reflection in the mirror and remarked to myself that I looked just like my mum not long before she died. That haggard, drawn, look that extended pain can bring on.
I also remembered a song,
For your viewing and listening pleasure, I give you: Let's Fist Again!
Finding that again also reminded me of the Top 10 Cutest Kittens which I am happy to share with you.
(you need speakers, and be careful who is watching with you. There are plenty of people who don't like kittens.)
posted by Nilk @ 6:11 PM
3 Comments:
A painful memory, but not fist hand ( s'cuze the joke ). Our first was delivered OK with a great job by my wife who didn't want to use any drugs. However, the placenta wouldn't release, so the obstetritian had to manually retreive it! Aaak! Luckily, he managed to convince the wife to have some drugs to assist, as it would not affect our daughter at that stage. He had to do it as quick as he could before everything closed up again, but it was still very painful. Nasty business though, and she still turned out a blonde, so there was some brain-damage ;-)!
Nilk - good grief, Magilla was one fully-baked bub!
Remarkably common for women to be in labor (REAL labor), but no progress occurs.
Happened to me, happened to my daughter. Mine ended up being on a drip, and eventually a 'natural' birth, but with forceps - and the women who tell you forceps are no big deal? They're the ones who had an epidural, for the rest of us - OUCH!
My daughter had emergency caesar, with bub's heart beat frighteningly low (first 24 hrs spent in ICU). He was fully baked too, but at only 4.1kg, he was a light-weight compared to Magilla.
Yes, we forget that it may be entirely natural to have babies, but it always remains a dangerous venture, and that's in first world countries. For women in less developed countries, becoming a mother is still a perpetual gamble with life and death - their own and their child's.
That's interesting. I've had a couple of near-death episodes, and have compared notes with others, by which I mean, instances where you "know" that this is absolutely the end of the road, and we all had the same experience: blackness, aware of pending death, and everything turns to darkness - the emotions, the mind, the body, acute awareness of nothing but the dark.
No fun flash backs, or bright greeting lights, just finality.
Post a Comment
<< Home