Thursday, April 3, 2014

Birth in Ukrainian Birth House No. 6

My daughter is 6 months old now, and I still remember her birth very clearly, the good and the bad parts. Mostly, it was a good experience compared to most women I suppose, considering how fast it all went, that I didn't have any complications, and that she came out perfectly healthy.  I know God was with me and helping me a lot.

I'll start from the beginning, as you know women traditionally give birth in birth houses, separate from hospitals, and generally they give birth in the house of their region,we were recommended to go to the 6th house by several people, and wee blessed that it was our regional house, only a 10 minute drive and as our regional house meant that we didn't need to pay extra money for it being out of our region.

So, at week 38 of pregnancy you need to go on either Wednesday or Monday to the house, and wait in a huge line of pregnant women to be "signed" or registered to give birth there. You need to bring your "obmina Carta" with all the tests and permissions in there for you to give birth from your prenatal doctor.  If you want you husband to birth with you he needs to take a TB chest exam and you should give the paper when you get "signed" so that they will allow him to be there in the room with you.

OK, so I started having this feeling like I was going to give birth soon on the 24th, I saw brown color in the underwear, and in the evening saw the "bloody show" which is not very bloody at all, just some mucus with a tinge of blood in it.  I never remember my water breaking, but I started having really random and short cramping feelings throughout the day on Sep 24th.  We had guests that night fr dinner, and I cleaned and cooked and went to the store and did everything as usual that day.  Around 12 am I was laying in bed and started having irregular cramping feelings in my uterus.  I at first ignored that they were contractions because I was convinced that God would not make me give birth when I should be sleeping, but I kept going back and forth between the bed and bathroom, thinking maybe it was a stomach ache, and the cramping was getting more painful and frequent so I woke up my husband when I was sure they were contractions, around 4 am, and we waited to call the ambulance at 5:00 am when the contractions were every 3 min or so.  They came by 5:30 and thank God I had all the essential medicines and things packed already, because in Ukraine you need to bring not only all your personal items and sheets, but also all the possible medicine and disposable blankets you will need in case of any birth situation (vaginal or Cesarean).

So this marks exactly 39 weeks, and I knew she was coming out anytime in the next 24 hours!

We got to the hospital, the ambulance driver and tech were very kind and gentle with me, and the nurse checked my Obmina Carta and signed me into the hospital.

Side note, in Ukraine you must either pay a doctor a "fee" (which is actually a bribe) before hand so that they will agree to come deliver your baby even if they are not on duty, or you must put your birth in the hands of whatever doctor God chooses to be on duty at that time.  We chose the second option because as Christians we didn't want to bribe beforehand.  At this point we've only paid about 550 UAH for the registration in the hospital.

God answered my prayers, and the doctor on duty was an english speaking doctor. He even had a sense of humor and would make jokes throughout the whole time...which sometimes I thought were a little irritating, but then again, anything was irritating when I was going through labor.

So, they bring me to a room and hook me up to a fetal heart rate monitor..minutes later I throw up in a bucket, all the contents of our late evening dinner, and feel much better :)

The doctor tells me "we need to speed up your contractions" which I suppose means he was going to give me and IV with pitocin.  Originally I thought I didn't want this, but I agreed to it, because hes a doctor and I was already exhausted not even in the transition phase yet.  I'm almost positive they gave me pitocin, but I don;t know for sure what thy gave me.

Anyways, the contractions kept coming fast and furious, and we moved to another room where I would give birth.  I kept feeling like I needed to pee and poo so I tried to go to the bathroom a few times, but I only peed a little (sorry for TMI, but it's true).

I need to note that the staff was very kind and gentle the whole time, maybe because they knew I was American, or maybe because that's just the was they are with everyone.
Around 6 or 7 am is when we moved into the other room.  The Doctor checked how dilated I was and when I started feeling the urge to bear down, which honestly is an irresistible urge to push like you're pooping, they waited a few contractions and then moved me from the bed to the birthing table...YES, I had to walk across the room to another table and climb up there, which I was not happy about since the contractions made me almost unable to move.

OK at this point I wish I had bought glucose tablets, because I threw up my dinner, was only drinking water and I was really low on blood sugar.

So, I manage to get on the birthing table, which has you seated in a slightly reclined position, with your feet slightly propped up on pegs that you can push against, and there are also bars for you to hold onto with your hands.  I must admit, they should have told me faster how to push, but after one or two ineffective pushes, he told me to use my abs, squeeze my hands, and push my feet against the foot rests.  So I don;t remember how many pushes I did before he told me "we might need to make a small cut if the baby's head is between your pelvis for too long" Anyways, after he said that I asked "why?" and he said "because it's not good for your baby to be stuck down there with so much pressure on her head" I should have known better and refused for them to make a cut, but I was too mentally weak to oppose, and I willfully agreed.  I suppose I had pushed through about 10 contractions or so before they actually made the cut.  The way the cut worked is they did it without telling me when they were going to do it, and the nurse cut me during a contraction/push.  I will tell you that was probably one of the most painful moments in my life, and next time I will insist that they let me keep pushing to try to get her head out. During my pushing I kept praying out loud "Help me Lord Jesus!"  The staff thought I was so strange ;)

So, with the cut, after 2 pushes her head was out, then after 2 more pushes her shoulders and the rest of her body just fell out.  They immediately placed her on my chest, and I saw tons of brown hair on my small little crying girl.  I just kept crying and saying "thank you Jesus" over and over again.

Then they asked if I wanted to wait for the placenta to come out on its own or give a medicine to help it come out faster. I opted for the medicine, they scratched my arms with the needle to test if I would have an allergy, and after I had no skin reaction they stuck me, maybe in the arm with the needle, and a few minutes later I pushed the placenta out.

Then as if I hadn't had enough, I had to lay there while they gave me a pain reliever ( I think locally down there) and stitched me back up.  I was so impatient, I wanted it to be over faster, and it was still painful even with pain killer, but it took about 10 minutes of stitching up and cleaning before I was allowed to get up and walk over to the bed and lay down with my baby girl and husband.

I had watched tons of videos about birth and breastfeeding, but with your first baby it is different than you expect it will be.

I needed to lay for 2 hours after the birth in order not to hemorrhage I believe, but they gave me a catheter so I could pee, because after drinking so much water, I peed so much lol.
During that time they brought me a cup of tea, and some plain white porridge.  It was so tasty after being so tired and hungry.

After my 2 hours they lifted me onto a stretcher, and laid her on top of me, and wheeled us to another part of the hospital where I waited for a few hours until they had a free room for me and the baby to stay.  Those first few hours after birth were like heaven, my hormones and emotions were so high that I think that numbed the pain more than the pain killer itself.

The waiting room was essentially a bunch of small rooms with no doors, and one nurse watching about 4 women with babies.  This room has a twin sized bed, a bed on wheels for baby a chair and a sink.
That bed was horribly uncomfortable, drooped in the middle and was very uncomfortable, so I didn't rest during that time, but my husband did, as he seemed more tired than I did.

Later in the day we were moved into a private room, which has a high bed, a table for changing, a baby bed, a sink with mirror and a small table side dresser for storage.

I'll list some things I liked about my birth/ the room I stayed:

  1. The doctor spoke English, and a few other people did too who observed my birth, and spoke encouraging words to me
  2. The staff was generally helpful and kind
  3. This seems obvious, but in Ukraine I think it isn't - they asked my permission before medicines, pain killers and the cut.
  4. The doc told me how to push
  5. Encouraged me not to waste energy by screaming, but to control my breath and concentrate my abs on pushing
  6. I had a private room not shared with other moms (considering Ellie was so quiet and other babies cried so much, I was glad about this)
  7. Doc followed up with me every day to see how my stitches felt
  8. 3 meals a day, although they were pretty bland, not salty or sweet
  9. One thing I am so glad I brought was a spay bottle, I used to clean myself instead of wiping, because the stitches were so incredibly painful.
  10. They didn't ever ask for any payment or bribe - we were treated just like everybody else in the hospital.
  11. They let me go after only 2.5 days stay.  I birthed on Wednesday morning an went home Friday afternoon - thank God I was so happy to come home early and be with my husband and sleep in my own room/bed!

I'll list some things I didn't like about the room/process:

  1. The bed - old and stained mattress with the blood from other women was pretty disgusting to me, but I reasoned with myself that I didn't have a choice, and I put two sheets of my own on top anyways, so it didn't touch me...but still, that was just gross
  2. The showers/toilet - no hook to hang my towels or clothes and no bench or table to put anything, so I hung everything over the curtain rod.
  3. The walls - literally I heard all the cries of the other babies.  I wish they would invest some money and sound proof them a little better.
  4. regular nurses taking my temp, cleaning my stitches with iodine 2 times a day didn't know any English, but I wasn't expecting them to, it just made it more confusing for me with my little Russian.
  5. They should give you a more detailed list of stuff to pack, other than medicines, especially my personal items like more than 1 towel, a pillow case and more than 1 sheet, blanket cover, slippers, and things for the baby (towel/receiving blankets, oil, cotton balls, saline solution to clean her nose, etc)
  6. The cut/ episiotomy that they convinced me was necessary. I'm convinced now it wasn't necessary, that my baby would have come out fine without it, and I could not sit for literally 11 days! Orders were, only stand or lay! Breast feeding was so hard to learn only laying, and my back was killing me!  Not to mention the cleaning after every pee, and the night time cleaning care regime that took about 20 minutes! (You don't have 20 minutes when your newborn is screaming for you. The pain from the stitches lingered long after they were taken out, at least 6-8 weeks I had sensitivity at that spot. Even after 2 months I still had some discomfort at that spot occasionally.


So here's the timeline of how it all went again:
Morning of 24th, noticed brown color in underwear
Evening of 24th, noticed bloody show
12 am ish 25th, contractions were starting to be noticeable
5:00 am - we call ambulance
5:30 am - they pick us up
5:45 am - we arrive at hospital
6:00 am they finish my check in and first cervix check
6:10 - arrive in first room and hook up to fetal heart rate monitor
6:40 -7:00 ish - they check my dilation again, and decide they need to give me pitocin to speed contractions - I agreed
7:30 ish - I move to the birthing room
8:00 ish - I start feeling the urge to "bear down" / push
8:05-8:10 - I move from bed to birthing table/bed
8:25-8:27 - they make the cut/ episiotomy
8:30 - she's here!
8:31 - they clean me, cut cord, etc
8:34 - they give me the shot to detach and help deliver placenta
8:38 ish - I deliver placenta in 2 pushes
8:38 - 8:45ish the nurse washes me and cleans me
8:45-8:55 - doctor stitches the cut
8:55 - 9:00ish - nurses washes cleans for the last time
9:00 ish I move from birthing bed to other bed in the room
9:30 they bring me breakfast
11:00 they  move me to the first temporary room
2:00 pm on the 25th - they move me to my permanent room.
I go home on the afternoon of the 27th.

Any questions about the rest of my experience at hospital 6, just write below! Check out my friend's blog all about birth in Ukraine!   http://birthinukraine.wordpress.com/