My second delivery

Pregnancy of course is the most blessing journey of a woman’s life. This is the time when women feel loved, respected, confident, and strong, The feeling of a tiny life growing inside your womb is just unimaginable. Along with this, you may also suffer a lot if you have any complications in your pregnancy. Some pregnancy symptoms like nausea, vomiting, headaches, constipation, hair fall, acne, weight gain, and fatigue may also trouble a lot, but it is worth it when you hear the first cry of your baby. Many women enjoy their pregnancy phase but when they get close to their due date, they start getting tensed and uncomfortable because vaginal birth or c-section is not an easy task. It is like writing a very tough exam and waiting very patiently for the results with so much tension inside your mind. Vaginal birth is of course the most painful procedure a woman can face in her life. For me, it was like death itself. Nowadays, due to advanced science and technology, there are many methods and procedures in which women can give birth naturally with less pain. When it comes to c-sections, many women say that this is more easy and smooth than natural delivery. You will be given anesthesia and you just have to lie down straight and you will not feel any pain though your stomach is cut open to take out your baby. This seems to be easy for one day. As soon as your anesthesia comes down, you will start feeling incision pain, constipation, period-heavy bleeding, and weakness. And it will take a very long time for your incision to heal completely. You cannot lift heavy weights and whenever you get any viral fevers or any disease, you will get the back pain or spinal cord pain in which the anesthesia was given.

Though I had two pregnancies and two c-sections, my second pregnancy was a little tougher than the first, but the C-section delivery was smooth. It took me one year to conceive again. My first pregnancy was smooth but the c-section delivery was terrifying. Because in my first delivery, I had to go through both vaginal birth and c-section. My vaginal birth was unsuccessful so I had an emergency C-section.  I already shared my first delivery experience in the previous article; if you didn’t read that, you can click here to know more—my first delivery. 

During my second pregnancy, we were clear that we were going to have a c-section because I had a complication called low-lying placenta throughout my pregnancy. So I was already prepared for that. For the first few months when we didn’t know about the placenta, we insisted our doctor do a normal delivery, but she said it could be a little risky as I had my c-section just 3 years before. And there should be at least to 5-year gap if you want a normal delivery after a c-section. But still, she said she would try her best.

During my first visit, she told me to do some tests like blood tests, urine tests, thyroid tests, and an Early Pregnancy Scan to confirm pregnancy and to see if everything was alright in my mind. She also gave me some medicines like MHR{folic acid}, Nosie tablet for vomiting and nausea, protinex powder to drink with milk for multivitamins, and Citralka syrup since I had a slight urine infection. And she told me to visit again after 2 weeks. At that time I was 5 weeks pregnant. After 3 days I again visited the doctor to check all my reports of the tests that she had written. My baby was normal and everything was normal. But I got hypothyroidism just like I got it in my first pregnancy. So I had to take thyroid tablets every day early in the morning before breakfast throughout my pregnancy. She also told me to take a proluton injection once weekly and a dydrofoam tablet for 20 days to prevent miscarriage or any kind of bleeding.

My next visit was when I was 7 weeks pregnant. At that time I had constipation issues, so she gave me duphalac syrup and told me to do blood tests and thyroid tests again. She also suggested doing an NT scan and a Double Marker test when I am 12 to 13 weeks pregnant. NT scan is nothing but a prenatal screening report in which the size of the tissue that is located at the back side of the baby’s neck called the nuchal translucency is measured. This is very useful to check if there are any chromosome abnormalities like Downs syndrome, Edwards syndrome, Patau syndrome, or genetic disorder in the unborn baby. These abnormalities have to be detected very early so that the baby can get treatment as soon as possible. These can cause developmental delays in babies and many babies are born with many defects like low muscle tone, small stature, and many more. This test tells if your baby has a low risk, intermediate risk, or high risk of getting these syndromes. The double Marker test also does the same thing. It is a blood test of the mother in which the beta-hCG and plasma protein A in the blood are measured. It can report if there are any chromosomal abnormalities in the fetus.

By God’s grace, all my reports for normal. There were no abnormalities in my baby. I also had my first-trimester ultrasound scan at that time along with an NT scan. My next visit to my doctor was when I was 13 weeks pregnant. After visiting the doctor, she checked my scan reports. And she gave me a shocking answer. She told me that I had a low-lying placenta. And it can be very dangerous for my pregnancy. At that time I didn’t know what that was. It sounded so scary to me for a moment but my doctor explained to me in very detail that it could be dangerous but I shouldn’t worry about it because if I was careful throughout my pregnancy everything would be normal. If you don’t know what low low-lying placenta is, then let me tell you about it in very detail.

The low-lying placenta is also called placenta previa. First, you have to understand what the placenta is. The placenta is an organ in a mother’s womb that develops when the mother becomes pregnant or whenever the fertilized egg is embedded in the uterus within the first few weeks of pregnancy. It is attached to the lining of the womb. It helps your baby grow and develop in the womb. It is connected to the umbilical cord of the baby to the womb. It passes essential nutrients, antibodies, and oxygen from the mother’s blood to the baby’s stomach. Now naturally when your baby has all the food that you eat in the form of liquid nutrients or vitamins, they will also digest and remove all the bad stuff or waste products from their stomach. This is not through the placenta. The baby sends all the waste products to the mother’s blood through the placenta and it comes out in the form of urine or urea in the mother. The placenta can develop in any direction in the uterus. It can be at the top, bottom, right, left, back, or front side of the fertilized egg or the fetus. In the majority of women, it develops either on the top or the left side of the fetus. But if it develops at the bottom of the fertilized egg, it is called a Low-Lying Placenta. It is dangerous because it can cover up the cervix or the vagina through which the baby had to be delivered as the pregnancy progresses. It can also cause bleeding throughout pregnancy as the baby grows. Because the baby puts pressure on it and as the third trimester approaches the baby prepares himself for vaginal birth by which there will be more pressure on the placenta as the baby’s head is slowly moving towards the vagina to prepare for birth. This is called Placenta Previa in which the cervix is fully covered with placenta not allowing the baby to deliver naturally. A c-section is compulsory for this complication.

You will know your placenta position when you take an ultrasound scan in the 12th or 13th week of pregnancy. If you have a low-lying placenta there are 90 percent chance that it can come upwards slowly as the uterus grows during pregnancy. Upwards doesn’t mean that it will come straight up or to the top of the fetus. It will just move away from the vagina or to the right side of the baby as the uterus grows bigger throughout pregnancy. Repeated scans are done throughout pregnancy to check your placenta position. Most likely it will move away from the vagina in the second trimester or the 7th or 8th month of pregnancy. Sometimes it can also get close to the vagina and block the cervix. So we don’t know what happens inside. It can either get close or move away from the vagina. There is no treatment for this. No doctor can touch your placenta or move it to a desired position. It is a natural process. But doctors advise you to take bed rest and not to lift heavy things as this can put pressure on the placenta and cause bleeding if you have a low-lying placenta or placenta previa. Bleeding can be very dangerous in pregnant and can cause miscarriage or abortion. Your doctor will also give you some injections and medicines to prevent bleeding and miscarriage if you have a low-lying placenta.

In my case, I was also diagnosed with a posterior low-lying placenta in my 13th week of pregnancy. Posterior means back in position. So my placenta was back of the fetus and slightly at the bottom of the baby. It didn’t cover the cervix. But it was near and touching the cervix. So my doctor advised me to take as much rest as possible, avoid intercourse, avoid traveling, and not to do heavy work or lift any heavy objects. But I was feeling completely normal and doing all the work except heavy lifting because I didn’t have any bleeding or any pain. I was doing my routine work, sometimes more work as I already have a toddler and I live in a nuclear family without any help or maids, and also had sexual intercourse sometimes and traveled to my hometown by train for 5 hours and I didn’t have any problem after that. She also gave me some medicines like Gestofit 200 and proluton injection to prevent any bleeding or miscarriage. She also gave me some multivitamin tablets like A to Z, Calcimax, and Livogen. I also got dengue fever when I was 5 months pregnant. Due to complications in my pregnancy, I had to be admitted to the hospital and was discharged after 3 days. To know more about the treatments and symptoms of dengue in pregnancy read this article. Dengue in pregnancy.

I had my TIFFA scan, thyroid test, and blood test when I was 19 weeks pregnant. In that scan too, my placenta was low-lying and extending up to the cervix. my blood level was a little low and my thyroid increased a bit so the dosage of thyroid medicine was also increased. My next scan was the GROWTH scan at 25 weeks of pregnancy in which the placenta was posterior low lying and 1 cm away from the cervix. As my pregnancy grew the placenta moved away a little bit from the cervix. I was happy for a moment because though it is low-lying and can cause bleeding in the third trimester, it is not placenta previa which is very dangerous. My next scan was when I was 27 weeks pregnant and my placenta was still low-lying and now 15 mm away from the cervix. In between I had so many other problems like Gas, Urinary tract infection, headaches, tiredness, back pain, and lack of sleep which are very common in pregnancy. For gas and UTIs, I took PAN 40mg tablet for gas and Candid tablets for UTIs. My doctor also advised me to eat treptin biscuits or Sim Mom milk powder to boost my energy. PAN tablets didn’t work for me and gas was getting severe so my doctor changed the tablet and gave OMEZ 40mg and an ULGEL syrup to drink thrice daily after food. She also gave me an uprise D3 tablet for vitamin D and a Neurac tablet for body pains or back pain.

My next and last GROWTH scan was when I was 33 weeks pregnant. At that time my placenta was still posterior low lying and 19MM away from the cervix. My doctor was very concerned about my placenta and suggested me to do an MRI abdomen scan after 10 days to know in detail where exactly and how many cm it is away from the cervix so that she could operate very carefully. Though MRI scans are not good or recommended for pregnant people due to their harmful radiation, I had to do it because of my complications. That MRI scan was one of the scariest experiences of my life. Its reports were shocking. They took many photos of the baby and not the placenta. But they wrote in the report that my placenta was 5.3 cm away from the cervix. And this was good news for us. As I won’t have any bleeding or complications during delivery.

My c-section was done on 16th January 2023 when I was 39 weeks pregnant. Vaginal birth would be risky for me as I can lose a lot of blood and I also had a c-section before. Thatswhy we decided to do the C-section.  I delivered a healthy baby girl successfully by c-section without any heavy blood loss. I stayed in the hospital for 2 days and was discharged on the 3rd day. The whole procedure of c-section was very smooth and easy for me. When I went to the hospital on 16th January ready for my c-section, I was taken to a separate room where I was dressed in a blue dress, and all my ornaments like chains, and earnings were removed. They checked my BP, and heart rate, did edema, and took me to the operation theater. That room was very big and there were so many nurses inside all busy with something or the other. I was made to lie down on a bed and I was given anesthesia in my back bone. My doctor also came by that time and she was telling all the nurses to make everything ready. After 5 minutes of giving anesthesia, my legs started to become numb. Anastacia was given only from my abdomen to my legs. My upper body part was awake and I was able to see what was going on in the room. But soon after giving anesthesia, they put a big cloth in from of me so that I could not see the operation procedure. When they were operating on me I didn’t feel any pain, but I felt like my belly had become a big cardboard and someone was just moving it or touching it. I was just praying with my eyes open that my baby should be born healthy. I think I also slept for a few minutes like that. After waking up, 10 minutes later I heard my baby cry for the first time and felt very happy. The nurse showed me the baby, and I was very happy to see her. They showed me for one minute and then gave her to the pediatrician. He took her outside bathed her and then gave her to my family. I was taken to another room and was kept there for 6 hours to monitor how my body would react after c-section. At that time my family came to meet me and my baby was also there beside me in her crib. I felt so happy after I saw everyone around me. My elder son was happy too after he saw his cute little sister. That was the best moment of my life.

The last time when I had my first baby, I was given full-body anesthesia as it was an emergency c-section. At that time, I didn’t know anything about what happened, When I woke up there were no doctors and my baby was not there in the room. There were just two nurses who were making me ready to take to the ICU. they told me that I gave birth to a healthy baby boy and he is kept in NICU to check if everything is normal in him. When I was in ICU, I felt so much pain in the incision area and I was crying with pain. Other than nurses and doctors, I did not see anyone after my C-section. My family members were not allowed to come to ICU and I hadn’t seen my baby yet. It was a very hurtful moment. My experience with my first delivery was in a different hospital and the whole experience of delivery was very painful.