The day before delivery (39 weeks), I had an internal examination, and maybe I got a little nervous, which caused a variation in my blood pressure. The doctor advised me to get admitted that day so that labor could be induced the next morning. I was admitted in the evening, and they told me that they would start inducing labor at 4 a.m. The next morning, I woke up early, got ready, and they took me to the delivery room. Around 4 a.m., they started inducing labor. For the first hour, I didn’t feel much, but after that, the contractions slowly began. The gaps between them shortened, and the pain gradually became stronger.

 

My husband came to the delivery room around 5.30 a.m. My contractions lasted for around two and a half hours, and from the time of inducing till delivery, it was about four hours in total. I was surprised because I had imagined my labor would go on for seven to nine hours. As the pain became intense, I asked for an epidural, but since I was already 5 cm dilated, the doctor said it was too late. They gave me an injection that made me drowsy but didn’t reduce the pain much. After that, everything felt blurry. I remember hearing the nurses say it was time and call the doctor. When they asked me to push, I said I needed a short break, but the next time the urge came, I pushed. The feeling is just like you have to poop, and when you do, you push with all your strength. The moment the baby comes out, the pain that you have been feeling until then just disappears. It is replaced by a calm, peaceful feeling. The doctor showed me the baby and said, “Look at your baby.” I just said, “Hi, baby,” and drifted off to sleep because of the injection. While the doctor was stitching, the nurse brought the baby to me for feeding.

 

After the delivery, I rested for a while. They told me I needed to pee before being shifted to the room. It took me a few tries, but eventually, I could. Later in the day, I was moved to my room. For the first few hours, I didn’t feel much pain, but by evening, the pain from the stitches and swelling became difficult to manage. Sitting and standing were hard, and the next day the pain increased further. The nurses gave me a sitz bath, Betadine cream, and Dolo 650 to help with the pain. I recovered slowly, though there was still some discomfort and occasional back pain during those early weeks. Sitting remained the hardest part at the time, and I relied on a donut pillow whenever I had to sit on a chair for feeding. It took patience, but things gradually improved with time.