I Feel That Women Should Know About This

Like any other woman who is carrying a baby, I was also very excited about having a child and being able to go through the whole process. I was extremely excited. I read multiple books, read multiple Instagram pages and followed multiple Instagram pages. I had a great gynaecologist who was really patient with me. I chose something which is very close to my house so that I do not face issues in case there is an emergency. I did my yoga classes to ensure that I deliver naturally. I took care of every little bit that was possible. I ate extremely healthy food. I was very happy. My family took extremely good care of me.

Everything was fine until my water broke, and I was taken to the hospital. It took a couple of hours before I was fully dilated. I was in deep pain. Very unfortunately, my husband was travelling that day. That was the only day in nine months that he had to step out of the city, and coincidentally, the baby decided to come out that day, which was 15 days before my actual due date.

"I will never forget those hours."

Now, in the operation theatre, it was me and my mum, and honestly, I did not know what to do, where to look, what to expect, and I also had a severe amount of anxiety. I kept telling my doctor, please, I don’t want to go through so much pain; if possible, just do a C-section. And I was trying to push and push and push, to a point where I gave up. My anaesthesia specialist was there in the same room, and he was a male doctor. I remember he was almost half on top of me, where he was, you know, helping me push the baby out. I will never forget those hours.

And later on, I had a natural birth. However, after a day, I was told that I had a tear in my vagina, and it was going to take a couple of days, or maybe weeks, to heal, and that I had to eat light food, etc. I came back home. Everything was fine. However, I got an infection in my tear. It was the most horrible experience. I couldn’t sit. I couldn’t lie down. I couldn’t stand, and I had my hormones. I had to breastfeed. I just couldn’t take the pain. I wanted to take my life. I was so sad. This was supposed to be the best time of my life. I was supposed to enjoy it. Rather, I was in so much pain that I just did not enjoy breastfeeding my kid, because I couldn’t sit.

My gynaec referred me to a doctor who was supposed to help me ease the pain through medicines, etc. I went through an MRI. It was a very traumatic experience because I couldn’t lie down in the MRI machine for 45 minutes. Staying still was a problem. I went through that, and nothing was found in the MRI. The doctor gave me medicines, but the medicines worsened my condition, and the pain was increasing and excruciating. Then my gynaec referred me to another doctor. Thankfully, this doctor found out the problem, and his medicines helped ease my pain in a week, but this entire process took two and a half months. So, after giving birth, for two and a half months, I was in deep pain.

"I was uninformed, and I feel that women should know about this. It was very painful. It was very hurtful, and I don’t think any woman or mother should go through this."

One day, I just picked up my medical file and was going through it. That is when I read that I had a third-degree vaginal tear, which was not told to me, but it was mentioned to my husband later. And later, when I searched/googled about it, I got to know that my doctor was supposed to tell me that this is the point where you are not supposed to push or you will have a tear, and we should go in for a C-section. But I was not informed during birth. Neither did my doctor give me these options or enable me with this information before the delivery, before the entire birthing process.