Our little miss was born on the 6th of June 2014, the day her French grandmother arrived to Japan. She was waiting for her! My mother arrived in Tokyo on Thursday 5th of June. We spent the day together and enjoyed our mother-daughter time together. We walked to the neighboring area called Jiyugaoka for a bit of shopping, a lovely Thai green curry, more shopping, a nice cafe latte, before heading back home to prepare dinner for us two and Dave.
At home, at around 6pm, I started to feel period pain and then one hour later I had my first contraction! I really welcomed it because I had been waiting for so long for a sign… The contractions soon became stronger and stronger. Dave was on his way home, unaware of finding his wife in labour. I felt superstitious and didn’t want to tell him in case it stopped. By the time he was home I was already quite uncomfortable and had to go on all fours with my head on the sofa at each contraction. I tried to eat but they were coming so fast that I couldn’t sit for very long. I tried to take a bath and it was great but became very unpleasant when a contraction came. Dave measured the frequency of my contractions and soon it showed that they were regular and strong. So he rang the hospital and we told them how the labour was progressing and that we were thinking of coming in. They didn’t think it was the right time because the labour had started no so long ago; they told us it was ok to come but we might have to wait a long time at the hospital! I also thought that maybe I wasn’t ready yet and that it was just that I couldn’t handle the pain well. After Dave agreed we’d wait, everything became more intense and I just said to him “that’s it! We’re going to the hospital!” He then rang the taxi company we had registered with while mum helped me packed the last few things for the hospital.
Taxi arrived, I said goodbye to mum since she couldn’t come to the hospital, and headed out in the rain. I had a contraction just before getting in to the car, and the kind taxi driver held the umbrella above my head while I was focusing on the wave. Then the journey to the hospital seemed to never end. Dave told me later that I had seven contraction in the 20 minutes drive.
We arrived at the hospital just after 11pm, the security guard ushered us in. I was in my own world but I realised that the hospital was empty and I remember thinking it was strange… We went up to the third floor and were welcomed by a nurse. She asked me a few questions but I was seriously out of it, in my own world. They took us to the labors room and helped me put on the hospital gown and asked me to lay down so they could measure the opening of my cervix; they were all super excited and told me I was 10cm dilated which meant I was going to have my baby delivered in the next few hours. A part of me was proud to hear that and the other one thought “I want the baby to come out now, not in a few hours”.
Things went pretty fast from there. They prepared everything for me, explained to me how to push and we started, with Dave behind me. The doctor came soon after and took over. I was told that I would probably want to start pushing soon when I’d feel a contraction come, because I was at that stage. The midwives gave me tips on how to push and what sounds to make to make the push efficient. It sounded like “fuuuu-uuun”. It was great to have something to focus on. The main midwife who was between my legs also told me to look at her when pushing. So we went on for a few push until the doctor who looked at the baby’s heart monitoring decided to speed things up because he suspected the baby had the cord around her neck, and that’s when things became unpleasant. He said to me and Dave that because the baby was suffocating and I wasn’t large enough for the baby to pass, he was going to push on my belly to help me get the baby out faster and therefore was recommending an episiotomy to have a neat cut. I wasn’t one bit pleased with the plan but when the doctor tells you that your baby is suffocating, you want to cooperate. So at the next contraction, I felt a small cut (like a paper cut) down there and the doctor pushed on my tummy really hard, and that was the real unpleasant part! It was painful but efficient, I guess, because after a few pushes like this the baby was out! It was a small revenge but I did catch the doctor’s leg while he pushed on my tummy and I pinched him really hard, the mofo! At the last push, the nurse reminded me to shout “fuuuu-uun” and told me to look between my legs instead of looking at her, which I did and to my great surprise, a baby appeared there, my baby, our baby to Dave and I and it was amazing! The baby had the cord around the neck indeed. She was crying, she was covered in blood and other funny substances but she was our tiny little Shrimpie, the one who had lived in my belly for 41 weeks and 3 days! Dave couldn’t believe what had just happened and as my body was slowly “recovering” from the shock, I could hear him say behind me “oh my God! Oh my God!” It was so nice 🙂 Dave was an excellent partner during the whole labour, he was kind, supportive and there all along… I was so glad he came with me and when the nurse kindly brought the baby over for us to see her, we were a little family of three for the first time!
After that they took her away unfortunately to monitor her heart rate and do all the checkups they do at birth. After the stitches, I was told to rest while they monitored my blood pressure which was a bit high. Little Eva came back to us a few hours later. I was still in the labor chair and Dave beside me. The midwife showed us how to breastfeed; she put Eva beside me her lovely little mouth on my breast and she shyly started to feed. It was an incredible moment… Then, the three of us stayed there for most part of the Friday before being moved to a room.
Overall it was a very intense experience, very short (5 hours between the first contraction and the birth) but very intense… and incredible! Still two weeks later, I cannot believe I gave birth to Eva and she is our little baby 🙂
