THE END AND THE BEGINNING

As Xoli pulled Maya out of me, her umbilical cord still attached, she paced her on my chest. Hein was spouting tears, taking photos and kissing me and I was shaking with emotion. This long pink baby had been living inside of me? How? Yes she looked like Benjamin Button but I loved her the moment I laid eyes on her.

The entire labour had been seven hours long. And Maya was born just before 7 in the morning. After a visit from uncle Howard and auntie Zan, the three of us checked out of the hospital four hours later. The wonder of normal delivery! Still, next time, I'm seriously considering caesarean birth. What an excruciatingly painful miracle!

PART THREE

By the time Xoli and another assisting nurse told me it was time to push, things get a little foggy. An attempt to get me into the bath was made but I didn't last very long in it. Ad when I asked to go back into the water, Hein had already drained it (shame, for lack of something to do) and the water birth idea went out the window. You see, it had already taken 15 minutes to fill that bath.

Delivering Maya was exhausting! And shocking! I didn't know that I was required to push on a contraction. How the hell was I supposed to do that! And I remember telling Xoli to get the forceps or the epidural - whichever came faster. But alas it was too late to have epidural... and obviously forceps were a no no. I demanded to know what would happen if I just couldn't do it. And Xoli said, 'You're the only one who can.'

Hein was whispering words of encouragement in my ear, telling me to push our daughter out because we just wanted to meet her, telling me how well I was doing and saying 'one more one more Zods... you can do it'. And all I kept thinking was how the hell am I going to make it through this? It felt like someone had lit a burning match to my vagina as I finally pushed Maya out in between consciousness and semi-consciousness. My eyes were closed most of the time.

Xoli says in all of her years she'd never seen anything like what happened: apparently Maya who was peeking out of me her eyes and nose out; her mouth still inside, was already screaming within the womb. How amazing is that! So as it turns out, Hein saved the day by draining that water because had we opted for a water birth Maya would have landed up in critical care.

PART TWO

Following Xoli to Linkwood hospital felt so surreal. Hein and I both understood that there was a sense of urgency but for some reason, I felt like everything was going to be okay. My main concern - was it going to hurt like hell when they broke my waters? My sister Nomzi had gone through the same thing and she said it didn't but still, everyone has a different pain threshold.

When we got to the hospital I was checked into the last room available - not the sunny room we had initially been shown. In this one, there was no bassinet, awful floral print curtains which didn't meet and two hospital regulation single beds. The bathroom was large but there was barely enough room to swing a cat in the room where the three of us were going to spend the next few hours. I silently cursed those caesarean moms

Hein went to go sort out the admin while I got comfortable. Before breaking my water, Xoli said, 'This is the last time you are going to be dry.' It's only afterwards I got her meaning. Ick! The breaking of the water felt like a light internal examination - much less painful than a pap smear. And thank goodness, there was no blood. Still my blood pressure was up so Xoli decided to induce me. We expected contractions to start quite soon afterwards but when nothing was happening...she put me on a drip and told me that contractions were going to start in about an hour or so. Hein put on a movie on my laptop but I can't even remember what movie he put on was. I felt like I was in an altered state as soon as the contractions started - they felt like a deep, aching period pain that would have me in its grip for moments at a time.

Hein and Xoli both took turns walking me around the quiet labour ward - was I the only one going through this? All I wanted to do was lie on my back and catch a few z's.

PART ONE

Sunday, August 9

It started out like an ordinary easy Sunday morning. And I was still basking in the glory of having made it to my maternity leave without my waters breaking at the office.

And then later that morning I had a show (which all mothers know is the sign that baby's coming). After calling my midwife and letting her know what was happening, I settled in for a day of watching 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians'. Apparently baby could arrive that day, or in two days or even two weeks. Hein had a mutual friend's 30th birthday party to help organise later that evening...

I felt oddly content and wasn't anything out of the ordinary until 6pm that evening, when I started bleeding. I had been watching 'Here Come the Newlyweds' on MNet which I was rather enjoying... I called Xoli who told me I should get to the clinic and then called Hein. Still, I wasn't panicking - I wasn't in pain or experiencing any discomfort. When Hein arrived, we packed my hospital bags just in case and drove to Genesis Clinic. I hated the fact that this could possibly be one of those false alarms I'd read so much about.

The sweet midwife on standby there monitored baby's heart rate which wasn't fluctuating, took my blood pressure, which was high and told us, teamed up with the fact that I was bleeding painted a worrying picture. I hadn't eaten having left home round dinner time, so the midwife suggested I drink a cup of sweet tea and see if baby's heart rate picked up - and it did. He also nipped out to to Woolies to get some supper - even though I wasn't hungry. I could barely swallow that chicken caesar salad even though it's my favourite. A few hours later we decided to settle in - unload my bags and slip on my birth CD.

And just to err on the side of caution, it was decided to call Xoli, who arrived and called my back-up gynae Dr Mia.

After consulting it was decided to move me to Linkwood Hospital where they would break my waters. If there was blood in the water, I would have to give birth via caesarian; if not, they would induce me because my blood pressure was still up. Why wait until it got critical? I was disappointed we had to leave Genesis but Linkwood had been my second choice...

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