One of the things that most concern and then most remember a childbirth is the time you are in labor, the time from when the contractions begin until the baby is born, and in this sense the births of those women who are more than 12 hours are a little astonishing, are quite astonishing those of those who are close to 20 hours and disengage the jaw of women who are more than 30 hours.
I hallucinated myself when I read some woman online explaining her birth and telling her that I had been more than 30 hours, about 40, with contractions, until the baby was born, and all so that Miriam, my wife, later showed me that it can always be worse: Miriam's birth that lasted a week.
Deliveries of more than 20 hours?
That a delivery lasts more than 12 hours is quite common, because the birth is divided into three phases: latent dilation, active and expulsive dilation, and the sum of the three phases can easily overcome that barrier. However, it is more difficult to see a delivery of more than 20 hours both because nature tends to go a little faster, and because not in all hospitals they let you be so long in labor. Many times it is considered that the delivery is not progressing and then they begin to act to accelerate it in some way.
And deliveries of more than 30 hours? Well, practically impossible in a hospital delivery. The cases that I have read were of women who gave birth at home or who did it in clinics dedicated to attending childbirth in an expectant, little intrusive way and with space and time to be for the woman and her desires and feelings.
And then there is Miriam and her week-long delivery
It really has a trick, because if 30 hours is already a lot, imagine a week. No one would have left him that much time. What happened is that being pregnant with something more than 33 weeks began to have contractions, quite rhythmic, quite strong, childbirth. We went to the hospital and confirmed that the delivery had just begun, but that they could try to stop it. They indicated a medication that should stop the delivery by stopping the contractions, and that it should take as much time as possible to lengthen the pregnancy, especially to try to bring the delivery as close as possible to week 37 and avoid the incubator and prematurity.
It worked, but halfway. The contractions stopped being effective, the dilation stopped, but one came every ten minutes, lasted a little while, left, and another ten minutes later. And this happened from that day until a week later, day and night. And all this with a child who was two years old, about to turn three, who was still looking for mom a lot during the day, and also at night.
Imagine what he lived, for seven days, with his contractions every 10 minutes. Making a quick and inaccurate calculation, he had more than 1000 contractions that really didn't help, because the delivery was stopped thanks to the pills. More than 1000 contractions that did not let you sleep more than in 10 minute strips. I remember hearing her at night, exhausted, closing her eyes and groaning when the contraction struggled to wake her up and she tried not to.
So a week later, when he arrived at the hospital because they were hurting more and more and she was at a point where she could no longer, they saw that the contractions were beginning to be effective. They put the epidural and were scared to see that she fell asleep half a second after the puncture. "Are you all right?" And she was strong enough to respond, but she didn't have energy for that anymore.
He managed to rest for a while, not much, and get to work again. An hour later, Aran was born, and then it happened so incredible that nature has reserved for women: an adrenaline shot that left her with so much energy, with her eyes so open, ready to take care of her baby, as if he had had a 10-minute delivery after sleeping 20 days in a row.
It was surprising, but her birth made me value much more what a woman can do, what can get to bear. The strength they have, the determination, the endurance, all for bringing a child to life. Made I will admire her much more, and that already admired her a lot.
Do you know any case like this? Because surely there are, but I personally have not heard of them.
Photos | iStock
In Babies and more | How long is a delivery ?, Some first-time women have incredibly fast births, How long did your delivery last ?, It is better to dilate at home
