予定日より10日早い7月7日、
梅雨空も押しのけて晴天の日に、
男の子を出産した。
助産師さんから、とても軽いお産だったと言われた。
確かに、お産は教科書通りに進んだような気がする。
午前3時頃、いつものようにトイレに起きた。
何となく下腹に痛みを感じたけれども、あまり気にすることなく、
1時間半後くらいに再び眠りの世界へ。
9時に起きて、朝食を取る、
また下腹の痛みに気付く。
生理痛の痛み。
何も手につかず、ソファに横になる。
これをまだ、陣痛と気付かなかった私は、やっと昼食の準備をして、
夫の帰宅を待った。
この日は、検診の予約が入っていたので、外出の支度もしながら、
痛みの来る間隔を計測し始めた。
10分から20分の間隔。
家を出る時間になって、着実に10分間隔に近づいていることに気付き、
家を出てまもなく病院に電話。
入院の荷物を持って出直すことになった。
「子宮口が1cm開いて、頭が下りてきてる」と診察の先生。
「早くて今夜かもしれないし、今週中かもしれないし、
いったん痛みが遠のくかも知れない。今日は帰って散歩して」
いつもは自転車で通院していたが、今日はとても乗れる気がせず、
バスで行ったのだが、バス停から家までの距離は、痛みでまともに歩けない。
時計と睨めっこしていると、すでに5分おきになっている。
とにかく帰宅し、ソファで横になりながら、痛みの間隔と長さを測り続けた。
5分おきから、4~5分、3~5分、2~4分・・・・・
長さも50秒から1分過ぎまで、中には2分間痛い時もあった。
20時頃、病院に電話することになるかも、と夫に話していたが、
間隔が2~3分になった19時半には、もう電話していた。
初産だと、病院側もそんなに早くお産が進むとは予測していないので、
「診察して入院かどうか決めるので、とりあえず来てみてください」
という、どちらかと言えば、「まだまだよ」感の対応。
診察結果は、子宮口が3cm開いているとのこと。
入院となり、陣痛室(陣痛を過ごす部屋)に通された。
その瞬間から、痛みも間隔も顕著になり、呻き声を止められない。
約1時間半後、陣痛と一緒に、お腹全体に大きな波が2回来た。
3回目の波のとき、大きな水風船が割れるが如く、破水。
そばで励まし続けていた夫が看護師や助産師を呼びに行った。
子宮口が全開(10cm)、頭が見えているとのことで、すぐに分娩室へ。
分娩台の上。
担当の看護師や助産師が他愛のない話をした後、
メインの助産師を残して一旦退出。
その間、定期的な痛みに絶叫する私。
まもなく、何かつかえているような感じがして、いきみ始める。
助産師がすぐに他のメンバーを呼び戻し、
濃い緑色の医療衣をまとった。
体、頭をまっすぐにしてー
息を吐いてー
目を開けてー
まっすぐ下を見てー
波の来ない時は、きちんと力を抜いてー
どれも言われるとおりに、従った。
けれど、夫が頭を支えてくれたり、助産師が力を抜くようにと手を触れたり、
そうでもしてくれなければ、なかなか難しいことだった。
「最後、大きい部分が出てきますからね~ がんばって」
もうすぐだ、といきみ続け、実際には、深い息を吐き続け、
大きな塊とともに、ばたばたと腕や脚が出てきたと感じた時、
生まれた・・・・・ 安堵でぐったりした。
「22時02分、男の子です!」
掲げて見せてくれた時、ただ頷いた。
終わった。俄かに信じられないけれど、成し遂げたんだ。
その夜は、疲れと眠気を感じていたにもかかわらず、
無意識の興奮に一睡もできなかった。
+++++++++++++++++++++++
July 7: A baby boy was born
It was 10 days earlier than my due day that he was born—it was a fine day, pushing the rainy days away. Midwives told me that it was a light one. It is true that the labor went just as I learned in the textbook.
I got up for the restroom around 3 am just as usual. I felt some pain in my lower belly but I did not pay much attention and went back to sleep about one hour and a half later. I got up at nine and had breakfast. I noticed the pain again. It was a period one. I could not do anything and lay on the couch. I did not recognize that that was the contraction and managed to prepare lunch. I waited for my husband coming home.
This day, as I had an appointment with doctor, I was also getting ready for going out, starting to measure the interval of the pain. It was from 10 to 20 minutes. It became 10 minutes by the time we left home, and I called the hospital soon after getting out of the apartment. We went back home to pick a backpack ready for hospitalization.
“The uterine os is open for 1 cm, and the head is lowering,” told the doctor. “It may be tonight, or within a week. But it may also go away. Go home today and take a walk”
Although we always took a bike to the hospital, I did not feel like it today and we took a bus. It was hardly possible for me to walk properly from the bus stop to home. The contraction was become every 5 minutes by then also. We went home, and continued to measure the interval and the length of the pain, lying on the couch. Every 5 minutes, every 4 to 5 minutes, every 2 to 4 minutes…… The length ranged from 50 seconds to over 1 minute; sometimes it continued 2 minutes.
I was telling my husband that I might need to call the hospital around 8 pm, but I did so by 7:30 when the interval became 2-3 minutes. As the hospital did not imagining that the fresh pregnant woman would not experience that fast delivery, they told me, “We need to check you up first so that we can decide if you should be hospitalized or not.” It sounded that it would be a long night.
They found that the uterine os was 3 cm open. I started to stay in the hospital and was made stay in a contraction room. From that moment, the pain and the intervals turned prominent, and I could not stop groaning. About one and a half hour later, a big wave came all over my belly twice. At the third time wave, water broke just as a water balloon burst. My husband who kept encouraging me by the bed went to call people. They said that the uterine os was fully open (10 cm), and that the baby’s head could be seen. We moved to a delivery room.
On the labor bad. Nurses and midwives in charge were making small talks and once left the place except the main midwife. In the meantime, I was screaming in regular pains. Shortly, I felt something stuck and started to push it out. The midwife called the other members back and put on a dark green scrub.
Straight up your body and your head!
Breathe out!
Open your eyes!
Look straight down.
Relax when no waves come!
I followed their instructions. However, if my husband did not support my head or the midwife did not touch my hand to relax me, it was really hard to accomplish.
“Now, you will have a biggest part pushed out. Hang in there!”
I continued to push that out—actually in reality, I was only breathing out—I felt some big part coming out and some fluttering arms and legs out. He came out…… I felt tired out with relief.
“It is 22:02. It is a boy.”
When the midwife raised him up to show to me, I just nodded. Done! I did it, even though it was not something that I could believe immediately.
At that night, I had exhaustion and drowsiness, but I could not get to sleep with unconscious level of excitement.