Every woman who has been through it will have an opinion – if you could have one without the other, would you rather be pregnant and avoid labour or go through labour and skip the pregnancy? The battle lines are drawn as two mums tell us how they feel…
Birth
“I hated being pregnant,” confides Nicky Higgins, 33, proud mum to Rebecca, now aged two-and-a half.
“For four months I was sick constantly. It wasn’t just morning sickness either, it lasted all day. I work as a food technology teacher and the daily routine of preparing lessons and coping with so much cooking was a nightmare.”
And, says Nicky, she suffered terrible cramps in her legs.
“As I was on my feet all day, it became very hard to bear. I had a constant ache in my legs and also was affected by varicose veins, I found this very uncomfortable and unsightly – wearing support tights in July is no fun!”
Nicky, of Shrewsbury, says the actual birth of her daughter was ”a piece of cake” compared with the anguish she had experienced in the months before.
She says: “I went to hospital the day before my due date because I lost some blood. The next evening I felt a little sick – but nothing like before – and I had some twinges but by the time I said I thought something was happening, I was a full 8cm dilated and Rebecca was born an hour later.”
Pregnancy
But for Debbie Bibb, aged 30, of Cheslyn Hay, Staffordshire, pregnancy was a more peaceful time – a part of her life she cherished, while memories of giving birth for the first time send a shudder down her spine.
Debbie, mum to Michael aged two, and Elizabeth seven months, says: ”I loved feeling special when I was pregnant. I thought it was wonderful to feel the baby kicking and lapped up the attention.”
But, she adds, things took a dramatic turn for the worse once Michael was due.
She says: “I was taken into hospital as my blood pressure went up. I had to be induced.
“I was connected up to a drip and was not allowed to move around – something I had very much wanted to do and the only thing I had stipulated in my birth plan.
“They started me off on gas and air. Then two hours later they broke my waters which was very painful and they fitted a monitor to Michael’s head.
“It was very, very uncomfortable. I decided I wanted an epidural as I was in so much pain. It was too late and gave me pethidine instead – this made me feel even worse.
“After nearly nine hours, they tried to get Michael out with forceps. But that didn’t work. Another five hours later they told me I could push but they only let me push once. They told me Michael’s heartbeat had dipped and I would have to have an emergency caesarean.
“I just felt woozy by this stage. They rushed me into theatre and Michael was born three minutes later.
“For me, going into labour for nine hours and having Michael was a traumatic and painful time – but I haven’t let it put me off. Of course Michael was worth it – and he has a little
sister too now. Thankfully her birth was much easier.”
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