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MAMA-KANGAROO 496
Well, if my every pregnancy turns out to be like this one, I’d have five more kids. But, if I have to spend a few more days in the hospital… I’m afraid that my daughter will remain an only child. I gave birth on 5 February 2009 in Zrenjanin at 01:04. What precedes it is a somewhat classical tale. I was admitted on 4 February around noon, we did the general stuff… and I was taken to the pre-delivery room. The nurses, as well as the midwives are mostly nice (it’s the new maternity ward in the Zrenjanin hospital), but the doctor on call for that day….growl!!! It’s my first baby, I’m 25, and even though I read a lot and was interested in how and what and blah, blah, blah, the unknown can surely take you by surprise. They plugged me on the induction but they managed to cut the tube and prolonged my agony. I had pains every 5 minutes for hours. When the contractions began, they made me stand against the bed, and the bed (a miracle of technology) had wheels. So, with my bulky size (because I’m not petite) I leaned against the bed, and it kept getting away- oh, the misfortune! Stand up, spread your knees, lie down, lean against, lie down, spread your knees… Round and round... Until that moment I tried to endure everything… I even sang songs with the slogan “ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE!” However, when the pain became unendurable and I started to moan, I asked someone (I can’t remember who) to go and get the doctor who should check if and how dilated I was. The doctor appeared with the following question: “What are you moaning about? I can’t even have my dinner in peace!” I almost told her something then.... but I guess that that innate aloofness to other people’s integrity made me say “OK, I’m sorry, finish your dinner, I’m not going anywhere” and I managed a hint of irony into that sentence…well, yeah… she sang a different tune that instant. “Ha, ha, I’m just kidding. C’mon sweetie, lie back, let’s see what’s going on!” And of course, nothing yet…I’m not dilated enough, I have to wait! And my doctor, the one who supervised my pregnancy, was on call on the Pregnancy Pathology ward in the old hospital building. I found out later that he called every minute to check what was going on. Way to go! Anyway, when the contractions began and when my Ana wanted to come out, I called and looked for the nurses and the doctor, but no one could be found. I can’t move, everything hurts, I have a feeling that I’m breaking at the seams…at that time a midwife comes, and I just said “Either shoot me or deliver this baby”. The woman realized that the situation came to a head, so she called for the doctor who immediately phoned my doctor to come and deliver me. When the time came... my strength left me! Push, c’mon, you can do it… and nothing helped! I screamed and screamed and pushed and pushed and nothing happened! That is when the best doctor I have ever had enters the scene… if it hadn’t been for his “small” hands with which he pushed the baby out… I don’t know what would have happened! It was all over, the doctor stitched me up, they moved me to the pre-delivery room, and that was it. That’s when the torment begins. When they took me to the room in the morning and when a nurse came to help me take a shower and stuff… I saw that even in the that state I was in, I could carry her in my teeth, and she was supposed to help me… she’s really nice, but I’m a bit too corpulent for her. By the way, the bathroom in my room wasn’t exactly operational, so my room-mates advised me go and find another and have my shower there! Oh, no you don’t! I got up on my feet… it hurt like hell, but I couldn’t allow myself to be flimsy. Nice and slowly, I went and had a shower, the rounds were over and everything was great. What killed me was the fact that the room where I was, room no. 1, was directly next to the attendants’ room, so when they bring the food (or rather swill) we’re supposed to eat, all that “scent” would fill the room. Not to mention that it was mostly peas, string beans, boiled cabbage and all other things that make you bloat… but never mind that! In the 4 days I spent there, not one nurse showed me how to hold my child if I want to breastfeed it, how to massage my breasts, how to pump the milk so that my breasts don’t harden, and so on… Only when my doctor was on call again and when I happily ran after him for my examination (I was to go home that day), and when he said “You’re doing great… you can go home” did I feel pleased as punch! Perhaps my story isn’t so drastic, but I would like to mention doctor Vanja Šijak who is more than committed to his job. My every next pregnancy will be supervised only and exclusively by him! Long live ŠIJAK!
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STORIES FROM MATERNITY WARDS Mama-Kangaroo 002
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