It all started in June 2020, when my partner and I were about to leave for vacation and my best friend jokingly saw us off with the words: “So you don’t come back as three”. I successfully ignored the comment.
That same day, in the afternoon, my partner and I were lying by the pool in Opatija. After three months of a shut-down and forbidden social life in Slovenia, it felt fantastic. I’m lying by the pool when I get a “flashback” to my best friend’s words. I check the Flo app and realize my period is 2 days late. Panic. I look at my partner, tell him, and he laughs. The next moment we’re already at the pharmacy and then in the bathroom. I didn’t even dare look at the test—I took it and turned it face down in the bathroom. I sent my partner to check the result. And there it was: a +. Hmm, what now?
I think that from that moment until the nuchal scan at 12 weeks, neither of us really understood what was ahead of us. The nuchal translucency scan was the turning point, when we saw the little heart beating on the screen and this tiny little being moving. Such interesting feelings—honestly, I can’t describe them. Even though the nuchal translucency result was excellent, we decided to do the NIPT (Nifty) test. I would/will do it again if/when I’m pregnant again. That sheet of paper was an incredible relief—proof that everything was fine with our baby. So for me, one less worry: no stressing or nerves for the next 6 months. After those results, it was a huge weight off both our shoulders, and from then on we experienced my pregnancy as nothing different from before.
Our lifestyle stayed the same. Neither of us had been the panicky type even before, so we went into it totally relaxed, totally easy-going. I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, so I had to measure my blood sugar 3–4x a day and follow a diet. I stuck to the diet pretty well and my blood sugar was well controlled. If I ever slipped up, we went for a long walk and my sugar was fine again. So the next 6 months went by quickly. I supposedly read a little about birth—just the basics I was told I’d actually need. And a few videos from the parenting class on the ProfiStarš portal. I went into birth prep just as relaxed. On friends’ recommendation, I decided to try acupuncture. I did 8 sessions. I felt phenomenal afterwards. After the 4th session, the doctor told me my body was ready for birth. That gave me a lot of satisfaction. I told myself: “Right, that’s it—now I can go give birth.” From then on, I couldn’t wait to meet our little prince. The last two weeks of pregnancy were tiring mainly because I was waiting for contractions or for my waters to break.
On Thursday, 11 Feb 2021, at my last acupuncture session, I told the doctor I’d like to give birth already and asked if she could somehow get things going. That 12 Feb 2021 is a very nice date and that I’d like to give birth tomorrow. Her answer was: “It’ll definitely be soon!” The next morning I had an appointment at the university medical center, and I asked the gynecologist if I was already dilated at all and if my cervix was already short. She told me we’d see each other the following week. That’s when I stopped thinking about it being a nice date and that the baby would decide and choose their own when they wanted to come into the world. I let it go, processed it, and decided I wouldn’t push it. It’ll happen when it happens.
That same evening, my partner and I are lying in bed watching series when at 8:30 PM I feel the first stab in my lower abdomen, like menstrual cramps. A cramp lasting maybe 30 seconds. I was breathing a bit faster, but nothing worse. We keep watching the series, and at 9:30 PM it stabs a bit more strongly for the first time, and we start timing how long it lasts and how often it comes. I immediately had contractions every 6 minutes and they lasted about 1 minute. My partner asks if it’s time to go to the maternity hospital, and I tell him we still have time. We keep watching the series—when I had a contraction, I just said: “pause,” so he paused it while I breathed through it, and then we continued watching. At 10:30 PM he’d had enough and said it was time to go. When we got in front of the house and it was -12°C outside, I told him we should go for a little walk. The fresh air really suited me. So we walked, and in between I breathed through the contractions.
We arrived at the maternity hospital around 11:15 PM. We filled out the necessary paperwork, and when the midwife examined me, she found I was already 6 fingers dilated. She sent me to the delivery room. The midwife and I agreed on an epidural. She sent a doctor to me, who explained it and administered the epidural. During the hour the epidural worked, the contractions were fairly moderate and manageable. I breathed through them without much trouble. When it wore off at 1:30 AM, it got a bit worse, but still manageable. The midwife helped me a lot with everything, tried in every possible way to make it go as quickly as possible, told me when to push… in short, I can only say thank you. The final push was the most painful of all. The 4 most painful pushes. But it was worth it. At 2:57 AM I gave birth to a son weighing 2,530 g and measuring 50 cm. Absolutely worth it. I got 2 internal stitches. When they took us to the ward after the observation hour, I felt like I hadn’t given birth. I had no pain—just an uncomfortable feeling when sitting. It all faded over the next days in the maternity hospital.
