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When I was having my first baby, I read so much material about childbirth - in books and those magazines that mums-to-be love to pore over. I also went to the birthing classes. Yet, when it came to the big event it seemed that there was so much I had not been informed about at all - and much of what I had read wasn't relevant to me.

What's more, the birthing plan I'd thought out so carefully turned out to be a big farce - I don't know if the staff dealing with me during my labor referred to it at all - and with the state I was in, I certainly wasn't fit to register that that most of it just wasn't happening. So, if you do one of those wonderful birthing plans and you have your husband or some other support person present on the big day, make sure they have a copy of it and are familiar with its contents. You need them to monitor things in that regard.

One thing I was really looking forward to so much was soaking in the big bath tub they had in the maternity ward - and that was mentioned in my birthing plan. But nobody at any stage suggested that might help with the severe pain I was in from the start - and no doubt it would have done. Very possibly it would have reduced the need for pain relief and if I hadn't been so groggy due to pethidine, I could have been more with-it for more of the time and things might have advanced more quickly and efficiently, without the complications that obviously developed. Above all, my baby may have fared a whole lot better, exited my body more speedily - and been awake and breathing when she was born. Indeed, it just might have helped things to turn out very differently.

Apart from the fairy tale a birth plan can be, I also wasn't told how painful induction often is from a very early stage - nor how ineffective it can be. Within a few hours of having induction gel administered, I was having strong contractions almost on top of each other. My husband, who had gone home to bed for the night, was called in and I was under the impression it hopefully wouldn't be too long before my baby was born. That was around 6 am as I remember. My baby wasn't born till around 9.30 pm. But all day I was going through long stages of contractions which didn't really achieve anything - and they kept applying more induction gel. Nobody told me that it's normal to have strong contractions close together from very early in proceedings when you are induced. Nor did they tell me how long things could drag on - or that they would keep giving me more of

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