British runner Paula Radcliffe on her difficult childbirth

Paula Radcliffe, Britain’s best known marathon runner, showed that even she had a hard time making it through childbirth. Paula opened up to The Sun about her grueling 26 hour labor with now 4-month-old daughter, Isla. Paula said,

More than the pain, it was just frustrating for me. I am used to handling pain and when I’m running my body works with me and things happen fast. But during the labor my body was blocking Isla at every turn.

Paula went on to describe minute by minute how that day went. 

Click Continue Reading for the entire account.

They induced me at 6 am on Tuesday and thecontractions started strong by 7 am. I was having bad cramps and painsin my back. By lunchtime they told me I wasn’t even 1 cm dilated. At5:30 pm Isla’s heart rate began to go high and we were starting toworry.

The midwife examined me again and said I was still only 1 cmdilated and Isla was continually banging her head in an effort to getout. So they broke my waters and gave me an epidural and magnesium tohelp my muscles relax. I had to sit cross-legged on the bed for 14hours through the night. That took us up to 8:30 am the next morningand finally they told me I could push.

She continued telling her story by explaining how it was one thingafter another that seemed to be happening before she finally got nearthe end of her very long ‘race.’

Then my muscles were too tight so every time Ipushed they would push back. Then Isla got stuck on my coccyx bone sowe had to try different positions to get her past that. Finally, I wastold my pelvic bones were too close — Isla’s head was 10.3 cm and theywere 10.1 cm — so in the end I had an episiotomy (an incision) and aventouse (a cup placed on the baby’s head to create suction and allowdoctors to pull).

It was totally different to running a marathon — at no stage wasthe pain really bad. It was just tiring and frustrating because it wenton for so long — way longer than my normal race time.

Once Isla greeted the world, Paula said her whole feeling changed.

I felt like I had bonded with her when she wasinside me but it was a huge relief that she was OK. She was justsucking her thumb and looking up at me — it was amazing.

Unlike most new moms, Paula had an experience nearly every mother inthe world could envy — she left the hospital in her pre-pregnancyjeans! Paula said,

I came out of hospital in my normal jeans. Iweighed myself a week afterwards and I was 5 lb 5 oz over my normalracing weight. Now I’m around 2 lb 2 oz over.

Source: The Sun

Thanks to CBB reader Chloe.

Robin Elise Weiss, LCCE, About.com’s Guide to Pregnancy/Birth, had a strong reaction to Paula’s story.  She wrote to us,

Having a baby is no doubt hard work!  It is some of the hardest work a woman will ever do.  The good thing is that when ready, the baby and your body tend to work with you, not against you.  Paula Radcliffe’s very detailed birth story shows us how trying to force labor with an induction can lead things down an often longer and harder path.  Sometimes, as in Paula’s story, the body may be having great contractions, but there seems to be a lag time in how quickly the cervix opens.  Having to use different positions for labor is actually how the body normally works, it is how you help your baby fit. 

What strikes me most is that women often walk away from their birth with misconceptions about their bodies.  For example, Ms. Radcliffe believes that an episiotomy, an incision in the perineum, would allow her baby’s head to overcome bones that were too close together, but a cut in the soft tissue can’t change her bone structure.

My point is that women in labor are vulnerable to what we say to them. They need adequate information, not just jargon thrown around.  They also need the information about what to normally expect from labor and birth and any interventions, like that an induction might take awhile and it was normal, or that movement can help a baby twist and turn through the birth canal. Thankfully it sounds like Ms. Radcliffe had very patient and caring practitioners for her birth which allowed her to still be able to still enjoy the baby at the end.