Giving Birth in Dubai: Read Sindhu's Real Birth Story
Sindhu went through 15 hours of labour...
12 November 2017

Our first story is from Sindhu Arbani, a mum who hails from Pakistan - she gave birth to her first child in Dubai and went through an impressive 15 hours of labour!
"Our pumpkin is on the way!"
My husband and I first discovered about our pregnancy on Oct 31st, and jokingly we told our family that our pumpkin is on its way!
My first trimester was really tough. I had cluster headaches, severe nausea throughout the day, loss of appetite and overall weakness. I looked dull, lost my hair shine and just looked really gloomy until 24 weeks after which my appetite became better and I started having cravings.
But my joy was short lasted; my doc found out I had developed Gestational Diabetes (GD) as I was already at risk because my father is diabetic. And down went all my excitement. I couldn’t eat that chocolate mousse ice cream I’d crave, no junk, no delicious pancakes, waffles. I mean it was so depressing that I could write a whole book about it.

Dealing with Gestational Diabetes
Now since I had developed gestational diabetes, my doc clearly told me that we wouldn’t let your pregnancy go beyond 38 weeks as it may be risky for the baby.
We decided a weekend for induction in case I don’t get natural labour contractions before the decided date which was June, 23rd.Throughout the last week, I tried squatting, ate all the hot food possible, but nope. Dany was stuck up. But yeah, I did hog on a lot of seafood.
And boom, 20th June, in morning when I was just getting out of bed while husband was getting ready for work, my water broke!
We were excited, nervous, scared, just name a 100 more emotions that were all happening at once. I had no pains, I was just leaking water and slight blood. We picked our hospital bag (thankfully it was ready since 34 weeks) and rushed to the hospital.
"I opted for elective C-SEC..."
I had chosen Thumbay Hospital in Al-Nahda, Dubai, to deliver because it was really close by and had heard great reviews about it.
I was taken in emergency to check the situation. Unfortunately, no dilation had happened. My doc advised to start CTG and kept me waiting until 4:00 PM to check progress. But there was still no pains or dilation. So at last, at 5:30 PM, I was induced.It took about 30 mins for the contractions to start and ONLY LORD KNOWS how difficult it was. Upon monitoring, those contractions were still not real. So I tolerated the pain until 11:00 PM after which I just gave up and wanted the baby OUT at any cost.
My doc checked and I was only 3cm dilated. She advised epidural and asked me to have patience and not think about C-sec AT ALL. But I just couldn’t take it anymore.
I was always SUPER scared of an epidural. So I straight away said NO and opted for elective C-SEC. My labour wasn’t progressing and to be honest, I was so exhausted by then I thought I’d lose my breath if I was asked to push.
So I was taken to OT around 12:30 AM and was given spinal anaesthesia. I was active and talking to my surgeon throughout the process. Well, after 15 hours of labour, I heard those words; ‘IT’S A BOY!’ and I forgot about all the pain. Well, at least only until I recovered from the anaesthesia.