February 14, 2015tinyexpats

An enlightening experience of giving birth in Moscow

I’d like to tell you straight away what this post would not include:

– description of my labour in every medical detail; I’m sure you can find quite a lot of articles like this, but it’s not the main topic here.
– any advice on whether you should go to labour with your partner or alone; I believe it’s a very personal issue, we’re all different, so all I could say is read up, go to pre-natal courses and think for yourself – no need to feel under pressure one way or another. It’s your choice!

Our second baby was born in Moscow and it was an enlightening experience indeed. Not that the first one wasn’t, but that was to be expected – in the end it’s your first child, you kind of have an idea of what’s coming up but it still hits you hard in the face. No books or stories can really prepare you for the experience and that’s why it’s often called ‘overwhelming’. Mostly in a good way.

I wrote this post for MojoMums, please, visit MojoMums.co.uk for the rest of the story! 

17 comments

  1. Some how nice to know that they have advanced so much in Moscow that they expect fathers. I have known Russian women in the ninethies who had to go alone and also had their babies put in different rooms looked after by the strict nurses like we did in the west 70 -60 years ago. But the too strict nurse is still alive

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    • Yes, I agree, they advanced a lot! At least now it’s always a case of a baby being in the same room with the mother, breast feeding, partner births are more common now. But facing a rude person, while trying to switch off your brain and not think about anything but breathing – challenging.

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  3. What a great story you brave woman, you! I had my second child in the U.K. at a RAF hospital with a midwife. They kept telling me it would take awhile, and then lo and behold… an hour and a half later I had a baby girl born encased in the bag of waters. Quite the rarity. Second babies come faster, oh yeah!

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    • Haha thank you :) You know, in Russian there’s a saying ‘born in a shirt’ – meaning ‘very lucky’. It actually originated from describing the babies born in the bag of waters. So your daughter can rightfully consider herself lucky :)

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    • Ha Ha. I love that. I figured it was my wheat farmer genes. You know, birth the baby, sling them over your shoulder and back out into the field you go! That is why I have those big hips! LOL! My longest birth was my son who weighed 9 lbs, 11 oz., and was 22 3/4 inches long! He was number 3 and only took 4 hours! LOL!

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  4. Here’s a funny – or something – coincidence, I birthed my first son in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis — and my husband in the military ready to ship out. A Moscow experience and I didn’t even get out of Texas!

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    • I think, women have similar experiences all over the world :) I can’t say that my experience in Moscow was horrible, but it was definitely enlightening in a way that I am strong supporter of taking the husband along to the hospital :)

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