I have three children and my birthing experience for each of them was different, but it was my first, having Musa, that sticks in my memory the most. Like many first-time mums, I had hoped that childbirth would be a quick, relatively stress-free experience, after which I’d be able to go home with my beautiful baby and pick up where I’d left off. Oh boy, was I wrong! It took an exhausting 72 hours for Musa to make his entrance, and just when the doctors were preparing me for an emergency C-section, he came shooting into this world. It was messy and it took me a long time to recover, both mentally and physically.
For me, giving birth was far from the idealistic birth plan I had carefully crafted for myself. But one thing I certainly took for granted throughout the chaos of my marathon labour was that clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene would be available in the hospital.
