Announcer-turned-broadcaster Park Eun-young shared her astonishing second childbirth story.
On the 3rd, the "Anamorna Park Eun-young" channel uploaded a video titled "Vaginal delivery was the easiest: the ultimate childbirth story of the advanced maternal age icon (?) Park Eun-young (feat. postpartum diet tips, natural birth breathing techniques)."
That day Park Eun-young said, "Today I'll try to tell my childbirth story. I picked a topic: long live vaginal delivery. These days I see many young mothers choosing elective cesarean sections. I fully understand and empathize with that. Because they pick favorable dates and times, consult a fortune reading and coordinate with the professor, and there are fewer variables so the surgery is neat. Quite a few mothers deliver that way. Still, I think vaginal delivery is worth trying more than elective cesarean. Especially if you don't plan to stop at one child and intend to have a second or third, I absolutely recommend vaginal delivery."
She said, "After delivering Se-yeon well through vaginal delivery, my recovery was really fast. People ask, 'Is your body okay?' and worry, but I'm perfectly fine. I don't know if postpartum ailments will come a month later, but so far I'm doing great, and that quick recovery was possible because of vaginal delivery. After vaginal delivery, recovery was very fast and everything was good."
She continued, "Usually when we give birth isn't it like this: it's not just the baby we deliver but the brain. You give birth to the baby and the brain. Before I forget more, I'll tell the childbirth story to help those about to give birth or trying to become pregnant. I'll share my second vaginal delivery story hoping it helps even a little." She recalled, "For the second child, because labor started suddenly and there were many issues to resolve before going, induction is mostly recommended. Trusting and following my professor, I decided on induced labor and set the date for Jan. 9. I was admitted to the hospital at 10 p.m. on the 8th. I thought it was strange to go to the hospital to deliver while feeling perfectly fine."
Park Eun-young explained the induction process: "From the moment of admission there was fasting, no water allowed. I couldn't eat anything and only IV fluids were given, and the surgical needle is thick. Even two months after delivery the marks remain. It was that thick. They inserted the needle for the IV. They told me to sleep, but I couldn't sleep well, feeling unsettled. They came in intermittently to check my blood pressure, and I could hear nurses working outside, so I spent a restless night. At dawn they first gave me an enema. They put the enema medicine in and said to wait at least five minutes. After one minute my stomach hurt so much I ran to the bathroom and relieved it, and then around 7 a.m. they started administering small amounts of oxytocin."
She said, "Around 8 a.m. the anesthesiology professor came and inserted the epidural catheter. It went in well at once, so they left only the catheter, and after 9 a.m. they increased the dose a bit, but progress was slow. Seeing the ultrasound the professor said, 'I knew this would happen.' For a natural delivery the head should be positioned to come out, but the baby was turned toward the 1 o'clock direction rather than toward the mother's cervical opening. So the professor turned me over and even made me lie face down so the baby could adjust position. With seasoned know-how he set the position, and after that progress sped up."
In particular, Park Eun-young emphasized, "To expectant mothers planning vaginal delivery: watch that video. There is a three-minute video on YouTube by an obstetrician showing breathing techniques for childbirth. If you watch that once, you know the breathing method needed for vaginal delivery. You can deliver much more easily. When epidural anesthesia is given, some people stop the epidural because they don't know how to push. Those who say they were in too much pain after getting an epidural are such people. I was praised for doing the pushing practice so well that I could deliver with the epidural still in. So it wasn't painful at all."
She said, "After increasing the oxytocin and getting the epidural, the dilation went from 4 cm to 10 cm in about an hour. When contractions occurred it felt like a watermelon sliding down toward my cervix. When the contraction stopped it went back up. It went down and up about three times, and I felt I shouldn't push. I relaxed my whole body and kept doing the breathing we learned. Sure enough, when the resident lifted the drape to check, he was surprised and said, 'Oh my, I can see the baby's head.' A few minutes later the professor rushed in. He looked and said, 'Everything has descended. Try practicing pushing,' and when I bore down with a 'ng' he said, 'Done. I'll assist the delivery.'"
She added, "The epidural worked so well I had no labor pain at all. I had no pain whatsoever. When I pushed as if I were having a bowel movement and was told 'relax your muscles,' in the moment of 'hoo' the baby slipped out. The broadcast didn't show it, but after the delivery the professor told me, 'That was a very elegant delivery. It was an elegant delivery,' and said, 'Mr. Hyung-woo is very fortunate. Even though his wife is this age, being able to deliver so smoothly is the husband's good fortune. The child is also very fortunate.'"
She advised, "If you are in a situation where you can attempt vaginal delivery, it's good to try it as much as possible. It's doable. If the epidural works well, delivery is nothing. For those in early pregnancy who haven't decided yet, I think it's good to consider vaginal delivery and not be too afraid of it."
Meanwhile, Park Eun-young married in 2019 and has a son. After announcing last year that she was pregnant with a second child via in vitro fertilization, she gave birth to a second daughter in January of this year at age 43, becoming the mother of two and receiving many congratulations.
[Photo] Anamorna Park Eun-young
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