Actress Choi Yoo-hwa, now a mother, personally revealed her experience with natural childbirth.
Choi Yoo-hwa recently posted several long entries on her social media recounting the process of her natural childbirth.
First, Choi Yoo-hwa said, "I heard that even people without back pain have their bellies stick out a lot when pregnant and have back pain, and because I have scoliosis I was afraid my back would hurt even more during delivery. So I vaguely thought, 'When I give birth later I'll go to a hospital that gives good epidurals,'" adding, "But when pregnancy became real and I learned about epidurals, I realized that was not the delivery method I wanted. I didn't want to make my already weak back hurt more if side effects occurred."
She continued, "Around that time I happened to see a video — the episode with Choi Gyeom and director Jeong Hwan-wook doing natural childbirth — and I felt director Jeong Hwan-wook's philosophy resonated with me. So even though it was far from home, I visited at nine weeks' gestation, and that choice changed my delivery," adding, "Before pregnancy I thought, 'Of course I'll go to the big hospital nearby,' but once I was pregnant I realized trust in the doctor and the warmth of the nurses mattered more to me than distance. After all, it might be my first and last childbirth."
Choi Yoo-hwa said, "I prepared mentally by reading books recommended by the hospital. Instead of 'what if it hurts too much,' I thought, 'even if it hurts, let's relax.' I used to have severe menstrual cramps and would always take Tylenol to ease the pain, so I once asked director Jeong Hwan-wook in a complaining way whether I could do it, and he told me, 'Childbirth is something the mother and baby do. You have to believe in yourself, mother,' and those words helped me regain my center."
She added, "At 37 weeks the baby already weighed 3.3kg. If the baby had weighed just a little less I would have wanted to carry to 40 weeks, but in the last month I started to get anxious hearing that they grow quickly. The midwife also told me not to eat sweets and to exercise hard to have an easier delivery."
Choi Yoo-hwa said, "I kept doing squats and lunges, and on the 39th week, day three, something came out that I couldn't tell if it was mucus or amniotic fluid. That day the hospital did an internal exam for the first time, and the test showed it was mucus. From leaving the hospital the contractions began slowly. I heard stories of people going in because of pain only to find their cervix hadn't dilated, so I tried to endure as much as possible. When I went to the hospital after midnight, fortunately I was 2-3 cm dilated. When you're having contractions it's vague because you don't know how many hours it will last, but as the pain increased I calmed myself thinking the baby would meet me soon."
She also explained the delivery, "The midwife, the doula and my husband massaged me, poured warm shower water on my back and held my hand to help whenever contractions came. My husband's help with breathing at my side was also a big help. No injection was given so I could take any position, and when contractions subsided I even drank my favorite coffee."
Choi Yoo-hwa said, "They say contractions last one to two minutes and the pain-free intervals shorten as intensity increases, but mine felt long at five minutes each. At some point they said I had to start letting the baby descend, and even though it was really painful the midwife and doula had me do squats. They said bearing down together hurts less, so I let go of my ego and followed. How long had it been? Finally it was time to push in earnest. I had read that it often comes out in three pushes, but before I knew it three pushes had passed. Maybe 50 minutes had passed, and then the baby came."
In her final post Choi Yoo-hwa wrote, "The baby weighed 3.78kg and had a large head so it was a bit difficult to come out. I thought with a natural delivery I could walk right away; it was good that I could eat as I wanted, but walking was hard — giving birth to a big baby caused severe muscle pain in my left hip, so for a few days I waddled."
Choi Yoo-hwa wrote, "It has been 20 days since I gave birth," adding, "Choosing natural childbirth meant my husband and I could share every part of the process, which was meaningful. He said it was a good experience for him too, but he was so timid that I cut the baby's umbilical cord. Now it's my turn to raise the baby, and breastfeeding feels like an all-night drama shoot. But I delivered without the back pain I had worried about, and the whole process felt mysterious and grateful. The body, the mind."
Choi Yoo-hwa announced last December on social media that she had married and was pregnant at the same time. At the time she said, "Earlier this year I had a private wedding with the non-celebrity man I love. While waiting for work, a precious life came to me."
[Photo] Choi Yoo-hwa SNS.
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