MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY - MCCONAUGHEY LABOUR DRAMA COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED

MCCONAUGHEY LABOUR DRAMA COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED

Concerns about his baby and his exhausted girlfriend prompted dad-to-be MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY to agree to a C-section birth after a 40-hour labour marathon last month (Jul08).
The actor and his girlfriend Camila Alves were determined to have a natural birth and had to change their plans when the Brazilian model's waters broke a week early and she spent hours in pain.
Speaking on U.S. medical show House Call, MCConaughey recalls, "We were 40 hours into this and now the doctors are getting concerned about the water being broken and the possibility of infection.
"I wouldn't say she's (Alves) suffering but she's having to dig deep... She's tired, she's exhausted, she's in pain. When the contractions come, you've gotta push and in between them - those 30 second intervals - she's passing out and then coming back to and that went on for hours.
"And, we had this problem... Upon contractions, the baby's pulse would sink. It was getting down to 70, which means the umbilical cord is somewhere strapped across the oesophagus.
"The doctor called C-section and, as soon as they say C-section, 33 minutes later, the baby's out. (I was like) `60 hours we've been in here and if we'd have come in and just said `Let's just have it,' you could do it in three hours."
But the Sahara star has no regrets: "It went down perfectly. Even though we went 60 hours to do what could have been done in a few hours, it was a great journey for both of us."