It was a long ordeal. For those who do not wish to know the details of child birth, I suggest you surf away from here.For those of you that might be curious, here's the story.
I started spotting a week earlier. Everyone said it could be anytime now. But it is not a lot or very frequent, so when I called up my gynae, he said it should be alright, especially my baby is still very much active in my womb. And so we waited...
On day 3, I started to get worried because the spotting remained, yet just as irregular. I called up my gynae again and he advised me to visit the hospital for a check to see if the baby and I are ready. When I reached, the nurse took my urine sample, blood pressure and weight. I remember one of the more matured nurse asked me,"Your stomach is so huge. Is it the baby or you have thick skin (means I am fat la...)?". I told her, it must be my fats, since the doctor has told me the baby is growing normally. Ben went to park his car and came back to wait outside the examining room. Then they strapped 2 round pieces like earphones over my huge tummy. And I started hearing this "dup-dap, dup-dap..." beat. The rhythm was quick and strong. The nurse asked me to remained lying on my back for 15-30 minutes. When she came back again, she informed me that's my baby's heartbeat and hearing the strong beat, she sure is healthy and active. That was a relief to me. Then I requested the nurse to inform Ben about the baby's heartbeat. He later told me that he could even hear it from the waiting hall outside. Hihi.. That was cute!
Oh the nasty part would be when the doctor came and test if I am ready to deliver. It was really painful, even after the test is completed. But knowing baby is safe, we went back home happily.
But on day 5, when I woke up early in the morning, I noted that the waterbag must have ruptured. I woke Ben up and asked him if to drive me to hospital.
Once there, I go through the same check up all over again. The only difference is that I am facing a new set of nurses and doctor that run the tests on me. This time, the doctor advise me to be admitted to the hospital. Once the registration is done, the nurse came with a wheelchair to wheel me to my room. I felt so awkward to be on a wheel chair for the first time. When I reached my room, I was given a set of clothes and sarong to wear. Then the waiting game started.
My gynae came and examine me. He informed us that the baby is active but since the waterbag has ruptured, it is advisable to induce my body to deliver. But I was thinking, if the baby is not ready, I do not want to force her. So we decided to wait until evening before going for induction. It was a rather relaxing day, waiting and watching tv. I do not feel any contraction.
Come evening, doctor decided to insert a drug that would make my womb contract. I was still able to sleep because I am used to menstrual pains that are worse than this. So much so that on the next day when the doctor came and examine me, his verdict is still the same - Not ready!
My gynae gave us 2 options. Either continue to pill induction or opt for c-section. We are still hoping to go through it naturally. So wait we did. By noon, I was wheeled to labour hall. It is called a hall because all natural labour took place here. We are only separated by different rooms. As I lay there with the machine strapped on my stomach, I could here different ladies screaming their heads off. Off course thay always end up with a baby 's cries. It was so painful to lay still on my back with that heavy stomach all day. Moreover I could not stand the examination pain, so I opted for epidural. The anaesthetist was very nice. She explained the procedure and side effects and stayed with me for a while to monitor my progress. This time when the gynae came again for examination, I don't feel a thing (phew...).
But then he said the head's position seemed to have moved, which means natural birth is out of the question. Both Ben and I started to worry. But when he used ultrasound to check on the baby, he said the position is correct. Another problem is that I had been having contractions since yesterday evening and it has been 24 hours, but my body is still not ready to deliver. By looking at the baby's heartbeat, every contraction makes her heartbeat slowed down and having gone through that for the last 24 hours is very tiring for her. Doc is afraid baby might be too weak to go through the birth canal, so he suggested we consider c-section.
The reason that we hope to go through natural birth is because I am allergic to most drugs, so we worried that it might complicate things if we had c-section. But after discussion with the gynae and anaesthetist, we decided we do not want to endanger the baby any further. Once that is decided, I was wheeled to the operation theatre. I was stripped and position like a cross on the table. The epidural dosage was increased to numb my upper body as well. Being afraid that my emotion might complicate the operation, I requested not to witness the process. Ben was brought in once I am ready. He sat beside me and held my hand through the operation. He got to see how the baby was pulled out after a few attempts. Everyone kept saying "What a big baby!". When I heard her cry, my tears naturally bursts out. I am not sure if this is what some people say as "overwhelmed by love", but I know it was a released of all my worries for her. And when the nurse brought her over to my face to see her, I just can't stop my tears.
Baby, mama loves you so much..
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