 |
 |
| Birth Stories
II: 1) Kenan's Birth Story 2) Enya Joy's Birth Story 3) Claire's Birth Story 4) Cory's Birth Story EDD: 10 June 2007 Background This is baby Kenan’s birth story from the perspective of Pat Chong, Childbirth Educator, who provided labour support. In 2005, I supported Rita’s birth of her 4th baby, Meghan. So a few months back, when Rita was near term, we again agreed that I would support her birth this time. I was no longer actively supporting births because my youngest baby Trinity still needed me very much at night for night nursing. But for Rita’s birth, I agreed to do so. Labour begins…Two days before active labour began, at 6am on the morning of June 6, Rita’s mucus plug came loose. She messaged me to tell me so and I told her that a mucus plug coming loose is no indication that a woman was in labour – she might go into labour soon, or she may not. In Rita’s case, there were no other clear signs that active labour was starting. She spent the next day or so actively working. In our conversations, she did bring up the fact that baby did not seem to be moving as actively as before and that was a troubling concern for her. We discussed the possibility of going into the doctor’s office to get a CTG done, to see if the baby’s heart tones were all right. I reminded her, however, that a CTG is no indication or guarantee that the baby would NOT go into distress at a different point in time. A CTG would only tell you fetal well-being at that point when the test was run. On June 7, at 5.30pm, Rita called me. She was on her way to MAH to get the baby’s heart-rate checked out. She was concerned about the slowing down of movement but had been too busy in the day to check things out. She also had erratic contractions coming on and off the whole day, but no clear patterns. We agreed that she would let me know if she needed me there. By around 6.45pm, Rita called again. The CTG did not look promising and Rita sounded anxious. They wanted to keep her there to monitor her for a longer period and wanted to do a VE. She asked if I could come. I was in a cab then, so I dropped my children off at home, picked up my bag and headed for the hospital. Rita was in the observation room when I arrived. A VE was done, which showed her to be 4cm dilated. The CTG tracings showed fetal heartbeat to be in the region of the lower 120bpm, which was within borderline normal limits. Fetal activity picked up when the midwife stimulated the baby by palpating and rolling the abdomen for a while. While lying on her side for the CTG trace, Rita felt one or two stronger contractions. Rita wanted to go home if nothing was happening. The nurses consulted Dr Beh, who was covering Dr Paul Tseng, who suggested that she continued to be monitored for another hour or so, on the CTG. Dr Beh, came at 8.30pm. He looked at the CTG and discussed her options with her. She could go home, but come back if contractions progressed or come back immediately if fetal movement totally slowed down. Or she could stay on and they could burst the water bag. I suggested that she could stay on, but get off the CTG and be periodically monitored instead. She already had one or two strong contractions, was already 4cm dilated. Dr Beh thought this was an acceptable option, suggesting that she could be monitored on the CTG again at midnight. Rita agreed. After Dr Beh left, we called Ivan to tell him to come to the hospital since it looks like she was staying the night. As preparations were made for her to move to Room 1, Rita had two or three intense contractions. It looked like they were coming every 7 to 10min and lasting about 30sec. I went to the car to get Rita’s hospital bag and when I came back, she reported having one or two contractions again. I felt that she was progressing very quickly and from her appearance, she looked like she was already in labourland (unfocused on me and external events and inwardly focused). Things progressed quickly from then. I asked for the floor mat, the birth ball and the use of a microwave oven. The nurses helpfully provided these things. Rita laboured on all fours on the floor, leaning on the birth ball. She vocalized well and coped well. The contractions were coming at a clip and she was clearly well into active labour. When Ivan arrived, he was quickly ushered to complete the registration/admissions administration work. When he returned, he said: You won’t believe what I just saw downstairs! There was a lady giving birth on the wheelchair. I could see the baby’s head! Little did we realize that this was, of course, Serene Lim! The three of us had earlier joked about being at MAH together on the same night but did not realize this was actually happening! We didn’t have much time to think about the woman on the wheelchair. Rita’s contractions were highly intense, lasting very long and coming often. We used the rice sock and hot water nappies on her. She developed quite an attachment to the warm rice sock and found relief with it placed on the pubic bone, just under the belly. The wet warm nappies went on to the lower back. The water went cold quite quickly in the air-conditioned room. But I found it hard to leave her to ask for fresh hot water because of the pace and the intensity of the contractions. From the strength and intensity of the contractions, and from her behavior I thought she was soon in transition. The contractions seemed to come right after the other with hardly a pause in between. Rita changed positions, adopting a sitting position, leaning forward on Ivan. She vocalized loudly but found the going hard. At some points, she said she could not take it. I reminded her of her visualization – the baby descending, that every contraction was one less, that each contraction that came would never come again. We changed position to the bed, letting her lie on her side. Rita felt that the pain was coming down her flanks as well. Sometimes, light massages helped. Sometimes they did not. At one point she said she had the urge to push. I went out to ask Sr Lee, the Nurse Manager, to come in and have a look. At this point, for most labours that I have seen, the nurses usually wanted to do a VE to check dilation before they called the doctor. But in this case, for once, we had a midwife who was experienced enough, confident enough to not suggest doing a VE. When I asked, she shook her head and said: Just look at her. You can tell how she’s doing from her behavior – she’s very close already. Wow! I was impressed! First midwife I’ve met who did not see the need to do a VE, to just go by visual facial and emotional landmarks to determine progress. If only we had more such midwives! She watched Rita closely for a while then left the room. Things continued like this for a while more – about another 30minutes more. During this time, the nurses popped in and out. They said they had called the doctor but Dr Beh did not come. Around 11.30pm, Rita said she felt like pushing. In fact, I could tell she was already pushing involuntarily. It showed in her face, her grimace and her grunts. She was bearing down. I told the nurses that she was already pushing. One of them reiterated that they had called the doctor. But the doctor was nowhere in sight! And looking at pace of things, I did not think the doctor would make it for the birth. Ivan stayed at Rita’s head, holding on to her, while I went to her right side. A nurse stayed next to me. I reminded Rita to push according to her urges. There was no stopping her. When the body takes over, nothing and no one can stop a woman from involuntarily pushing! One nurse very kindly handed a wet wipe for me to wipe Rita’s forehead. We reminded her to keep her jaw loose and not tense up, to keep breathing well and to bear down only during contractions. Things happened very quickly. Rita cried: I can feel something there! I told Rita it was likely to be the water bag. Then the water bag burst – with enough force to drench the bed and hit the floor three or four feet away. I asked the nurse for a towel to staunch the pool of amniotic fluid around Rita’s back and legs. From where I stood, I saw the anal flare and pointed that out to the nurse as well. The perineum was bulging with the baby’s head. As the baby crowned, I reminded Rita to stop pushing, to breathe the baby out. The nurse came forward with a sanitary napkin to guard the perineum but did not guard it very well as the head emerged. At that point, the perineum was still intact. With the next contraction, both shoulders emerged and the baby whooshed out in one swift glide. It was 12.08am of 8 June 2007! Baby Kenan lay on the bed, wet and purple. His face was a dark shade of purple but I could see the rest of his body pinking up slowly. For several seconds, no one did anything. Concerned about heat loss, I asked the nurses to cover the baby. As they did, one of them moved forward with a clamp to clamp the cord. I said that Rita’s birth plan asked for delayed clamping. Rita then asked for the baby to be given to her. The nurse wrapped the baby up in the towel and passed the baby to her in between her legs and Rita held baby Kenan in her arms for the first time. Dr Beh came and examined Rita and said she needed stitches for a perineal tear. Ivan cut the cord. Dr Beh helped remove the placenta with a little cord traction. Large clots came loose. Given her history of PPH and the fact that she looked pale and was shivering, I was concerned but no one else seemed to think this was of any importance. I covered her with an additional blanket. At that point in time, I was called away at home. Trinity had been crying for more than an hour and KH was out of ideas. I left Rita and Ivan with my apologies for running out so abruptly. This was exactly a scenario I feared when I agreed to support Rita and the key reason why I would not support births in general for now. They were kind enough to wave me away and urged me to go. I left just as Dr Beh had commenced stitching Rita up. After word: I left so suddenly that I did not even have time to see Rita establish breastfeeding. But I was worried about baby’s purple face and I was worried about Rita’s blood loss. These issues lingered in my mind and I found it difficult to sleep that night – perhaps the post-birth endorphin high also applied to those present at the birth! I think this is true and I have read about this as well. At 4am, I checked my phone and my messages in case they called. But all seemed well. I only had two messages from Ivan telling me everything was fine and that they had gone to the post-natal ward. The next day first thing in the morning I called Rita and was relieved to find her sleepy but well, baby also looking okay. I visited her in the afternoon. After reviewing the video footage (Ivan had inadvertently taken video footage of the baby emerging), we could see the cord pinched between the baby’s head/neck. It could be one reason why the baby had diminished movements and why the baby’s face was purple at birth. More than ever, I am grateful that baby Kenan came through cord compression unscathed. I always find it a joy to support a birth, especially in the case, the birth of a friend’s child. I feel privileged to be present. I think Rita had as unmanaged a birth as one can have in a hospital environment. She had only one VE throughout her labour. She was monitored with the CTG only initially and then left alone to labour with Ivan and I present. We would have considered the tub for pain relief but the water heater was out of order! At 4.2kg, Kenan was only slightly lighter than his older sister Meghan, at whose birth I was also present. Watching Rita birth Kenan and Meghan so beautifully, ecstatically and drug-free, only serves to validate my conviction of the power of a woman’s body and her ability to birth her baby – no matter the size.
Birthed gently and naturally drug-free on 18 November 2006 in 1 hr after reaching the hospital! She weighed in at 3.52kg and measured 52cm. Her head circumference is 35cm. Enya was postdates by one week, she incubated exactly 3 weeks longer than her brother who was a 38-weeker so she’s a bigger baby than he was. My wonderful obgyn did not catch her, he was 3 minutes late! But he delivered my placenta and did a swell job of cleaning me up. I had no tearing and no stitches but lots of clots! Paul spent half an hour making sure I had no clots left behind. I dunno how to describe it but the pain I felt when he did the cleaning was many times worse than birthing Enya! At one stage, my dearest husband was not by my side and I gripped Paul’s left arm instead! Hahaa… so embarrassing can?! Thankfully he could joke about it! That’s the cool Paul Tseng for you! Two weeks leading up to birth-day: I started losing my mucus plug more than a week before actual labour started. I hardly had any BH contractions this pregnancy and was constantly looking for a sign but there wasn’t anything except for the plugs. I was wondering to myself how much mucus plug I actually had! Dh bought the first fresh coconut for me on 1 November and I probably had about 10 fresh coconuts before actual birth-day. Each time I drank one, dh and the boy would ask if Baby was coming out that day. My estimated due date came and went, nothing happened. It was sweet anticipation as I kept myself occupied trying out new recipes, making bread in the bread machine and baking a cake! Friday, 17 November 2006 One night before birth-day, I felt like re-reading Supernatural Childbirth. I feel very empowered each time I read this book and I have read it countless times. Saturday, 18 November 2006 Dh and the boy had gone out for their Saturday morning bonding session and Imelda was attending her second Thai cooking class. I woke up, had a late breakfast and took a shower before going back to bed. I had Shawndeya’s Surfing for Birthing on repeat mode and unknown to me then, I was actually in labour! I was having what I thought was BH contractions but I had primed myself to think of them as “muscle tightenings” and coupled with my very high threshold for pain, I really didn’t think it was actual labour! I got myself all comfy in bed and drifted in and out of sleep while doing my affirmations and visualizations. I remember Rachel calling me and asking if I was going to Regina’s beach party! Told her I was starting to ache down there, very unlikely! We talked till my hp started burning my ears and I told her I needed to go. I remember looking at the clock each time I felt a muscle tightening. It was coming in intervals of 15 mins or so but I wasn’t recording anything down – didn’t feel the need to. I remember telling Imelda what to cook for dinner – I had been printing out new recipes for her recipe file and she was going to try making “Samwongtan” (steamed silky eggs using hen, century and salted eggs). I went back to bed and the boy joined me as he had had a long day and he fell asleep in seconds. At 5.05pm, I felt a gush, I quickly rolled off the bed and let the water gush to the floor. Pat, my CBE had told me the amount of water would feel like a 1.25 litre of coke bottle. There was certainly that much, if not more. So this time I could tell the difference between a leak and a BURST! I went to shower and wash my hair (again!) and saw bits of white tissue. Sms’d Pat, asked her if I should wait or go in and what the white tissue was. She called me back – suggested I go in since I have GBS and my labour with Q was also pretty short (6 hours after first contraction started). The white tissue were the membranes! My water bag had truly broken, yeah! Told dh to get himself ready and asked Imelda to look after Q (he was in deep sleep – perfect!) when he woke up and just cook less for dinner as dh and I were heading to the hospital. I went in the back seat and during the ride to the hospital, I felt another 3 contractions – looked at the clock, they were 4 minutes apart. It hurt a little more since there was no more water bag to cushion Baby but it still felt manageable. Traffic was smooth and we reached Mount A in about 15+ minutes. I got down and walked to the entrance before plonking myself on the wheelchair. Immediately, someone came out to wheel me in. When we got to the Labour Ward, the first thing I did was look at the whiteboard – there was only one other room occupied and Birth Room 1 was available – Yippee! It was a quiet evening!! First thing I did was put the Surfing for Birthing disc in the CD player. I had stated to birth in my own clothes
on my birth plan but they had me change into the hospital
gown – ok lah, no biggie. Good thing also on hindsight! :) She was asking for this or that or something and for some reason, her whole manner put me off immediatelyl For goodness sake, my birth plan has been signed off by my obgyn – who are you to stand there and take 10 minutes to read thru and tell me “This I can give you, that I can’t give you”. BLAH! I found her whole manner very patronizing and off-putting. When she asked if I wanted her to do a VE, I told her NO! Only Paul, thank you very much. Meanwhile, I sent dh out to get his dinner. That’s typical Mama Cat behaviour – I knew all along I wanted to labour on my own. I had dreams about it even. I had agreed to CTG for 20 minutes and this was promptly done. Gosh, labouring on your back has got to the most insane thing to do… the pain was unbearable stuck in that stupid position. I asked Miss Chinese midwife/nurse/whatever the time we started and gave her an extra 5 minutes after 20 minutes ended before buzzing her. Told her it’s time to take the thing off. She started her “But you see your contractions are blah blah blah…” I told her very firmly Take it off! I am getting off the bed, I am NOT birthing on the bed. She did it with an “OK lor” damn grudgingly. BLAH! Once she left the room, I felt at peace. I looked at the clock. Time was 6:55pm. I draped my yellow towel on my 75cm gym ball and went on all fours. I visualized myself opening up, my pelvic bones accommodating baby and laboured on the ball for a while. I decided I wanted to labour on the toilet bowl (this is not as bad as it sounds - Pat had shown us a video of a homebirth where the Mama laboured on the toilet bowl before coming down on all fours to have her babies – she had twins and the second was footling breech! The whole video was shot by the Daddy and it was done so NATURALLY, I felt sooo in awe when I watched it.) I surfed for more home birthing videos after that and truly labouring on the toilet bowl is something a lot of Mamas do! Apparently it is a perfect position to get everything in perfect order. I guess it is one of those things you have to try yourself to understand how it works! I probably laboured for 10 over minutes before I felt baby’s head coming down! I truly didn’t expect things to move so fast! I got up and went out. Dh was back. I got on the ball again. It was 7:15pm, I told him get the nurse, baby’s coming! Thank God, it was a very lovely Filipino nurse/midwife (I really have no idea how to tell from their different uniforms) who came in to attend to me. I told her I had an urge to push already. She asked very nicely, “May I do a VE for you?” I said yes, please. She did – painless and told me I was dilated almost 10cm! I told her please call Paul now! The next 10 minutes went by extremely fast. I moaned thru my contractions – loose jaws: loose pelvis. The nurse stayed with me and was holding
something to support my perineum. I felt baby crowning. No
pain, but I could feel the head gliding downwards! Next contraction, one more push and Baby’s body was out! Oh my… I looked at the clock. I couldn’t believe it! And Paul was not here! He didn’t catch my Baby!! During this time, I realized there was another Indian nurse/attendant helping and she was going to clamp and cut Baby’s cord. HORRORS! I said, "NO CLAMPING, NO CUTTING! It’s in my birth plan!" She obviously had not read it, BLAH! 3 minutes later, Paul stepped in. I told him: you missed the Baby!! He came down on the floor and checked me, baby and cord. He looked at the cord and asked why it was clamped. That is when I realized Ms Indian Nurse had gone ahead to clamp! She kept very quiet and did not say a thing. Then Miss Chinese came back, and you know the first thing she asked?? “Where is the water bag?” She told Paul I didn’t tell her my water bag had burst. Hello… you did not ask! Paul laughed and told her she doesn’t have to tell you coz she doesn’t need a jab! The two nurses helped me up to the bed. They were ill-prepared for a mom birthing without a doula – there was no groundsheet on the floor and the mattress was brought in only after I told them to get it after Baby was birthed. The next 30 minutes must have been the most painful as Paul cleaned me up inside. For some reason, I had lots of clots. Paul decided he needed to give me a Syntocinol jab to get my uterus to contract. Apparently if the uterus takes too long to contract, there is an increased risk of Postpartum Hemorrhage (PPH). I agreed. I birthed my placenta while still on the floor. This Paul delivered and he showed it to me – intact and perfect! We brought it home by the way! I haven’t decided what I want to do with it. :) I dunno how to describe it but the pain I felt when he did the cleaning up was way worse than anything. It made birthing Enya seem like a piece of cake! At one stage, my dearest husband was not by my side (I later realized he was taking photos!) and I gripped Paul’s left arm instead! There's a photo of it to prove... so embarrassing?! He laughed and joked I could do a drug-free birth two times over but not stand the pain of cleaning up! After Paul finished up, he confirmed there was no tearing, my perineum was intact and I didn’t need any stitches. He even agreed to discharge me the same night if Baby was OK after paed’s check. He did the sign-off and we said Goodbye! But in the end we stayed the night as it was almost 11pm by the time the paediatrician standing in for Dr Tan Siew Pin came to see us. I was also getting tired by then! Dh went off to fetch Q from home and it was past midnight by the time they got back to the room. This motherly nurse from the night shift (thankfully there was a shift change at 9pm so Miss Chinese had left by then!) had overheard me telling dh I would stay overnight only if Q could join us (he has never slept a night away from me… I knew he was not going to be able to take not having dh beside him too) she quietly made arrangements to put us at Our Lady’s Ward – they converted a double room to a single room and put in a cot bed for Q, so we had a bed each for the four of us. She told me as they wheeled me to OL ward that they had reserved a single room in St Raphael’s ward for me but it would be too small. Bless her kind heart!
Everything went well that first night. Enya nursed exactly half an hour after birthing and poo-ed her first meconium poo within the hour. She poo-ed more meconium each time she nursed. Birthing Enya has been a very wonderful and enriching experience. I told dh we can have half a dozen more! Haha.. joking lah… easy to birth but it’s not easy to raise a child in expensive Singapore! Four years ago, when I birthed Qile drug-free and with no tearing or episiotomy at KKH (lying on the bed somemore!) I thought OK, maybe it’s a fluke. Four years later, being able to birth and welcome Enya gently into the world on my own makes it one full circle. I feel very complete and fulfilled!! Thank you to my dearest husband for putting up with his Mama Cat, my cool obgyn Paul Tseng, my CBE Pat Chong and the lovely Filipino nurse at MAH who caught Enya before Paul arrived.
“I want to do without pain relief this time!” Pregnant for the fourth time, I decided that I really wanted to do without any pain relief this time and I had to be in charge! From my first birth, I was disappointed with not being firm enough especially in hospital and giving in to an epidural every time. I was never confident that I could do it so I gave in. The first change I made was to change my ob/gyn. I searched the net for an ob/gyn who would give me more support in the birth I want. And it was only in my 7th month that I was referred to Pat Chong by a friend. This friend shared her story of birthing without much pain, only discomfort. Unbelievable! Birth education and birth plan With that referral, I asked Pat to give my husband Kirk and I a crash course on labour, birth, coping with the pain and all related to that in one afternoon. A challenging feat but Pat did it. After the course, I wrote down my birth plan and went through it with Pat. All this while, she continued to encourage me to have confidence in myself and she kept telling me that I could do it. Contractions started My EDD was on 2 April 2007 but it came and went. On Easter Sunday morning, 8 April 2007, I woke up with a show. This is typical of my labours always started, I would get a show and then contractions would start and I would usually end up in hospital in the wee hours of the morning. Throughout the day I felt contractions but it was not regular or worrisome. We continued with our usual Easter celebrations, gobbling down popiah at my uncle's house and a had sumptuous dinner cooked by my mother-in-law. By the time I got to bed, it was midnight and the contractions were more often frequent but I did not bother to time them. I knew I still had time so I wanted to catch as much sleep as I could. At 2am, the contractions were waking me up and I used a birth ball to help me cope with each contraction. In between contractions, I slept. I stacked up my pillows and I tried to sleep on them face forward as well. At 3am, I woke Kirk up and he offered to time my contractions with his super duper lap watch. It was about 5 to 6 minutes apart lasting 30 seconds each time. It stayed that way for a long time. Just after 4am, each contraction gradually lengthened to 1 minute long. I found it hard to know how advanced into labour I was. I wanted to go into hospital but yet feared that it would be another 6 to 9 hours wait in hospital. I did not want to end up giving in to an epidural due to fatigue. So Kirk bravely said we would wait till the pace of contractions dropped to below 5 minutes apart before going. Suddenly it did and the contractions jumped rapidly from
5 minutes to 3 minutes to 2 minutes 50 secs and they
kept dropping. We got out of bed and I just
leaned against a wall or table for each contraction. If
it was a little more uncomfortable, I just swayed my hips
and felt that I could cope pretty well. Although Kirk said
they lasted one minute, it felt like just 10 seconds to me.
All this while, I kept visualising my baby moving his way
down through the birth canal. Kirk took the hospital bags, 2 big bags. I was prepared to spend a few hours in hospital but I was just hoping it wouldn't be 6 hours or more. I grabbed my blanket as a friend told me a few days before how she had shivered in the car. We made our way down and I waited at the void deck whilst Kirk walked down the block to get the car. I think I had 2 contractions there. During those 2 contractions, I felt the urge to push. I could not be sure but it felt like the baby was bearing down. Even though this was my fourth pregnancy, I never really felt the actual birth of all three since I was numbed by the epidural. When Kirk came to get me, I said to him, " I think we will not make it. I think I'm giving birth." His immediate reaction was "NO! You're not joking?! Don't push, hold on!" We were just a stone's throw from the hospital. At 4.40am, it would have taken less than 10 minutes to reach there. A miracle! Sensing I was really not going to make it, I asked Kirk to take the disposable sheets that I had packed right on top of the hospital bag and line the car seats with it. I had packed the sheets in case my water bag burst. I climbed into the back seat kneeling down and facing the rear of the car. I breathed out in a panting manner trying best not to push. I reached down and felt the baby crowning. I could feel him throughout as he was birthing. When he was out, I just lifted him, turned around and sat down. It was 4.50am. As Kirk drove out the car park and made the first turn, he heard a baby's cry! What a miracle! We thank God for His protection! Kirk drove on, looked backed once and said, "OK, OK, you're alright, hold on." He turned around again to see the baby. His next question: "Is it a boy or girl?" It was a boy! So we now have two girls and two boys! It was early in the morning so traffic was very light. Actually, he stopped at the next bus stop and ran around to my door to open it. He couldn't because it was auto locked and my hands were all wet from the birth so I did not attempt to open it for him. I do not remember this but Kirk said I smiled at him and waved him to carry on to the hospital. So he got back into the driver's seat and drove on. Kirk threw the blanket I had brought along around us so it kept the baby and me warm. I felt so good and so happy carrying the newborn in my arms with no nurses around to bug me to give up my baby for them to weigh or clean. I had my baby all to myself and it was a great feeling! When we reached the hospital, Kirk informed the staff on duty and they came out with a bed and wheeled baby and me up to the delivery ward. Only then did I kneel on the bed and the placenta just slid out onto the bed. Baby Rafael and I cuddled and enjoyed our moment while we waited for my ob/gyn to come. 21 April 2005 I went for my weekly check-up. Dr A Wong did a vaginal examination and pronounced me 2cm dilated. Perfectly normal and cervix is soft. She did a swab test for GBS and told me I may bleed a little because of the VE. 22 April 2005 6am Woke up and grabbed my rosary. While fiddling with it and praying, I heard Keith waking up. 6.45am One painful contraction. Hmm, I thought. A painful one? Lasted approximately 20 secs. 7am Went out to play with Keith. Another contraction. Hmm. Yelled at Anthony to watch Keith as helper went out to buy bread. He woke up grumbling. I went to sit on bed, thinking about passing loose stools (which I have been doing for the past one week). 7.15am Went to toilet but nothing came out. Went to get josh his milk. Every step I took resulted in painful contractions. 7.30am Grabbed birth ball and went on all fours as next contraction hit. Called Pat and said, “Eh I think this is real.” Painful, I told her, and lasting longer and longer. Coming 1 in 5 too. She told me, ok. Probably early stage of labour. As we talked, another one hit. Pat noted that I could still talk through it. Anthony in the meantime was busy working on his email. He also passes me bread and Milo on the bed as I told him this might be it. After hanging up, I went to the toilet and passed more loose stools, then I showered and changed into sarong and t-shirt. 7:45am Another contraction, lasting 30secs. “Anthony”, I yelled. “I think you have to stick around. This might be the day.” He was getting all flustered, as he had to settle a handover/emails by today. From then on time was a blur. I called Pat pretty regularly (or did she call me?) and she brought me through one or two contractions. Pretty intense ones too. She noted the time, and told me I'm progressing fast. What really helped me through was what Pat told me: remember, it's one contraction less, take one contraction at a time. And so every time one contraction hit, I told myself, one less contraction means I'll be seeing you soon, Noah. I love you. And I kept grabbing my rosary. By this time, it was about 9:15am. I refused to get off the birth ball, and remember telling Pat maybe I should do this at home. I liked it at home. She was telling me to go to KK now. Anthony kept yelling at me to get moving, fretting about a jam and getting to the hospital on time! And so off we went. The bag was already is his car. He squeezed the birth ball out of the door. My MIL later complained and complained to my SIL about “…why on earth did he have to take that big ball for? His wife was about to give birth and he still has to squeeze the ball out??”). Anthony instructed our helper to help bring me downstairs to the car. Helper rubbed my back soothingly. Keith cried when he realised we were going without him. Poor boy. Kissed him and off we went! I realised that this was it. Noah was coming out today and very likely before noon! In the car, I couldn’t sit in front and so I sat with the giant ball in the back seat. Anthony drove like a reckless nut, horning at anybody in his way. I just rested against the ball. We reached KK Hospital at 9.45am. I went up first to Labour Ward and checked into delivery suite at about 9.55am. Thankfully, I had done all the admission procedures the day before. I calmly told the receptionist that I'm having contractions coming at 1 in 3min. Contractions started at 7am. Doc is A Wong. 3rd child. She admitted me straight away. I told her the husband is on the way – the one with the big ball. She said oh natural birth. I asked if anybody ever brought a birth ball to KK before. She said nope. I'm the first! I’m strangely pleased. The minute I went into the suite, I got on the bed and went on all fours, head on pillows. The porter was so scared I'd fall. I said it's ok. She went out giggling to her fellow porters about me. The senior staff nurse came in. I passed her my birth plan and said to contact Dr Wong. She took a quick glance and said ok, let's do baseline CTG first for 20mins. CTG not effective in picking Noah up - I was on back, very painful. Kept chanting - I'll be seeing you soon Noah, I love you. Where is Anthony?? He finally came rushing in with the big ball and bumps into nurse. Another nurse came to tell me she has to prolong the CTG cos baby's heartbeat can’t be picked up. Meanwhile Dr Wong has given the green light to go ahead without CTG. I agreed to another 20mins. After the 20min ended and a VE was done (5cm dilated), I straightaway flipped over on and leant on the birth ball. I think Anthony called Pat. From this time onwards, things were a bit hazy. Dr Wong came in, very calm. Did another VE - 7cm. Then it was lala land all the way. Contractions came one after another, and I was muttering - I will be seeing you soon Noah, mommy loves you. It's one contraction less. Breathe. Anthony was rubbing my back the wrong way. Aarrgh… Soon I was 8cm dilated. No more strength to go on. Went on my side after that. Water bag was bulging but not bursting. Please burst it, I asked the nurse. Senior staff nurse, Julie, held my hand fast and whispered - you're doing great. Just a little while more. Anthony was massaging better now. I moaned through each contraction (geez. how did i get through the pain on hindsight) and murmur: Noah, I love you; will be seeing you soon. After an eternity, Julie did another VE and told me gently she has to page for Dr Wong. I begged her to burst the water bag as she went to page the doc. When she came back, I begged her again. She agreed to do it but warned me that once she did that, it was going to be really painful. I start to scream as baby started to come down fast. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!! I remembered to keep my face relaxed... Another intense one, I screamed and yelled because I did not know how to get through this otherwise. Doc Wong told me gently, baby's coming. Next contraction, focus and push with all my might. I didn’t feel like pushing. I hung my leg over the bed rail and waited for next contraction. As it came, I could feel Julie telling me it's coming. She whispered, push… Don't scream. I am grateful she's there. PUSH PUSH PUSH. Stop. Contraction fades. Julie rubbed my thighs, Anthony massaged my back. Another contraction was building up. Julie kept telling me I was doing real good. She reminded me gently, PUSH... PUSH... PUSH... breathe out... PUSH. I pushed 3 times, feeling the ring of fire Pat had told me about. Doc Wong and Julie encouraged me to keep going. Anthony was massaging me furiously. Noah's head finally came out, and then I felt this slippery gush and the rest of his body followed! I sobbed a little I think... and Anthony was busy kissing my forehead. I could feel the cord dangling outside of me. They passed Noah to me for a while... then took him back, wrapped him in a towel and passed him back to me again. I could hear Anthony putting on latex gloves to cut the cord. Doc Wong didn't wait for the cord to stop pulsating. I was in too much of a daze... Anthony snipped the cord. Whipped out his camera to take pictures of Noah.... Doc Wong massaged my uterus... a while later the placenta slipped out, intact. On hindsight: The only thing that I did against my original plan was the bursting of the bag. I could feel the energy sapping out, and thought I should just go ahead and burst it, otherwise all else will be lost. In between all these, I sipped 100 plus, which probably gave me the energy to push with all my might. All the effort to bring Noah to term - all the Adalat I had to take – all worth it! So there he is, Noah, my first full-term baby, after boys born prematurely! |
||||||||||||
 |
|
| |