Birth Day

LENGTHY, WORDY and MAYBE TOO MUCH (for some of your) POST.

Sunday 25th November was a busy day for myself, the husband and babyme (who was still in the tummy!). The in-laws had a little ambuyat lunch get together for immediate family members as BIL was getting married. Then the boys & girls threw me a surprise baby shower.

It was definitely too much excitement for me as on Monday, 26th November 2007, I woke up with period-like cramps. Coincidentally, I was referred to Gynae at RIPAS from my local MCH for 'suspicion of big baby.

The husband was in the showers when I got out of bed and noticed blood on the floor. I was scared at first thinking- 'miscarriage?' but I believe at 37 weeks, they don't call them miscarriages anymore. Made a quick call to my mum (called her just 5 mins before that to arrange logistics to go to the Gynae Clinic) and asked her what was wrong. I remeber she said to me, 'bah ke hospital tah. beranak ko tu. jangan akhir, traffic jam karang'.

I didn't really want to scare my husband so I waited till he finished his shower and got out of the bathroom, -'babe, i think we need to go to the hospital, i'm bleeding'. If I'm not mistaken the look on his face was a mixture of blur and bangang- 'apa ertinya tu?'. Hehehehe. I also packed few 'extra essentials' whilst waiting for him.

I told him I was going to take a shower, etc. first because god knows when my next shower would be (luckily I did, because my next shower was 8 days after that!). My MIL then asked me to eat breakfast first and there I was stuffing myself with chicken paus and Indo Mee! Yes, so much for energy food. Hehehehe.

Upon arriving at the hospital at about 8am, my parents were there already and my brother had a wheelchair for me. Haha. No way was I going on a wheelchair. I walked my way to the labour room where they examined me, only to find out I was only 1cm dilated. I was disappointed and wanted to go home first but the nurses didn't allow as doctor's instruction was admit me for observation.

Little that I know, my brother had texted Spikez and let him know that I was already in the hospital. Capaaatttt! Them all excited, came to visit me during lunch time but was probably disappointed as I was still all smiles and nowhere near delivering. Huhu.

My friends came again at night and accompanied me in my walks. I was doing a lot of walks because the lady in the next bed was walking a lot and gave birth in the afternoon after being induced in the morning. However, it was her 3rd baby, I think. They helped me timed what I thought were contractions, which were 5 mins apart, lasting more than 30 secs!

It was only at around 9pm, I realised what contractions really were. I didn't feel like walking and was just lying down on my bed with my mum rubbing my back. I was in so much pain! It became more painful when I realised no one was allowed to accompany me in the hospital. I was crying when everyone left with the husband being the last one to leave, he suggested transferring me to JPMC so I could be accompanied. Tee-hee. However, I was adamant on giving birth at RIPAS as I've heard few stories on how most mothers had to go through a c-section there. Plus they weren't really responsible when we went there the first time when I was few weeks preggers. Admittedly, I have also heard few horror stories about delivering in RIPAS but I thought, they have delivered thousands of babies, so their experiences is an advantage.
When they examined me that night- I was only 2cm dilated :( I hardly had any sleep as my contractions were 30 mins apart, plus the bed was far from comfortable. My next one (eseh!), I would have to remember in bringing an extra mattress to put on top on the hospital's mattress.
Early in the morning, when the nurses took our temp and bpm, I was examined again. STILL I was only 2-3cm dilated. Aaaah. It was going to be a looong day. They said I might give birth later in the evening or maybe early the next day, especially since its my first baby. There was NO WAY I am staying in the ward for another night, unaccompanied. So, I told babyme that he/ she has to make an appearance on that day, no matter what. After a quick clean-up, I did my walks outside the ward.

At 8am, the doctor was doing her rounds and I told her that I was having contractions and they were about 10-15 mins apart. I happened to have one when the doctor was examining me, so she told me that she would examined my cervix once she has finished her rounds. Whilst waiting, I did my walks outside the ward again, this time the husband had arrived to accompany me. I think by this time, my contractions were less than 10 mins apart as I had to stop at each 'lap' to breathe.

Around 9am, I went back inside and one of the nurses came to time my contractions- It was 3 mins apart and about 45 secs long. Time to be examined AGAIN- 4cm and babyme's head was at 'station 0'. 'Miss, we'll send you to the transition room, okay'.

By this time, my mum, aunt and nini had arrived. My nini asked me to finish a bowl of porridge whilst my mum gave me raw egg with honey to 'give energy'. To think I would ever drink/ eat raw egg! The nurses kept on looking our way to let me know that I needed to be transferred to the transition room but obviously, I was taking my time. Har har. I also refused to be wheeled there and insisted on walking. However, I lost. I had to go in a wheelchair. Inda vogue! LOL.
It was then I was told that the transition room was full (how many ladies were giving birth that day???) and I was going straight to the labour room 'to rest'. Little that I know, I was 5cm dilated by the time I arrived there and babyme's head was already too low. The nurse had to break my water and speed up my contractions :( It was 10am that time.

I was injected with pethedine and not long after that the doctor put me on oxytocin/ syntocinon (I think!) to speed up my contractions. Everything went by so quick as I passed out now and then. I remember my mum, my MIL, my aunts, my nini and my husband coming in and out of the labour room.

Around 1.30pm, I was still nowhere near full dilation and the midwives and nurses were changing shift!! I told the midwife from the earlier shift to just wait a little longer but she insisted that the next shift is very good. They also decided to put me on gas as my contractions were getting closer and longer. The stubborn me refused to take the gas as I was worried that I would not be able to push when the time comes, when I heard my 'new' midwife screamed at me from outside my room to inhale it.

I tried and then stopped when I realised that my contractions were slowing down! Yes, it was then I realised I actually have high tolerance for pain. Haha. It was about this time, I think, the doctor asked the midwife to increase my oxytocin/ syntocinon. My contractions sped up again and this time, I was probably about 8cm dilated and the urge to push was there. The 'new' midwife was by that time with me already and practically screamed (okay, spoke in a really loud voice) to me- 'inda kau mau menyiruk gas atuuu? ter-ajan ko karangggg. alum lagi buka panuhh. mau kau carikkk sama bangkakkkk?'

Haha. Suffice to say I was scared to death and quickly reached for the gas! Oh, in between they had to empty my bladder twice (a LOT of urine althought I insisted that I didn't have the need to pass urine. haha.). I also kept on saying, 'I need to poo, I need to poo' towards the end of it, which actually was the urge to push the baby.

Everytime, they asked me to pass urine or poo in bed INFRONT of them- siapa jua inda malu tuuu? Sigh.

Alhamdullilah, at 4.12pm on Tuesday, 27th November 2007, after 2 or 3 pushes I think, I delivered a baby boy safely with my mum witnessing the whole thing. There she was whispering baca-bacaan in my right ear whilst I was trying to push at the same time trying to take 'peek'.

Now, everytime family and friends asked if it was a painful delivery. My answer is- No. The actualy delivery was far from painful but the contractions were. However, the midwives helped me a lot- from screaming instructions to rubbing massage oil on me. I even had 2 midwife trainees rubbing my back and tummy at one point. Besides the screaming head midwife (who happened to be related to both my mum and dad and was notorious for being the pemarah one bt nevertheless I am grateful for her assistance), the other midwives were soft-spoken.

I think what I was really impressed with was how they made me breastfeed my baby as soon as I was stitched up. I was falling asleep from the painkiller and there were 3 midwives around me- 1 holding the baby, encouraging him to latch on and the other 2 was 'aligning' my breast to the baby's mouth.

It was my plan to have my baby breastfed in the first hour of his life and the midwives helped me in making it happen even when was all drowsy and falling asleep.

Oh, few of my girlfriends and cousin came into the labour room after that too. I think they were more excited to meet babyme than me. Haha.

I never got around to thank everyone for waiting (esp. James who was outside the labour room for hours but left just before I delivered), visiting and most of all praying for my safe delivery :) Lurveeee. Hehe.

Insya Allah, next post will be the challenges of breastfeeding! This is already a lengthy post with no spell and grammar checks. Huhu.

Hehe. My blog is turning into a mummy's blog huh? :p