hi.
This is my labour story. I know some people are interested to know. I am typing this story now as I serve my
26th May - I attended a wedding dinner of Joshua and Patricia. I was secretly praying that I am allowed to have one more wedding dinner before I go into delivery. I have mixed feeling then. Cos some people said I look like I might overdue from the shape of my belly.
27th May - THE DAY
I woke up feeling pain in my belly. I thought its pain from withholding my urge to pee 'x' So I woke up and went to pee. You know after you pee, you will look back to see at the hole right. And lo behold, I saw blood. I was awaken a bit. But still feeling sleepy. I tried going back to sleep and told Oink what happened. He woke up a bit, but also went back to sleep. How I wish I can go back to sleep. I feel something like period pain.Throbbing pain. It was so intense I was kinda shocked. IS THIS CONTRACTION?? I remember that I should time it. So i took out my HP and time it. It was not consistent. Sometime 5 mins apart, sometimes 6 mins apart, sometimes 8. So I try to rest.I tried. God knows how sleepy I was. 6am man! I was sooo sleepy. But it was so painful!Every time I am almost asleep, the pain comes. GRR.. Oink was however snoring away beside me.I timed myself for 2 hours while folding clothes. Oink woke up. I told him not so fast one la.. no need to go hospital so hurriedly. I ask him to bring down the laundry basket. I repack my labour bags. In my heart I keep thinking could today be the day?
I took bath, scrubbed myself clean, since I don't know when my next bath will be 'x'. I went down and load all clothes into the washing machine.I was thinking may be when its done, we can come back to dry them. But it so happen that once I got to the hospital, we forgot about the laundry. LOL
10am.I remember everybody's advice. MUST EAT FULL before go into labour. But I really don't have much appetite anymore. I still told Oink i wanted McD brekkie before I go into labour. But at that moment, anything near to the hospital seem to be a better choice. We arrived at Foody Goody Cafe but I really don't have appetite to eat anymore. I ordered myself a big cup of milo O kosong. And ordered beef noodle. I even saw my ex classmate EW and her husband there. I find it hard to swallow my food. I had to wait for the contraction pain to be gone and quickly shove the spoon into my mouth. I told Oink I can't finish my noodle. We then walked over to the nearby shop to get some 100+. Then we slowly walked to KPJ's emergency unit as the clinic is not open on Sunday. I even saw my colleague Shadow and his family while I was walking slowly towards the hospital!
11+am.The nurse led me to the delivery suite. I went to the toilet first to relieve myself. I was given the hospital robe. SO THIS IS IT I told myself. I can't believe today finally arrived. I tried to breathe away the pain by using deep breathing. It works a bit. The nurse told me that my gynae is in that day. She is downstairs performing a scheduled C-sect and will be up to check on me soon. She came up just before 12pm and checked me. I was 3cm dilated. But my water is not yet broken. So she told me she will break it manually. I expected more pain. But she was surprisingly gentle. I didn't feel much. So from there the waiting game started. I tried walking around but my water keep dripping and it stained my socks so I went back to lying down. I brought my mp3 with me and inside I had this ocean waves mp3 and rainbow birthing soundtrack (used in hypnobirthing)with me. But I find it hard to concentrate on the words when I am in pain but nevertheless its a good distraction.
I tried to sleep. But the contraction pain is killing me. 'x' Oink came to my side every 10 mins or so to straw feed me my water. I keep myself hydrated by sipping some.
1pm+. I vomitted. YUP. I think the nurses was shocked 'x'. Oink was unlucky, he was beside me at that time. I told me " I feel like vomitting." and I turn my head to my right and UWEEEKKKSSS 'x' Remember I had a big cup of Milo? YUP! there goes the milo and the noodle. And some of it got to Oink's shirt. Oink called his parent's place asking them anyone can accompany me? He wants to go home change. I panicked, I suggested to him to ask them bring a shirt here instead. I can't do this without him.
After cleaning up, I went back to the bed. I keep tilting my head upwards to look at the clock at the wall behind me. And got caught by Oink. He asked me not to keep looking at the time.
3+pm. My gynae came in again to check on me. She said I should be 5-6 cm dilated by now. She checked and said I am only 4cm dilated. And suggested to use pitocin on me to speed it up, or else my labour could go well into the night. I was in so much pain I agreed, I don't think I can tolerate the contraction pain till night fall. OMG. I told her its so painful. She suggested to use pethidine. I agreed because she said it will make me drowsy and I can sleep. Well, she lied. I didn't sleep a wink! How to sleep when the contraction pain is killing me. But it did make me drowsy and less concentrated on the pain. Next time, if I have the courage to go through it again, I won't get pethidine though. The pitocin works straight away. I can feel the contraction getting more intense. I keep scolding myself. WHY???WHY I HAVE TO GET PREGNANT??WHAT DID I GET MYSELF INTO??HOW DID MY FRIENDS GO THROUGH THIS??OH GOD PLS HELP ME..
YUP! That's me, I've heard stories of wives scolding husbands, but not self. I guess I am one of those odd ones? After the pitocin get into my system, I have no more energy to tilt my head to look at the clock behind me. I totally loss track of the time. I can only feel the THROBBING PAIN getting longer and more frequent. 'x' I must say, breathing really helps to relieve the pain a bit.
My mum did come in to see me, but I can't remember is before I vomit/ after. I remember telling her I can't talk much cos I am in so much pain. And I remember seeing my mum's eyes, they are red and watery. My mum, she is one emotional being. Now I feel like crying pulak.
I don't know what time is it, but Oink suddenly tell me he is going out to have dinner for a while. He keep repeating that he will come back ASAP. I told myself to be brave. The pain was sooo intense that I MOANED. Yup. I pulled on the sheets and moaned. I remember 3 super contractions and Oink is back. He must have swallowed his food instead of chewing properly. The my dr came in and she said, OK YOU ARE FULLY DILATED! ITS TIME TO PUSH!
I WAS LIKE WHAT??@@!! Kind of cannot believe it. I don't know why, I am expecting a 10cm dilation contraction SHOULD be pain till want to die (as described by many of my friends) but it didn't. From then onwards everything happens very fast. I was surprisingly calm, I can't believe ITS TIME, but I was calm, not panicky. But my poor husband was not. Dr ask me to put my legs on the bar thingies and to grab my things with both hands and push. PUSHHHHH she and the nurse say. SO I PUSHHH..Oink was supporting my back with his arms and panic-ly reminding me to breathe. I can smell KOLO MEE in his breath..LOL!! At first I didn't know how to push, I only remember my Kegel exercise and I was actually doing that..LOL!! And the malay nurse keep say "push macam berak" and I didn't know why at that moment, my brain cannot register what she is saying. Dr strap me with the bb heartbeat monitoring device, and she said the BB heart is dropping, if you still can't push baby out, i need to use vacuum on you. She went away to prepare the vacuum. She came and say let's try again before I use vacuum on you. Then she said the magic words " PUSH LIKE KEK SAI" AHA! BINGO! THIS I KNOW..LOL!! SO when the next contraction comes, I take a deep breath, and KEK SAI!LOL!! Half head is already out. Another kek-sai-push, her whole head is out. ONE MORE kek-sai-push her whole body is out. You can actually feel something warm coming out of you. It was magical. It was wayyyy easier than I thought it would be. I was proud of myself cos I was pretty calm, even though when dr said her heartbeat is dropping, i was amazingly calm. I only yell at Oink once cos he keep repeating BREATHHHHHHHEEE. I told him, 我上气接不到下气了！Once our daughter is out. I remember the dr, the nurse, Oink all exclaiming happily BB is out!BB出来咯！And I leave this part out when telling my labour story to my friends. Actually at that moment, when Oink was saying that, his voice was actually cracking up. He later told me he felt so touched he wanted to cry. He then lean over and gave me a kiss on my forehead. AWW
I turn over to the right where the bassinet is, to look at my girl. She's soo PINK! I remember showing Oink photos of newborns I found online to him and he ask me why are they PURPLE?? I said you watched too much tv, not all babies are going to come out pink, clean sweet smelling! But she was soooo beautiful, she's so pink and looks pretty clean to me. I only saw some blood on her. Oink said she poo-ed and its black, and came out like gel. LOL. After she is cleaned up. The nurse put her on my bare chest. I tried to make her latch to my breast but all she did was cry. LOL.It was soo cute. Oink and I were sooo happy. So I played with her instead, I touched her little fingers and noticed she has fine hairs on her shoulders and back. We were so happy, Oink almost forgot to take photos! It was the dr who reminded him. LOL. We played with her while the Dr did her stuff "down under". She was pretty quick with whatever she's doing.
So here's my tip on natural birth :
(1) Use deep breathing technique to ease contraction pains. How? Breathe in slowly and fill your stomach with air (its good for your bb too) then slowly breathe out.
(2) Try to be calm, if you panic, its not going to be good for you, people around you and the bb inside you.
(3) When its time to push, PUSH ONLY WHEN YOU CAN FEEL THE CONTRACTION. Contraction is actually your body pushing the BB out, so that's when you push to help speed up the process. PUSH LIKE you had constipation for days. Yup, you get the idea. That's why some people had "extra stuff" coming out beside the BB. GROSS but its true! I didn't cos remember earlier on I vomited. Everything is already out 'x'
I had requested for BB to be sent to me every time she needs a feed, because I was keen on breastfeeding. I was really energetic after the delivery. I didn't feel tired or sweaty 'x'. It was when My MIL and BIL left, and I tried to sleep, then, I felt the throbbing pain again. Feeling something is amiss, Oink called for the nurse, and they said I was bleeding alot. It was around this time that the nursery nurse brought in our BB for her feed, she was crying but I can't do anything. The nurses are busy washing me and clearing the blood and POKING ME on BOTH HANDS because they can't seem to find the suitable place to put in the saline drip. Luckily my mum was in, so she tried to calm my BB. After all the huh-hah, I finally can breastfeed my girl, she was a pro-sucker I tell u. But her mouth is so small, it was painful.LOL. The first night we were there, she is satisfied with what she's getting. But not the next morning, the frequency of the nurse bringing her in, increased from every 4 hours to every 2 hours. I know she's grumpy cos she's hungry, so I requested the nurse to feed her first.
The hospital was pretty under-staff during that period. It was near Gawai too. And I can only check out at 3pm! I was tired and grumpy, and pretty unhappy with the service. But I can't blame the nurses, I see alot of them actually did double shifts. When I got back home, I went straight for the bed and sleep. LOL. With my BB swaddled, sleeping next to me. I didn't sleep much at the hospital, everytime I hear a BB cry, my eyes will open wide.
Overall, the whole labour process, I think pushing is really the easiest part of all. The contraction pain is the scarier one.
But now that I am in my confinement, I think confinement is the worst. More on that later (in another post)
