Monday, 1 April 2013

The Birth Story

24 March 2013

The day we celebrated the last day of the lunar new year. It was also the night Hubs and I moved in to his godparent's place. I felt the contractions throughout the day but it was not intense enough to warrant a visit to the hospital. In the night the contractions became more and more intense but it was still within my tolerance level so I waited and waited till dawn to wake the whole family up.

25 March 2013

At around 10am , after breakfast and after a bath we packed up and headed to TMC. I half expected it was a false alarm so I was not that anxious yet. After we arrived at TMC , I was promptly sent to the waiting ward. From then things seem to move very quickly. The nurse strapped me up and started monitoring the baby's heartbeat. She checked and I was already dilated 1 to 2 cm. I changed into my delivery gown and before I could react I was shifted from the waiting room to the delivery suite where hubs greeted me with a smile. A smile that said " this is it ".

I cannot remember how long I was in the suite but all I could focus was on the contractions that was becoming more and more intense. I was put on drip to increase the intensity and I thought to myself that I will endure it for as long as possible. No epidural or whatsoever pain relief.

By around 2 to 3 pm I think , the contractions became so intense that I needed Hubs to be there to hold my hands as I breathe through every contractions. I felt the tension building up within my body. Yet I was still acting like a hero. No pain relief. It was just me and the support from hubs.

An hour or so later , Dr Teo came in and broke my water bag. The contractions heightened once again. This time I was squeezing hubs hand as if I was going to break it. I asked for the 'laughing gas" but it was not working. The pain and tension just kept building up. I was grabbing the bars so hard that I could just break it into two. This is when I pleaded for pain relief. The epidural was given to me promptly. I heaved a huge sign of relief.

By then my dilation was at around 5 to 6 cm, it did not take long for it to reach 7 to 8cm. The midwife checked on me and told us we are ready to do some pushing. That sentence was the highlight of my day. I perked myself up and started pushing.

" We can see the hair already " was the magic words from the midwife.

I did a few more pushes before Dr Teo came in to give the final instructions. This was the most happening part of the whole delivery, our baby girl came out just after a few final pushes. I remember hearing her loud cries and she was placed on me immediately. I ignore the rest of the bloody mess (i.e. delivery of the placenta and the stitching up ) that was going on around me and just focus solely on looking at our little baby girl.

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