Welcome to the world

Thought of writing this down so that many years from now, the little one will be able to read for himself what I went through to bring him into the world.. heh.

We visited the gynae in the morning of Monday, 27th April, and learnt that I was already at 2 cm, and the baby's head was already very very low, so things were looking good. Soon, we were told. And so we waited. The contractions got stronger throughout the day, but they still weren't close enough to warrant a trip to the labour ward just yet. We were hoping to hold on out until the next morning, since we didn't fancy going in to the hospital in the middle of the night, but at midnight I decided I really had to wake poor hubby up, and off we went to the hospital.

I had thought the whole thing would move along quite quickly, given the baby's position and all.. but it still took 12 hours. Gosh!

It was quite frustrating to learn that I was still at 2 cm at midnight; so there was nothing to do but to wait. The painful contractions were occuring every 5-10 minutes, which meant I could not get any rest, and neither did poor hubby. At 4 a.m. I was STILL at 2 cm...there was still a long way to go, and I was worried at being exhausted by the time it came to pushing the baby out, what with no rest throughout the night and all. Drat.

And so I signed the consent form for the epidural; hubby and I praying very hard that the anaesthetist who was going to administer the epidural would be alert and awake enough not to mess things up. After all, it IS an injection into the epidural space, which is part of the spine.. :p

My legs were all warm and tingly after the epidural; more importantly, I couldn't feel the pain of the contractions, which was absolute bliss. Should have taken the epidural earlier. Haha.

Managed to get a few hours' of light sleep after that; my gynae came in at 7 a.m, announced that I was at 3-4 cm (only??), and proceeded to burst my water bag. (We thought it had already burst, but she said it was still intact, and prodded it to show me. It felt like a water balloon going round and round... eww.)

After that, things got a bit weird. I developed a slight fever, started vomitting and also started shivering. Apparently, these were all side effects from the epidural. I couldn't even keep a sip of water down, and I was shivering like crazy. We had to switch the air-con off, and I was under 2 blankets, but I still felt like my bones were freezing. Those few hours were TERRIBLE. It was like having severe food poisoning (which is something that I am quite susceptible to); but on top of that being in labour, with blood and fluid leaking everywhere, and the lower body nothing but a helpless deadweight. Also, I could feel the epidural 'wearing off', since I could feel my contractions again. I was distressed almost to the point of tears, and wondered how I would find the strength later to push. Goodness.

It finally crossed someone's mind to give me some anti-vomitting medicine, so that I could also take the medicine to bring the fever down. They topped up my epidural dosage (the tube was taped to my back), and that helped somewhat. Thank God hubby was there to help take care of me. He sponged me with a towel to get the fever down, and later to help me cool off when the medicine took effect and I started to sweat profusely. By then, I was about 5-6 cm.

The next thing I remember was being at 9 cm, and then there was a flurry of activity in the labour ward. I was re-positioned, poles were put in place for my hands and feet, the gynae's equipment was laid out, etc. Everything happened so fast; the gynae suddenly appeared and the next thing I knew, it was time to push! It was tough; I couldn't seem to get the technique of coordinating the breathing and pushing quite right.

There were 8 other people in the labour ward; and I recall there was a lot of cheering from the 'spectators'- loud cries in unison spurring me to push, push and push some more! Thanks to the epidural, I remember this scene quite vividly since there was only a dull pain (thus my mind had time to wander..) and I recall thinking how ridiculously funny this whole affair would be- if I wasn't the one stuck in the unflattering position with an entire cheerleading team watching me! :p

After about half an hour or so, the gynae informed me that she might have to use a vacuum to help baby out, since he had already passed motion (she could see the meconium stains) and that wasn't a good sign... I was warned that it didn't mean that I could stop doing any 'work'; I still needed to push, and with the help of some fairly low suction, baby was out!

It all happened so fast; suddenly there was this slimy, greyish thing slapped on my tummy, and there was a commotion as hubby rushed to cut the umbilical cord and the nurses ran around to attend to baby. I don't even recall seeing his face at that point; and he was taken outside the room to be cleaned, checked, etc.

Baby was brought back into the room after a while, and I remember how weird it felt to see my baby for the first time. He seemed like a little stranger (or maybe I was just too dazed and confused to think clearly); and if you're wondering.. no, I didn't have one of those 'movie moments' where I cradled my newborn in my arms while shedding tears of joy. I did envision that, but it was not to be. Talk about a reality check. :(

Instead, baby was whisked off to the neonatal ICU, since the concern was that he might have breathed in some meconium (which is essentially his own poo) which could lead to infection in the lungs. Poor baby had to have an x-ray taken, an IV inserted for a glucose drip and antibiotics prescribed. It was quite distressing for me and hubby; and it was heartbreaking to see all those tubes sticking out from his tiny little body...but we thank God that everything turned out alright in the end- thank you all so much for your prayers!

On April 28th, 2009, our lives changed forever. May God give us the strength, wisdom and perseverance to journey on together...