How should I start?
Our baby boy, Oliver, was born at Mount Elizabeth Novena (MEN) Hospital on 30 August 2016 at 7.46pm. He weighed 3.87kg and was 54cm long/tall. When the nurse/staff did the measurement, she exclaimed that Oliver was a huge baby, like an angmoh baby. I was honestly surprised myself that he was that long. I kind of guessed that he would weigh around 3.8kg since both S and I were born at that weight ;p
I actually started having pre-labour signs like heavier and pink discharge since the Sunday, 28 August 2016, but I was in some kind of a denial. I was hoping/praying that Oliver would come out in September, on 8 September 2016, to be exact. This was because my gynae, Dr PT was away from 27 August till 7 September. Of course, I would want him to be the one who delivered my baby since he was aware of my baby's development since the very beginning. Also, my parents said that August is still the 7th month in lunar calendar which was not very ideal in their opinions. September would have been the 8th month and generally Chinese like 8 more, I guess.
Till that day, I still have not completely packed my hospital bag; the cot was still not set-up and the car seat was still in the box. S kept on asking me if we should set up all those things but I kept saying there was no need to since Oliver was not coming out yet.
Then come Monday, 29 August 2016. I still went to work as per normal. I felt kind of moody and asked S to go out, instead of heading back home, for dinner, and we decided to go to VivoCity. I searched for the one last outstanding item to be packed into my hospital bag, a nursing top (which was totally unnecessary, by the way). Then I went to the toilet, and saw more red, no longer pink, discharge. I went on full alert mode; I called my hypnobirthing instructor, Yen, and checked with her if I was in labour already. She asked if I was having surges/contractions, and I said no. She said the real labour would start when the surges/contractions kicked in. I decided to be cool about it, and not alert S as he was having his massage.
We still had a leisurely (read very slow) dinner at Jamie's Italian, which was not great. Told S about my discharge matter-of-factly and spent the dinner time observing other tables with babies/toddlers, and we were telling ourselves how our lives would change after Oliver.
We headed home, and I packed whatever I could into the hospital bag minus my toiletries (because I would still need them), bathed and went to sleep. In my third trimester, I usually woke up once every night to pee, and likewise, I woke up at around 4 AM to go to the toilet, and noticed more red discharge. I didn't want to think much of it, but I could not go back to sleep, and I was pretty sure that I was having surges/contractions. I do not really experience menstrual cramps, but the surges/contractions I felt was more like tightening of the stomach. When the sensation started to get more frequent, I decided to wake S up. He started timing the surges in his half awake state. The surges were very short, like around 15-20secs. I could not remember the actual frequency, though.
At around 5 plus AM, I decided to get up and washed up. Even though I was still in denial, I decide to pack my toiletries into the hospital bag just in case I was going to deliver on that day, 30 August 2016. S also started to get ready and we set up the cot, i.e. putting the bed sheet and the pillow/bolster cases on. I breathed through the surges just as I was taught and I would say that I was doing very well; I could still walk around and do whatever I wanted to, of course while still timing the surges.
When the surges got to 60secs long, S notified his parents that we were going to the hospital, and the parents started to get ready too as they were coming along to the hospital. Then it started raining, so it was good that we left early just in case there would be traffic jam. While in the car, I listened to the Relaxation recording to stay calm. However, the surges became less frequent and shorter too. I guess what Yen was true: as we move from a familiar environment (home/bedroom) to an unfamiliar environment, surges tend to slow down as we feel less secure.
We reached MEN within half an hour despite the rain, and I didn't want to get myself admitted so early (something that Yen told me as well, to prevent further surges slowdown) as I was still feeling fine, and wanted the surges to progress more first. By the way, while on the way to MEN, I started contacting my family members, my colleagues and Yen that I might be in labour. So the next thing we did, was to get breakfast at Starbucks. I could still remember that I ordered Croque Monsieur which tasted not bad. Haha. As I was having my breakfast, the surges grew even shorter and further apart. My MIL was getting very concerned and wanted me to get admitted ASAP to check on the baby's condition. Finally, we relented to her request at around 10 AM.
As we approached the business office to get admitted, a lady from the reception told us to go up to the delivery suite directly instead. She actually asked if I was there to be induced; I guess I did not look like someone who was in labour ;p She also offered me a wheelchair which I turned down. Turned out that it was because the nurses at the delivery suite would have to assess my condition first to decide if I should get admitted, which made sense. Otherwise, once I admitted myself, the charges would start rolling.
The walk to the delivery suite was like a maze; I had expected that the walk there would be more straight forward, just in case there is an urgent delivery case. The delivery suite was very quiet; I guess nobody was giving birth at that point in time. There was a nurse, A, at the counter. She asked for all the documentation and she told me that I needed to wait around 15 minutes while they clean up the last available delivery room. There were a few seats outside the suites, and we settled down there for a while. I could see Adeline making a few phone calls to rush another party, saying that a patient is already waiting (I am guessing she was referring to me). I also pointed out to her that I had a birth plan; she briefly looked through it and she said whatever I wrote align with the hospital policy, which was great.
Finally at 10 plus AM, I was led to my room (number 331 if I am not mistaken), and was asked to change into the hospital gown and lie down on the bed. By the way, in the delivery room, only the husbands are allowed so my in-laws had to wait outside. After changing, A went through my birth plan again, in more detail now, and advised me on the contingency plan, just in case my plan fell through. I was glad she did that, as it made me feel more secure that the nurses would actually read and follow my birth plan (I should probably post my birth plan; it was pretty epic: handwritten on some-sort of a piece of foolscap paper).
Not long after, she did the vaginal examination and I was already 5cm dilated then, so admitted I was. I was told that the dilation can proceed at 1cm/hour. I was quite hopeful that I would see my baby by the afternoon. I was then given the enema to clear my bowel. Man, that was powerful. I don't have the habit of pooing in public toilets, but I was glad that there was a toilet in the delivery room. It was also very clean!
Between then till 3pm, I experienced more and longer contractions, I thought I should be progressing well. At around 3pm, another nurse did another examination, and to my horror, I only increased by 1cm to 6cm. I was quite disappointed and upset; what Yen said was really true, contractions may slow down in a foreign environment.
They continued to monitor me with the external monitoring. Sometimes, contractions happened during the monitoring and the nurse said that my contractions were very strong, probably due to the size of the baby. The contractions were pretty bearable till around 5pm-ish, I think. The nurse asked for the pain level and I said, when the contractions came, the level went up to 13/10. S was pretty shocked too. After that, I discussed with him if I should take any pain relief. At that point in time, I wanted to stick to my stand on not using any intervention for pain relief. But when the contraction came again, I was like, heck, I need pain relief there and then!
We consulted the nurse and she said at that point in time, I should have been further dilated and hence it was not advisable to take epidural already. What I could take, though, was the laughing gas. However, there was the side effect that I would be dizzy. By the way, S had to be the one passing me the mask for me to inhale the laughing gas. The gas was available beside the bed. I took what I could, and the laughing gas did help a little when the contractions came.
However, as labour progresses, I felt the effect of the laughing gas thinning of. At one point, I was scrambling for the mask and even though I inhaled very deeply, nothing came out. Guess I was not breathing properly; I think I was supposed to breathe through the nose. But when you were in such pain, you kind of threw all logic out of the window. The nurse also asked to be informed when I had the urge to bear down/ pass motion.
From then on, everything was a blur to me. I guess it would have been more accurate to read S' post. By then, I had inhaled way too much laughing gas, I was high (as one of the nurses said). I could not really say anything. I could feel my water broke, or something else. I just felt that it was very wet down there. And because I don't have the habit of passing motion in public, I was just holding the urge in, which made me even more in pain.
I was searching for the laughing gas but was no longer administered any. One of the nurses said it was time to call in the doctor, Dr EC. I am not sure if they did more examination. By then, I was lying on my left side, hugging the bed side panels because I was in so much pain. Not long after, EC came, and I remembered screaming a few times. Someone, probably A, asked me not to scream. I also remembered A told me that she stayed back to see me birth my baby. I was actually very touched by that. Then, the pain returned. A asked if I would like her to guide me (I mentioned in the birth plan to not allow anyone to coach me in the breathing/pushing), and I readily said yes.
From then on, I was just trying to listen to A and to release myself. I remember I was still holding it in, i.e. not bearing down because of the resistance to "shit" in public. I remember my arms and legs flying around, trying to grab something to hold on to. After a few pushes, out came O. Honestly, the experience was really like passing motion, a HUGE one. I did have a constipation experience once that gave me the same level of pain.
I was still dizzy then, and I remembered A telling me "Well done!". She really helped me through out the birthing process, I really cannot thank her enough! After which, they tried to put O on my chest, but my umbilical cord was too short, and I felt the strain. S cut the cord (as per our birth plan) shortly after so O can be placed on my chest. I did not cry like how I saw videos of people who just gave birth, probably because I was still dizzy from the laughing gas.
After I sobered up, I then realised how chubby O was, and S was standing next to me. Nurses asked me to try to breastfeed O immediately while Dr EC did some stitching down there; there was a tear, but not much, as I heard from S afterwards.
O and I bonded for quite some time. I guess S was busy updating people of O's arrival. Then it was time to weigh and measure him. After the nurse wrapped him up, he was put next to me on the bed and we were then wheeled to the maternity ward. I was feeling very good and sober then, I even had the time to Instagram story it (too bad I forgot to save it!).
I honestly could not believe that I birthed a baby. The experience was very surreal!
And the recovery time for the natural birth was so fast that I was amazed myself. Basically once I sobered up, I experienced no pain whatsoever down there. I was quite worried when I had to pee, but my worries were unfounded. I was also given a salt bath container for my down there. Dr EC said the recovery would be faster and all her patients said it was a good one.
Once we reached the maternity room, we settled down, and S and I could not believe that we just gave birth to a child. He was so tired that he knocked out soon after, without eating. I actually managed to catch some sleep here and there in the afternoon, and I guess after going through all the birth process, my adrenaline was still there, and I was wide awake. I got bored but did not want to disturb S by turning on the TV so I went to explore the room. MEN maternity ward really felt like a hotel room, if not for the bed. The toiletries were Crabtree & Evelyn, no less. I also went out of the room, wanting to explore or even go to the nursery in hope to see O. But the corridor was so empty so I chickened up. Hahaha
To be honest, I could still remember that day very clearly. It probably was the most momentous experience of my life! :)
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