Reported to the labour ward at 4.55pm.
The nurse who came to me was so nice and friendly. She even tucked my arm under hers while strolling me to the delivery room. She commented my tummy was so big when i stood on the weighing scale. LOL.
Ok, so i got changed, laid on the bed and the CTG monitor was strapped onto my tummy to monitor the contractions and baby's heartbeat.
The nurse said she has to check whether i was in active labour. A vaginal examination (VE) was done and the answer was out.
3cm dilation already.
The nurse asked me...."u don't feel any pains"? I said...."not really leh...". She was kinda surprised i think. LOL. Anyway with a 3cm dilation, she commented i am in active labour already. However, baby was still quite high up the cervix so the waiting game starts. Dr Woo was called to the hospital.
The nurse said since i have a history of fast labour, this one most probably is too. So the other nurses started to get things ready. As i witnessed the scene of nurses preparing and getting ready the things for my baby's arrival, it started to dawn on me that shucks, i am in labour. So scared! My MIL thought it might be false alarm and even asked Kun when we going back home? He said, i am about to give birth!
At 5.10pm, a pill was inserted for me to clear my bowels. The nurse asked me to hold it out as long as possible. I held out till 5.20pm and rushed to the toilet liao. Cannot tahan le!
Wah, thats when the cramps (or now contractions) started to get a little more intense. It dawned on me that this is the start of labour pains. But i bear with it as i cleared my bowels.
After the process was done, I was strapped to the CTG monitor again. This time round, the nurse said i cannot get out of bed.
I was given the drip (yucks. needles) and had to draw tubes of blood since i am donating my cord blood. Kun was monitoring the contraction chart. The contractions were still quite far apart, about 20mins or so. Nurse checked on dilation again. Still 3cm. I asked for the Pethidine injection on the thigh which hopefully, managed to give me some pain relief as I didn't want an epidural. I decided to ask for the gas mask too, just so it may also help me out.
There was a time when baby's heartbeat dropped to below 100! About 80 or so. The nurse came in and told me to keep inhaling the gas mask so baby has enough oxygen for her heartbeat to go up again. I was a bit afraid when she mentioned about the drop in heartbeat. I decided to be calm and slowly breathed in and out of the oxygen mask as directed. Thank goodness it climbed back up to the required 130 to 140+ range.
At close to 6.30pm, nurse check. This time round, 5cm dilation. Dr Woo came in and burst my waterbag. Wanna cry at that time man!! So painful! I don't recall it being so painful during my first pregnancy. I breathed on the gas mask too hard that i felt absolutely giddy and groggy afterwards. The feeling was quite horrible =(
As the time passes to 7pm+ the contractions just got worse. There was once when Kun was checking the CTG monitor and saw the contraction perked over a 100! I just tell myself to curb the pain by practising the right breathing techniques with the gas mask. Guess it does help. Kun told me i was superb in tolerating the pain with that height of a contraction.
There were a couple of instances i almost gave in to epidural. I wanted to just cry. I thank Kun for motivating me on during a contraction. He said, "If your mum can do it without epidural, so can U". Thank god for his words, i closed my eyes, nodded my head in silent acknowledgement before breathing in the gas mask while i felt the pain starting for the next wave of contraction. I told myself, can save $$ on the epidural. Moreover this will be my last labour and i want to experience what a true labour is.
I must admit, the nurses' words made an impact on me too. When i wanted to cave in to epidural and told the nurse i was scared, she said, "too late already la dear" (since i was already over 5cm dilated) and just said...."Can la, just use the gas mask" WAH, without her "harsh" words, i wouldn't be able to carry on.
7cm dilation. Can i have the epidural please?!?!?!?! I cried in pain. Another nurse said, "ok i check your dilation and see how". 7 cm this time. Said my cervix very thin already, no need and no time for epidural anymore.
After a while, the nurse said she will stretch my cervix. WAH Pain pain!!! Then she said, "Ok can deliver already" as she started to stretch my legs wide in preparation for the pushing.
This time i started to cry real bad and kept saying its so painful. The nurse even told me..."no choice la, labour sure pain de". HAHA. Imagine someone saying that to you when in pain. As i waited for my gynae to come i felt a strong urge to push!! It felt like a major constipation!! The nurse said i had to stop using gas mask already and i was horrified! Can i do without it when pushing?!
Dr Woo popped by quite fast. And i started pushing with all the might i have. The nurse shouted PUSH PUSH! and two nurses helped to push on my tummy. I guess the shouting from the nurse may have freaked the mummy in the other labour ward lol. But i did not scream at all as i knew i had to preserve the energy for pushing and breathing. All i remembered was, there were three very intense waves of contractions where i had to push to get rid of the pain, they stopped thereafter for about a min then hit again where i had to push again 3x. I guess these contractions are meant to assist the baby out of the birth canal. I remembered in the midst of waiting for the next contraction, i felt my baby's head/body was half dangling outside. HAHA, sorry to be gross. Crowning i suppose?
At 7.58pm, little Kaelyn was out after about 9 pushes.
It was a truly traumatic experience, albeit a super worthwhile one. I am glad i didn't have the chance for an epidural. While the nurse cleaned Kaelyn, i can't help but grin from right to left. The satisfaction in my heart was beyond words could ever describe.
Welcome to the big big world little Kaelyn =D
Weight: 2.358kg
Height: 45.5cm
