This post will be the last post for my Pregnancy Journal. It has been a wonderful 9 months and my baby girl has decided to see the world today which also coincide with April Fools' Day, so that makes her a April Fools' Baby.
Actually, a few of my friends have already predicted that baby would come out on 1st April because they say the real labour day is usually one week earlier of the EDD the hospital gave. Way back during the early stages of my pregnancy last year, bestie Lis already did a calculation of my EDD to be 1st April based on my last menses. Yesterday, as I was chatting with Ivy about my symptoms of having some brown discharge, she too mentioned that labour should be tomorrow, which is today. She asked me to download the contraction mobile app to record my contractions duration. After downloading the app, I went on the night as per normal to finish up all the pending work on hand that needs to be submitted before going to bed.
It's as if my baby knows that I'm ready as I've settled most of the important tasks. I started to feel the contractions early in the morning at around 6.30 am. The contractions feels like strong menses cramp with tightening of muscles in the lower part of my tummy that won't go away. There's also a feeling that I need to poo and it's just so uncomfortable no words can really describe. I was sweating profusely and complaining while trying to bear with it at the same time. Timed the contractions and it was about 10 to 15 minutes apart. Went back to sleep as I don't want it to be a false alarm. Hubby was at a loss, and asked if I want to go hospital or want any breakfast or not but I just told him to wait a while.
One hour later, I called up NUH delivery suite hotline. The nurse asked the few standard questions like how far is the contractions duration? Any bleeding? Waterbag burst? In the end, she advice me to wait until my contraction is 5 minutes apart before I go down to the hospital otherwise they might have to ask me to go back home if it is a false alarm. Tried to go back to sleep again but was tossing and turning in bed instead.
At around 9.30 am, I couldn't stand the on and off contractions feeling anymore. Woke hubby up and told him I had to go to the hospital now otherwise I scare that I may not be able to walk later if the contractions is 5 minutes apart. Straight away I booked an Uber down to NUH. At this point, my waterbag has not burst yet. Was only feeling the contractions. Luckily, I have packed my hospital bag before hand and only need to put in a few other important belongings.
Reached NUH at around 10 am, when the contraction starts, it was so bad I could barely walk. Thankfully again, there's room in the delivery suite, got admitted and was put on belt which is connected to the foetal monitor to monitor the baby's heart rate and oxygen level. The doctor and nurses is able to monitor all these from the outside and they came in to check on me every now and then. Because I was on subsidize, I do not have a fixed doctor. Happened to get a male doctor that day.
At 10.43 am, Bestie Lis whatsapp me "Apr fool's baby? Hope not. xP" to which I replied, "think so" and tried to keep myself occupied by chatting with her. At about 11.20 am, the doctor did a check and I was 4 cm dilated. Was feeling more and more uncomfortable and stressful. Was informed of the different pain relieve options - Entonox most commonly known as laughing gas, pethidine or epidural. I was hesitating with the epidural option in my heart.
The nurse came in again to put on the drip as well as to draw three tubes of blood from me, the standard procedure as I'm donating my baby's cord blood to the Singapore Cord Blood Bank. She mentioned about epidural again as they need to get a certified anaesthetist to do the injection and it also will not be effective if the dilation is too big already. After a brief discussion with my hubby, I decided to just go for the epidural.
The anaesthetist came with a nurse to carry out the epidural procedure. Signed a form of indemnity or whatever that is which I can't be bothered to read anymore. The nurse applied cold numb to the whole of my back. After which the anaesthetist have to find the correct place in my spinal cord that is close to the nerve to inject in a small tube or something like that. Dosage was set to the maximum of 10 and I was numb way down from my tummy to my toes.
Epidural side-effect kicks in shortly. Some people experience vomiting, headache and mine was shivering. My whole upper body was shivering badly as if I'm on drugs. Tried to watch TV but couldn't concentrate. Fall asleep instead. Can't remember what time, the doctor came in and burst my water bag for me.
The nurse came in on and off as baby was inactive inside due to the effect of the epidural. At about 3 pm, I was 6 cm dilated baby was still drowsy and oxygen level was low. I was given an oxygen mask to put on.
At 3.32 pm, received a Whatsapp from Jessie to meet up for Tim Sum before I deliver. Replied her that I was in labor ward already and chatted a while with her. Somehow, whenever I am met with something, she will happened to be the first few to know. After a while, doctor came to check again and I was informed that I'm already 10 cm dilated. Pushing would start one hour later as they are still monitoring the baby's condition. Hubby went for his late breakfast cum lunch and I faster whatsapp him to inform. Don't want to be alone during the critical period. Haven't eaten anything since morning too.
At 3.40 pm, the nurse reduce the epidural dosage to 4 so that I can start feeling some contractions. Blood pressure and temperature was taken and I had a low grade fever of 37.8 degree which the nurse say is due to epidural.
At around 4 pm, the team of doctor, mid-wife and nurses arrived in my ward. The mid-wife taught me the technique to push and estimated the pushing to be about 1 hour. Mid-wife is able to tell when the contraction is coming and I just had to listen to her signal as I still can't feel anything below. Hubby's duty is to support my neck and lift me up to position when I push. The technique to push is the inhale deeply, hold the breath and push while they count to ten. After my first push, the mid-wife exclaimed that she can already see a twenty cent coin size of my baby's head. Was motivated to push harder upon hearing this. With every push, they can see more of the baby's head. Tried to increase the counting to 15 but I was out of breath at 10 and felt like chocking. Doctor had to cut down there to allow baby's head to pass through. The whole pushing process took about 30 minutes and at last, we heard our baby's first cry!
Because of the epidural, I had a smooth and easy labour. No wonder the anaesthetists calls it the "Happy-dural". Not trying to promote using it but I think if you want a stress free labour, this is one option to choose. I'm really grateful and thankful to the NUH team whom helped me deliver my baby safely. I was warded to the 6 bedded ward at about 7 pm and this is my labour story.
XOXO
Actually, a few of my friends have already predicted that baby would come out on 1st April because they say the real labour day is usually one week earlier of the EDD the hospital gave. Way back during the early stages of my pregnancy last year, bestie Lis already did a calculation of my EDD to be 1st April based on my last menses. Yesterday, as I was chatting with Ivy about my symptoms of having some brown discharge, she too mentioned that labour should be tomorrow, which is today. She asked me to download the contraction mobile app to record my contractions duration. After downloading the app, I went on the night as per normal to finish up all the pending work on hand that needs to be submitted before going to bed.
It's as if my baby knows that I'm ready as I've settled most of the important tasks. I started to feel the contractions early in the morning at around 6.30 am. The contractions feels like strong menses cramp with tightening of muscles in the lower part of my tummy that won't go away. There's also a feeling that I need to poo and it's just so uncomfortable no words can really describe. I was sweating profusely and complaining while trying to bear with it at the same time. Timed the contractions and it was about 10 to 15 minutes apart. Went back to sleep as I don't want it to be a false alarm. Hubby was at a loss, and asked if I want to go hospital or want any breakfast or not but I just told him to wait a while.
One hour later, I called up NUH delivery suite hotline. The nurse asked the few standard questions like how far is the contractions duration? Any bleeding? Waterbag burst? In the end, she advice me to wait until my contraction is 5 minutes apart before I go down to the hospital otherwise they might have to ask me to go back home if it is a false alarm. Tried to go back to sleep again but was tossing and turning in bed instead.
At around 9.30 am, I couldn't stand the on and off contractions feeling anymore. Woke hubby up and told him I had to go to the hospital now otherwise I scare that I may not be able to walk later if the contractions is 5 minutes apart. Straight away I booked an Uber down to NUH. At this point, my waterbag has not burst yet. Was only feeling the contractions. Luckily, I have packed my hospital bag before hand and only need to put in a few other important belongings.
Reached NUH at around 10 am, when the contraction starts, it was so bad I could barely walk. Thankfully again, there's room in the delivery suite, got admitted and was put on belt which is connected to the foetal monitor to monitor the baby's heart rate and oxygen level. The doctor and nurses is able to monitor all these from the outside and they came in to check on me every now and then. Because I was on subsidize, I do not have a fixed doctor. Happened to get a male doctor that day.
At 10.43 am, Bestie Lis whatsapp me "Apr fool's baby? Hope not. xP" to which I replied, "think so" and tried to keep myself occupied by chatting with her. At about 11.20 am, the doctor did a check and I was 4 cm dilated. Was feeling more and more uncomfortable and stressful. Was informed of the different pain relieve options - Entonox most commonly known as laughing gas, pethidine or epidural. I was hesitating with the epidural option in my heart.
The nurse came in again to put on the drip as well as to draw three tubes of blood from me, the standard procedure as I'm donating my baby's cord blood to the Singapore Cord Blood Bank. She mentioned about epidural again as they need to get a certified anaesthetist to do the injection and it also will not be effective if the dilation is too big already. After a brief discussion with my hubby, I decided to just go for the epidural.
The anaesthetist came with a nurse to carry out the epidural procedure. Signed a form of indemnity or whatever that is which I can't be bothered to read anymore. The nurse applied cold numb to the whole of my back. After which the anaesthetist have to find the correct place in my spinal cord that is close to the nerve to inject in a small tube or something like that. Dosage was set to the maximum of 10 and I was numb way down from my tummy to my toes.
Epidural side-effect kicks in shortly. Some people experience vomiting, headache and mine was shivering. My whole upper body was shivering badly as if I'm on drugs. Tried to watch TV but couldn't concentrate. Fall asleep instead. Can't remember what time, the doctor came in and burst my water bag for me.
The nurse came in on and off as baby was inactive inside due to the effect of the epidural. At about 3 pm, I was 6 cm dilated baby was still drowsy and oxygen level was low. I was given an oxygen mask to put on.
At 3.32 pm, received a Whatsapp from Jessie to meet up for Tim Sum before I deliver. Replied her that I was in labor ward already and chatted a while with her. Somehow, whenever I am met with something, she will happened to be the first few to know. After a while, doctor came to check again and I was informed that I'm already 10 cm dilated. Pushing would start one hour later as they are still monitoring the baby's condition. Hubby went for his late breakfast cum lunch and I faster whatsapp him to inform. Don't want to be alone during the critical period. Haven't eaten anything since morning too.
At 3.40 pm, the nurse reduce the epidural dosage to 4 so that I can start feeling some contractions. Blood pressure and temperature was taken and I had a low grade fever of 37.8 degree which the nurse say is due to epidural.
At around 4 pm, the team of doctor, mid-wife and nurses arrived in my ward. The mid-wife taught me the technique to push and estimated the pushing to be about 1 hour. Mid-wife is able to tell when the contraction is coming and I just had to listen to her signal as I still can't feel anything below. Hubby's duty is to support my neck and lift me up to position when I push. The technique to push is the inhale deeply, hold the breath and push while they count to ten. After my first push, the mid-wife exclaimed that she can already see a twenty cent coin size of my baby's head. Was motivated to push harder upon hearing this. With every push, they can see more of the baby's head. Tried to increase the counting to 15 but I was out of breath at 10 and felt like chocking. Doctor had to cut down there to allow baby's head to pass through. The whole pushing process took about 30 minutes and at last, we heard our baby's first cry!
As I held my baby in my arms for skin-to-skin contact, I got so emotional that I broke down and cry too. Super can't believe that I actually gave birth to this small little baby weighing at just 2.56 kg upon delivery. All is not over yet, as I still have to push out the placenta. Push and push and finally the placenta was out but a scrap of the placenta was still inside. The doctor tried to remove it but couldn't. In the end, they have to get another doctor and she have to use her finger to remove it. The doctor then proceed to stitch up my wound. Goodness, hubby say the whole process is so bloody and gruesome but I couldn't feel anything. The epidural when removed can still last for about 1 to 2 hours.
Because of the epidural, I had a smooth and easy labour. No wonder the anaesthetists calls it the "Happy-dural". Not trying to promote using it but I think if you want a stress free labour, this is one option to choose. I'm really grateful and thankful to the NUH team whom helped me deliver my baby safely. I was warded to the 6 bedded ward at about 7 pm and this is my labour story.
XOXO
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