Birth Story

Our little princess finally crossed the finish line after a 5-hour marathon! She is borned at 2.30pm on 30 April 2009 -- weighs 2.884kg, length 46cm with head circumference of 32.5cm. Here's to share her amazing birth story :)

29 Apr (Wed) : Visit our gynae and found that I was 4cm dilated (was having brownish discharge from Sat but no contraction). Though we were prepared to admit and induce birth via breaking waterbag, he adviced us to come in at 6am the next morning -- to save $ for extra 1 day in delivery suite :) So nice of him... so we went home and had a sumptous dinner -- XO crab bee hoon and spicy frog leg... our little darling enjoyed the dinner with lotsa kicks and movement!

30 Apr(Thu) :

4.30am : Woke up to shower, had breakfast and drank a bottle of chicken essense.

5.30am : Left home for KKH.

6.15am : Arrived at KKH Delivery Suite. Gosh, all the beds are full and we had to wait for the next available bed *faint*

7.15am : Finally got a bed and settled in. Strapped on CTG to monitor contraction and baby's heartrate. Managed to eat a hashbrown from TK's MacDonald Big Breakfast before I was given enema to clear bowels. After that, I was put on drip.

9.25am : My gynae, Dr. SF Loh, was held up and Dr. Marryann came in to break my waterbag instead. She was very gentle and it was painless when my waterbag was broken. And they added medication in the drip to speed up contraction. The marathon began from here! We made ourselves as comfortable and relax -- TK setup a "sound system" that play classical music from FM92.4. Soon contraction set in -- erhm, i din feel any pain until it became 2-3min apart. Due to my allergy to pain killer, I opt not to have epidural and use deep breathing to ride over the contractions. Nurses and doctors who came in to check were amazed with my pain threshold!

1pm : A nurse came in to check how my dilation had progress. Gosh, she was so rough that I was hurting so much! So discouraged when she said I was 5-6cm dilated and baby's head was high. After 3.5 hours, I was dismayed that my cervix dilation was so slow -- began to feel demoralized, wonder how long more I can tahan, will I be able to deliver our little princess safely... By then the contraction was 1-2min apart and the pain was almost unbearable. Darling TK gave me his fullest support by staying by my side, gave me massage to ease my back/hip pain, and hold my hands through each contraction peak. When I became too exhuasted, I asked for laughing gas to ease the pain -- by then, it was not much use :( I was lying on the bed and bending over with great pain for each contraction.

2pm : In the mist of pain, Dr. Loh appeared and asked how was I doing. The nurses and midewives said I am a heroine coz I din opt for epidural and bear with the pain till now. TK saw Dr. Loh giving me some injections, putting his hands to stretch my cervix and moving the baby's head in position. Before I know it, suddenly everyone around me asked me to start pushing. Uh, transition from 1st to 2nd stage of labour happened TOO FAST! Interestingly, contraction was further apart and longer -- I managed 3 breath to push.

2.30pm : With everyone encourging me and after 4-5 contractions, I gave one long hard push and felt my baby slipped out of me! Gosh, such a GREAT RELIEF and our little princess gave a loud cry to let mummy knows she is OK! Asked TK to take pics of baby while I delivered my placenta and Dr. Loh stitched me up -- ouch, this was so so so painful! After all is done, Dr. Loh congradulated us and left us to bond with our baby. My baby latched on for breastfeeding before they sent her up to the labour ward.

4.30pm : I was sent up to the labour ward for rest. Due to my drug allergy, I din take any pain killer and the stitch wound was so painful! Our baby was pushed to us for 2nd feed and the nurse showed me how to massage the breast to ease milk flow before latching on the baby. I felt faint and had to stop breastfeeding -- the nurse found my blood pressure low and gave me a cup of milo to boost up my gloucose level. I felt so drained of energy but felt better after a short rest.

Till now, I cannot believe that I have given birth to my darling little princess! The whole process was juz amazing! Thinking back, TK said he was so thankful to our gynae, Dr. Loh's "magic hands" for delivering our baby swiftly and safely! I was discharged after 1 nite stay -- luckily, our strong little princess passed all the test and discharged together with me. Now, we are busy adjusting to life with our little princess at home. Survived our 1st night with her -- nightfeed was tiring but we hope to total breastfeed her for at least 4 mths(my maternity leave).

Our little darling every move, smile, blink, cry juz melt our heart and worth all the labour pain a thousand times! Now, I hope to regain my mobility after the stitch wound heals -- now am walking like an old duckie!