The Birth Stories

I was looking through my older blog and found the entire story of how I delivered Hannah. I think it is only fair that Hannon's get recorded as well.

Hannah's story:
Alright, here's the story of LABOUR.

Well, some people said that labour could happen days before the real pushing and heaving. I guess that's the way for my case. About 5 days before the 'real thing', I went to the gynae for the normal check and he told me that I've dilated for about 2cm and IT could happen soon. That started us anticipating but in vain until 15th Feb, I had some show. I called the gynae and he told me to monitor. The time was close. Again nothing happened. We still went shopping cos I reckon hospital is nearer to Mt Alvernia anyway.

We went home and wondered when the real call would be. At 4.30am, I felt like I needed to pee and then I felt a huge gush coming on. I JUMPED out from bed. (something which I haven been able to do for months! I wonder where that surge of energy came from.) I stood rooted and started holding on to the towel which was already placed nicely beside me in preparation for this moment. I shouted for hubby to wake up. I just shouted, 'waters broke, Waters broke, how? I cannot walk!' He woke up and turned on the lights and asked me to just walk to the toilet although it meant that the water will leave a trail. I went to wash up while hubby mopped the floor. He showered and changed while I took a bottle of chicken essence. Then we made our way to the hospital.

Somehow there was this calmness after the initial shock. Total peace tinged with excitement. We made our way to the car and decided to drive through Mcdonald's for a quick bite before labour begins. Mum said that the contraction pain will only come after the waters have finished flowing so we thought that gives us some time to play around:P. We bought bf but I was gan jiong so could't eat much. so we shared a burger.

We arrived and checked into the delivery suite by 5.30am. Thank God for the perfect timing. Just one hour later there would have been heavy traffic. Just one hour later, hubby would have gone to school. Just one hour later, the pain would hvae come on.

6am- The contractions began. I managed to hold on for 3 hours. Tried using the laughing gas but it was rancid. I'd rather endure the pain than smell that cursed thing. My contractions was strong and steady. Unlke most people mine lasted one minute for every contraction although it was just 'early labour'.That probably contributed to the great pain and faster dilation I guess. When the gynae came and check, it was already dilated 5cm. And after 3 hours, I knew I just couldn't hang on to the end already. I knew my threshold was just a few more steps away. We discussed promptly and decided on the epidural. Epidural was PAINFUL. When the jab went through the spine, I let out an agonizing cry/scream/groan... I can't decide which. Hubby had to stand outside the room but he was right at the door assuring me that he's just there and he'll come back in once the procedure was done. I curled up and never for once felt so vulnerable and weak. I grabbed the bedsheets, buried my head and cried. The cursed medication took half an hour to take effect. That half an hour was bad. Thank God, the anaesthetic kicked in soon enough and we both slept like a baby for another 3 hours.

Gynae came by after three hours. We woke up. He checked and announced that I was 10cm dilated and ready for pushing. We were shock! That was really fast. Hubby said he needed to go toilet first! He rushed to the toilet while the nurses got me into position. Then the endless pushing came. They down the dosage of the epidural by half so that I could feel the contractions to aid pushing. I pushed for an hour with hubby supporting me and counting for me and the nurses cheering me on. It was very tiring and at the end of one hour the doc said I needed help. He decided to use the vacuum. He gave me some medication to up the contractions as well. This time round I began to move into sub- consciousness already. There was only one thing in my head. Push hard so that baby can come out naturally so that i do not need to undergo C-Sec. I saw a group of people surrounding me shouting in unison 'PUSH' and hubby's voice going 'deep breath in and push, 2,3,4 ,5,.6.....' Then someone said the head is out and hubby exclaimed, I can see the head! And with one hard push, something came out. I didn't know what... I just slumped back on the bed in a daze. Someone then threw a baby on my chest. I looked at the baby and I started crying very very hard. I guess it must be some kind of a relief to get her out.Hannah doesn't look too familiar too. I thought I would have laughed in joy but that was not the case. The stitching went on for almost an hour. I hear noise, heard baby crying, hubby talking to me.. nurses walking around. Then Gynae told the nurses to get ready for blood transfusion. Said that I lost a lot of blood. Then nurses asked if I've done that before and so on... I answered in a daze totally weakened by the entire process. Then just as I began to feel a lil' worried of what a blood transfusion may entail, the nurse came back with a report on my blood count and gynae mentioned that I am picking up very quickly so although my blood count was very low I can do without the transfusion. Thank God.

Baby was cleaned and brought to my breasts for feeding. Somehow she had the basic instinct as mentioned in the books that I read. She just suckled on after the nurse helped to latch her on. We took our first family portrait. With daddy in joy and happiness written all over his face. With Hannah's eyes closed, probably still oblivious that she's in the world now. With mummy pale as a ghost but trying to smile as brightly as possible so that she can look pretty. (vanity). The rest as they said, is history.

The story of labour. It is an experience that one can never imagine without having gone through it. That night, I smsed my mum to thank her for giving birth to me. I guess one has to go through the pain to understand that completely. The immensity of the entire experience is never overrated. It is a high price and great sacrifice. A mother's love.

Hannon's story:

Well... being a second time mother doesn't mean you do not anticipate when your contractions will start or if the waters will break. Somehow the waiting game is something so familiar yet unfamiliar. It is like something you experienced but not quite remember?

Anyway, I was 38 weeks. Went to the gynae and complaint to him about my terrible nights. Been having lower backache and 'contractions' for nights. Every night I wake up timing to see how far apart the contractions are. Then i will sit up thinking that I am going into labour soon. Then one hour later, everything stops! Gynae said I should be far from labour. Probably braxton hicks. But he decided to just check on me to see how far i've progressed since i've been complaining sooo much.
Guess what? I was already 2cm dilated. And guess what? He said : ' Actually if you want to, you can admit now and we can get your waters broken and you can deliver. If not you can wait... it will be next few days."

We went back of cos! How scary to admit straightaway there and then! Totally not prepared at all. Oh and on the same day he told us our baby would be big. At 40 weeks should be bigger than Hannah. (I was like, what?! Bigger than Hannah?! Hannah was 3.87kg! How much bigger... frightening)

Two nights in a row, I woke up same time, same ache, same story.
Finally I got frustrated with the lack of sleep. I woke Hub up and said " Let's go. Let's go in and get the waters broken and get this over once and for all!"
We went. Thinking that we can sleep after that.
Admitted... and realised things werem't that simple. Doc was not around in the wee hours (3am-4am) so they just had to monitor me until 7am... I was 3cm dilated by then.
7am... Doc came, said I was 4cm. Could break the waters or stay in the hospital and wait. Could not go home anymore...too dangerous as labour may set off anytime...

1pm, went to have waters broken. 1.15pm pain started. It was the familiar dull backache that I felt when I had hannah... I tried to distract myself by knitting! :) Each time contraction comes I would shout for hub and he would massage my back. Once it was over, I continued knittng and hub continued reading his Men's Health magazine (lol).  It went on for a while... then the ache got more intense... and I threw the yarn aside and said ' Now it's very painful... the pain at the back, I could endure but due to the change in baby's position he was pressing downwards. It was like something sharp tearing me apart so that he could emerge. I was shocked because I had taken Epidural before I was at this stage for Hannah's delivery. Hub stood still and looked at me. He was at a lost too because his massage at the back could no longer work anymore and the pain then could not be eased by massage. I got worked up and asked him to just hug me. He did.
The nurse came and asked if I wanted Epidural, I said no but decided to try the gas....

Things were progressing really rapidly. Before I knew it, I was in agony and fear. Still I could not decide if I should take the Epidural. But finally gave in. I was in total distress, using the gas and clinging on to hub for dear life. The gas was not effective in removing the pain but somehow it tricked your mind to think that the pain is not there. There was one point when the contractions were so bad i took a really deep breath and I felt myself flying high... I was on cloud nine..literally!...totally HIGH but I was scared too because I thought I might just drift off and never return so i removed the mask and took in some oxygen again. The pain brought me back to reality. It was amidst this when one of the nurses said to my hub " Hello, your wife is not even using the gas!" It was then that we realised for the past, God knows how long, I had been clinging on the the mask that has been detached from the gas source! Goodness. In retrospect, I sure wonder if the effect of the gas is just psychological! I mean, I thought it was helping me lots when in actual fact I was holding on to a silly mask detached from the source!!! Hilarious lei!

And by the time they administered the Epidural and they checked on me, I was fully dilated.
And the best part, they said " Actually you can start pushing but since you just took the epidural, you  can take a rest first la" Then the mid wife said " Better now right? Don't torture yourself."

I was kind of disappointed... if the midwife had told me to hang in there bec I was already fully dilated I would have delivered without epidural. I have gone that far...wasted.

I looked at the clock, 3 hours have gone by.

They really let us rest and in 20 minutes or so, the midwife returned alone. She sat before me and positioned me. Then she started to count and asked me to push. I was thinking... what? Just the 3 of us? When we were at MT A, it was a whole gang of cheerleaders who were shouting 'push!'..'push'... now it's one mid wide SAYing "ok, 1,2,3 push...'. faint.
Thankfully the gynae joined us soon. He came in and slapped me on the knee and said, "well-done! Very fast eh!" I was totally surprised to see how happy he looked. I remembered how distress he was when he was delivering Hannah. Perhaps this is a much easier birth, I thought.
And with a few pushes, Hannon was out!

Somehow I could see what was going on with the mirror on the lamp. It was fantastic to see Hannon's hair and with each push, I could see more of it. Then with the last surge of energy his round head emerged! But with the cord around his neck. I was so mesmerised by this cute little face that I forgot to panic even though the cord was around his neck. I witnessed the gynae telling the nurses to back away so that he could cut the cord and then there he was, Hannon was pulled up and placed on my chest. I teared. I was so touched. My baby who has been inside me for so long is finally out and he looked so adorable. I called him and he opened his eyes and looked towards me. :) My baby, Hannon Hoon Tian Yang weighing 3.37kg and 52cm long was born on 6 Jan 2011 at 1711hours.

We are proud parents of two.