After reading friends' blog entries of their birthing experience, and wondering how will my story turn out, finally I get to write about my own experience...
It all started on the morning of 15th August (Sat) when we went to the gynea. Was told I was already 2cm dilated and my amniotic fluid was running low...so if labour doesn't come naturally in the next 2 days, I will need to be admitted for induction by midnight on Sunday. After the appointment, Hubby and I went home and we prayed that I didn't need to be induced as I heard horror stories about how painful it will be as compared to the contractions coming on naturally...but right until the end of the day, still no news...
16th August (Sun)...we decided not to go to church that morning as we were expecting labour anytime, and didn't feel confident enough to know what to do if it started in church! I was still hoping and praying that labour will start on it's own, knowing that the "deadline" is midnight! Still no news the whole morning...didn't get the helper to cook lunch, so hubby and I decided to go down for lunch and unwind abit. THEN it happened...at first I thought I needed to relieve myself so I went to the toilet...but just a minute after I went, I felt like I leaked pee again...and then a couple of minutes later, I leaked again...told hubby that I think it might be my water breaking and told him to pack lunch up instead. In the next hour or so, I was leaking on and off and we decided it was time to go to the hospital!
3pm: We reached the hospital and I was ushered into the labour ward while hubby did the admission stuff. The nurse checked and confirmed that my water broke and called my gynae.
4pm: Was informed that my gynae instructed the nurses to start the induction process...ended up having to be induced anyway...
5pm: started to feel the contractions...which really came on strong quite quickly! Within half an hour after the contractions started, I was already feeling them every 5 minutes. Although each individual contraction was bearable on it's own, but to experience the same degree of pain continuously every 5 minutes was really torturous! somewhere in between I felt I needed to move my bowels again and went to the toilet...was the most painful trip to the toilet ever! Took a long time as I was cringing in pain most of the time...
7pm/8pm: Couldn't take the pain anymore and decided to succumb to pain relief...nurse gave the option of the gas or epidural...decided to go for the gas first and see how...it did provide temporary relief although there's a trick to it...I needed to inhale the gas before each contractions in order for it to be effective...a few times I didn't inhale in time and the contraction was still very painful
9pm/9:30pm: Was told I was still only about 3 or 4cm dilated and can only start to push early next morning...by then I was in so much pain that I decided to go for the epidural
10pm: Sweet relief came when the doc finally arrived to administer the epidural. Thought it will be a breeze from now till birth...but I was pretty wrong...
10pm - 5am: Was still experiencing pain throughout the night though I could catch moments of sleep...the epidural did relief me of my contraction pains, but there was this intense pain at my pubic bone which seems to intensify with time...they had to up my dosage of epidural 3 times and it only made the pain a little more bearable...
5am-6am: Midwife told me I could finally start pushing...at first 2 midwives helped me alongside with hubby...has abit of difficulty pushing as I wasn't pushing right and I was frankly pretty tired out by the pain by then...then in came the gynae, who was there for awhile and then left as the baby still wasn't really coming...
6am: Gynae came back in and asked if I wanted help...told him I'll try on my own first...under the midwives and hubby's encouragement and instruction, I finally got the hang of pushing correctly...all eyes were hooked on the machine to measure my contractions and telling me when to push, but actually I could feel it for myself as the pain at the bone would intensify just before each contraction. Baby's hair could be seen, but each time the contraction was over, he seems to slip back inside...
7am: Finally the head was out...then the shoulder and rest of the body slipped out of me at 7:09am...I didn't know at first until they placed him on me. I took a little while more for the placenta come out, and for the bleeding to stop...was bleeding quite badly and doc had to administer drugs to help me stop the bleeding as he was getting a little concerned.
But all's well that ends well...i was checked, baby was checked and we both were doing fine...and soon, we were pushed back to our comfy ward. All in all, it was really an experience of a lifetime! And it marked the beginning of a very new journey...
