HI EVERYONE!!
Congratulations to all who have popped! I scrolled through the table to check who’s popped and who’s not, but there are so many archives to catch up on, and I only have limited time online, so, sorry, I’m not going to go thru them
It’s been exactly one week since I’ve popped. Here are my updates:
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Birth story 03.06.09</u>
0750hrs – Arrived at MAH, was told no Single or Deluxe room yet. So they brought me to 2-bedder room first.
0815 – Blood pressure taken, baby heartbeat monitored briefly (like 10secs). I chose to have an enema, cos I couldn’t tell if I am considered to have emptied my bowels or not, and thought maybe it’s a good idea to clean out my constipated system haha.
0830 – Regretted enema, cos it made my stomach churn. Was thinking thankfully I’m not going for natural birth, cos if shitting hurt so bad, giving birth must be worse. Changed into operating gown and waited while taking silly pictures and videos.
0930 – Got wheeled down to OT waiting area, still don’t feel nervous or anything. Hubby got changed into scrubs. Took more silly photos while waiting.
0945 – Wheeled into OT. They put the “plug” thingie in my left hand, and for some reason, they went to poke it into the smallest vein they could find. Tried to take blood sample for cord blood bank, but cos it’s a tiny vein, they couldn’t get the 16ml that they needed. Anaesthetist held the needle, MALE nurse grabbed my arm and rubbed and pushed
super painfully to try to push more blood out. Only managed to get half the blood. Anaesthetist told me they will get the rest from my leg after they administer the spinal block. Baby was still happily kicking away when they did all these, and I couldn’t help but wonder how traumatising it would be for her to be happily “swimming” one moment, and yanked out into the cold the next!
0955 – Started spinal block procedure (same like epi procedure). IT HURT. Because it was painful, by reflex I flinched, and they had to pump a second needle of the stuff, cos the first one leaked when I moved. The spinal kicked in around 1min later though, very fast. They put the screen up in front of me to block my view.
1010 – Obgyn did the pinch test, I didn’t feel anything, so procedure started. Started to feel like I was suffocating, and started panicking, cos I’ve never felt like that in my life. Anaesthetist was super nice, she spoke very soothingly, and talked me through what I would experience, and assured me that the difficulty in breathing was normal. I had to breathe thru my mouth very hard in order to feel like I wasn’t suffocating. Because of this, I started feeling very very scared.
1015 – Hubby was brought in, he came to hide behind screen with me. Suffocating feeling subsided, but still felt a bit breathless. Was told that I may feel pushing and tugging, but frankly I didn’t really feel that. Even when anaesthetist came over me to help push baby out from just under my chest, I didn’t really feel anything.
1025 – Skyla is born! She was brought over, all covered in vernix (so the coconut thing is a MYTH!). I teared up, but it wasn’t because of joy, it was because I was so RELIEVED that she was out and I hadn’t died from the ordeal wahahaha… Anaesthetist took several photos for us.
1030 – Hubby followed nurse away with baby. They started stitching me up, wiping me down etc etc. Obgyn came over, shook my hand, told me all went well, said he’ll see me next morning.
1050 – Wheeled into post-op observation area.
1100 – Wheeled back to room.
1130 – Got transferred to Deluxe room, and baby was wheeled in soon after.
So far, my motherhood journey has been stressful. But I think it’s something that all new mothers go thru. Had a small meltdown 2 mornings ago, was lying in bed after feeding and pumping, and started crying. Really wanted to sob my lungs out, but it hurts my c-sec wound, so I couldn’t even cry properly.
But guess I needed that small crying session, cos later that day, I already felt better. Today, we visited the PD Dr Terence Tan, and it was a happy trip. Skyla’s jaundice had gotten a bit better, she had gained back a bit of weight (but not back at birth weight yet), doc said she looked healthy, and that things will only get better from now onwards. He answered and reassured me on all my feeding questions and problems also. I felt so relieved. So all in all, I’m a
very happy person today!
Oh, Dr Terence is really nice
<u>Review on MAH:</u>
Nurses – most of them very nice. One Snr staff nurse was really nice, extra helpful with BF.
BF-friendliness – Very good. I only had to mentioned ONCE that I want to TBF. At my first feed, LC was there to teach me and guide me. Twice-a-day visits from LCs, and any time I had problems. My fave LC was Indian lady called Ms Sara I think, but they were all nice.
Room – Nice, big, clean, and I like the toilet! Haha…
Meals – Not bad, but I’m not fussy. Green papaya fish soup was NOT served. Instead had other variety of herbal chicken soup, pork rib soup etc. Hubby’s meals were not as nice (according to him, I didn’t taste, but he’s a bit fussy). $75/day fee for staying companion includes all meals (complete meals with food, fruits and drinks, even afternoon Milo and tea cake).
In general, I had a good experience at MAH. Hope the rest of you who chose MAH will have a similar experience. Btw, they weren't very strict on the 2-visitor rule, think they don't know how to keep track haha. I had 4 visitors in my room at one point.
My BF journey so far – Started off completely crazy and very painful (hence the sleepless days/nights and the crying session), but suddenly since yesterday, things started to settle down, and have been quite ok since. I’m total latching, but have been pumping a bit to supplement a couple of feeds a day, cos Skyla wasn’t pooping, so I was worried that she wasn’t eating enough. But PD said I can stop now if I want, can safely demand feed already.
Ok, gotta go now, catch an hour's sleep before Skyla needs fed again. Don’t remember if they are supposed to have a growth spurt at 1wk old, but she’s been wanting to eat a lot today. Take care all, and I will try to get online more frequently!
And will try to post a picture of Skyla tomorrow!