harlow mummies!
i've been away for the last two days...quite obvious lah what happened
last i came to this forum, i wanted to say thanks to quite a few who have fretted with me abt the issue between my gynae and my husband..glad it all came out well. hmm..i did not expect things to progress so quickly..so some of the "must haves" in my hospital bag were not ready when i really had to go (e.g. fave nightwear, gg home clothes etc)..
here's my little one's birth story:
3 Oct - Mid Autumn Festival...spent the early hrs worrying abt gynae vs hubby..slept early after all the insomnia the weeks before! glad i did! kept waking up from 7am with the need to go to the loo...strange..no activity, but there was a moist feeling so i'd to change out quite a couple of times. at 11am, xoxo the BLUR ONE, finally realised i was leaking amniotic fluid. called the clinic, gave silly, incoherent replies cos i didn't want to trigger a false alarm and still quite terrified abt seeing the doc with my gynae...haiz!! in the end, decided to go. a swab to test for amniotic fluid at 1pm showed there was none..so really false alarm? my gynae decided to do a VE. Ok..first time for me, and the most uncomfy thing to have (better get used to it). found to be 2.5cm dilated. cervix was thinned and told to admit to Mt A immediately...so my gynae turned to my hb and made it clear she wasn't going to allow me to "strain" past 10 pushes. that's all i've got before she'd intervene..looking back, 10 is actually alot of pushes!
2pm: went for CTG monitoring, found to be having contractions approx 8-10mins apart. i feel something, but yet "nothing", can't quite believe these pp consider me to be in labour already..(really cannot make it..)..began to understand that 127 reading on CTG marks the height of a contraction..well had at least 11 of those in the 1 hr...anyway, since i've not eaten the whole day, i asked to be discharged to go home and get my hospital bag (yes, it's NOT IN THE CAR)...
3-5pm: Pre-Birth Celebration...hubby & I decided to do have a really good pizza lunch at Pizzeria, Greenwood and I am so thankful for having that! Without it, I am sure I'd go on a flat tyre...cos my gynae did not authorise me to eat at all after admission! Whew...
5pm: Call from gynae - "have the two of you decided to abscond?" she has been waiting for us to show up at Mt A (coming from her TMC clinic) since 3pm... *blush* quite terrible patients eh?
5:45pm: finally reached Mt A, remembering the PIE traffic was a nightmare. I began to "feel" that I am having contractions. Very manageable..and I rem telling my hubby if it's just like that, I am cool abt it..happy that I managed to get my hydro birthing room #1..plenty of births at Mt A that day..I was #13..can we make it for a mid-autumn babe?
6:30pm: Gynae came, decided that I've to be induced after a 2nd VE check (this one was so much worse than the first) revealed that my water bag has burst.. (???) i didn't have the gush/flowing scenarios..so I was quite taken aback. I remember sotong mum telling me she was induced...and that she made it thru' without epi. OK..I will keep that goal. Back of my mind, I was terrified cos I also heard stories of how this accelerated labour can be alot more painful. Oxytocin drip started, I regretted agreeing to the whole idea cos the need to be constantly strapped to the CTG unit meant quite a fair bit of discomfort for me.
7:15pm: Dilated to 4cm, contractions 5mins apart. I was still illegally eating cheezels on the sly. Height of contractions was rated 3/10 on my scale of pain.
9pm: Second check revealed no progress. I was given 2 hrs to get more dilation or it might be an emergency C-section. Drip was sped up.
9.30pm: I went nuts in 30mins. Pain level now 8/10. On top of the pain was extreme pressure. Felt constant need to go to the loo...remember hating the bed pan and insisting on the toilet till a nurse say, I don't think you want a baby in the toilet right? Yeah..right! Begged for one last loo visit..looked out of the window pane glistening with the rain. Quite soothing really..think I was going into another world.
9.45pm: Last trip to the loo granted, I returned to the bed. Decided to turn the CTG monitor to face me. I wanted to know head on, how each labour episode would come...so started staring at the screen...30, 58, 89, 112, 120, 127...grit, bear with it..felt a good sense of relief when after sometime at 127, you see the nos coming down. I kept at this for a long long time..hubby said I looked quite hypnotised.
11:30pm: Cut-off time (given 12hrs hv lapsed). Nurse came, found me delirious...kept repeating I was gg nuts (and I was)..so asked if I wanted gas. OK! Took one whiff, didn't work at all in reducing even 1% of the pain, threw the mask away. Was asked if I wanted jabs or epi..I said yes to all..somehow, after delivery, found it was my hubby whom I was talking to. AND HE DID NOT RELAY THE MESSAGE NOR THE CONSENT FORMS TO ME. Hence I did not get my pain relief when I needed it the most. Mr Smart Fella also ensured he did not hold my hand nor stand too close...hehe, on hindsight, he'd have had a broken limb or something.
Midnight: At some point, someone decided to do yet another VE to see if I have progressed at all or not. I cannot remember this anymore. Found to be 8cm dilated. Remember cool towel applied to my face and people telling me to try pushing if I felt like it .uh...like how? "Like going to the loo.."..rem thinking, I don't do "business" horizontally. Also one recall was that the CTG was almost always 127..and when it was not 127..I kept telling everyone ard me that the monitor is faulty...get the machine checked. Hehe..seems like now, the nos can "come down" but the pain wouldn't.
2: 50am: Fully dilated..cheerleading squad formed. At least three nurses were around giving instructions. I asked for the doc. I could feel bb..and this is the worst I've felt..told myself, don't lose it (start screaming) or I'll fall apart. Hb said I was still addicted to the CTG nos so whenever a nurse "blocked" my view, I'd ask her to move away (don't rem this)..
3:00am: Doc arrived..I rem her asking for her crocs..????? She asked how many pushes...I rem someone telling her I've done just 4. (Ok, so I've 6)..she asked if I wanted to have forceps (I cannot rem this) and apparently, she must have decided I could do without that (though it was prepared). So nurses started counting the pushes, 5..6..(the water bag that everyone incl the doc thought had burst completely before exploded at the midwife! not my fault i thought...but the warm water then was what I needed to come back and concentrate..funny for me, not for the fella's that drenched)..7 and 8 (i was told to keep holding and recycling my breath...into 5 mini breaths..) I didn't realise it, but I was tearing rather badly and doc had to quickly intervene to prevent more tears..so a cut was made..
3.10am: BB Audrey's here in the world..and I can't thank the ragtag team of Mt A well enough. Heroines..all of them!
