Fri 26 May 2006
Midnight: Oh -- there goes another one.

12:30pm: And another... Hmmm... There seems to be a pattern here.

1am: And another... Is this IT?

1:30am: Try to sleep

3:30am: Surges are preventing me from falling asleep. Toss around bit more. Some folks say first births can take hours -- no need to panic yet.

4am: Jabbed hubby, "Hey, I think we'll have to go to hospital later this morning." "Um um, ok, ok. Snore..." With surges now every 20 mins or so, I can't sleep. Get up to gather remaining things to take to hospital. Being the procrastinators that we are, we are of course, not fully packed yet. After all, this is only Week 38 and we had asked baby to hang in there till Week 39 and 6 days so she could share mummy's birthday! But looks like she's not gonna heed our request.

6am: Surges now 5 mins apart. I take a nice long leisurely shower. Might be my last for several hours/days to come. The warm water on my belly *definitely* helps take the edge of the surges. Hubby starts picking up speed (and his things). I suggest we start timing the length of surges. Now what did Ginny say? Something about surges being 70 secs long (or did she mean apart??) might indicate one is approx 6cm dilated (which was the point when we figured we would like to arrive in hospital). I wish I had written it down.

7am: Surges are 3-5mins apart. We run thru our list of stuff to bring: hand towels, small basin for hot/cold water for sponging, exercise mat, dust off the fitball (I knew it would come in handy some day!), baby's first clothes (what a fancy name these angmohs have for it - "layette"!), my barang-barang, hubby's barang-barang (including camera, batteries, MP3 player and speakers for the relaxation CD and schmaltzy Pachelbel's Cannon -- the one with the wave sounds no less! Something about how the music builds up in waves which pregnant women find soothing...), etc. etc.

In between, I'm on the floor leaning against the birthball -- the surges feel less intense this way.

It's almost office hours -- no need to page our ob-gyn lah. We'll be in the hospital soon.

8am: Two surges come almost immediately after each other. "Darling, we need to go to the hospital NOW." I'm standing at the door watching hubby throw everything into a few bags -- one for the delivery suite (birthing paraphrenalia), one for the maternity ward, and then some.

8:30am: Finally in the car! I start sms-ing my boss and colleagues to tell them I won't be at work today (or the next 3 months, for that matter). I cancel my long-awaited facial appointment for next Tuesday. Darn, I was so looking forward to that!

8:40am: Arrive at Mt Elizabeth's hotel-looking lobby. The friendly doorman takes my bags, I carry the birth ball and exercise mat like I'm headed to some Stretch and Tone class. People in the lobby give me some quizzical looks.

Nurse takes one look at the get-up and asks, "Drug-free birth?" She doesn't even ask to put an IV line into me (something which our doc earlier insisted would be unavoidable, which resulted in the removal of the "no-IV" clause from our birth plan).

Unfortunately, one of my bags is still with hubby (who was parking the car). So much for planning to wear my own outfit. Anyway, I'm secretly glad that I wouldn't have to deal with laundering it later. Nurse hands me a BRIGHT PINK hospital gown... don't they have a more flattering shade? Perhaps it's because it's a happy colour.

9am: Nurse reads our birth plan -- nods and asks if she can do a VE. To our surprise, am already 4cm dilated. She calls my doctor. She's about as excited as we are as she tells me that someone had just given them a talk on HynoBirthing a few weeks earlier. "So you'll be our first HynoBirthing delivery in this hospital," she cheerily says. Wow, really?!

Nurse asks to take a CTG reading for 15-20mins for a baseline. I readily agree.

10am: My doc arrives. Asks to do another VE -- I had a feeling baby would be out soon so didn't object. Hey - 6cm! Doc is really pleased with progress. I head back to my birthball and exercise mat on the floor. Doc has never seen anyone labour this way. I said it was A LOT more comfy than lying in bed. Nurse nodded in agreement. We chatted
And joked around a bit.

Meanwhile, hubby is rushing around making arrangements with the cord blood folks (didn't I say we are procrastinators?). The cord blood bank rep arrives and walks into MY delivery suite! She and my hubby have some long discussion -- errrr Miss, can both of u step outside? Can't u see I'm in labour?

10:40am: Nurse is back in to strap me to CTG. She leaves.

10:45am: I feel a huge warm gush of liquid on the bed -- my waters have burst!!! I page the nurse. She comes in "Ah, I thought it was your waters! You're coming along very nicely," She says reassuringly.

Surges intesify after this. Owwww... Relax, relax, relax. Breathe.

Nurse does another VE -- am fully dilated! Wow.

11am: Back on the floor after the CTG session. Hubby pops in and out as he settles the cord blood arrangements and contract. At one point, he's asking me to sign in 6 places -- all this while I'm kneeling against the birthball on the floor!

11:30am-ish: I feel the baby's head 'pop' through the cervix. It's an odd feeling. Surges are really close together 2-3mins. I concentrate on trying to relax and take long breaths. No more feeling chatty and friendly. Hubby whips out a relaxation script. It gives me something to focus on.

11:45am: Back onto the bed again for CTG monitoring. Nurse then asks if I want to return to the ball and mat. I decline. I'm feeling pretty tired as it's been over 12 hours since the first surge. Not a wink of sleep. I labour on my side, gripping the bed rail and hubby's arm when each surge hits.

12:20pm-ish: Another VE -- at this point, I don't care and don't mind as I know it will be all over soon. Baby's head can be felt! Nurse pages my doc. Doc arrives within 10mins or so. Another nurse joins us and the two nurses swing into action -- dismantling the foot of the bed, opening up the trays of equipment, coaxing me to slide down to the edge of the bed.

The need to push intensifies. But didn't the HB book say "don't push"?! I'm a bit confused. I try using the long J-breaths. I also vocalise whenever I feel like it -- just as I learnt during pre-natal yoga classes.

I can already feel the baby descending down the birth path! My body says to push, so I push. Excitement builds up in the room. Baby's head is visible and then slips back a bit.

Doc asks if she can make a snip to divert the tear (as per birth plan which indicated preference for no epiosotomy unless necessary). I say go ahead.

12:52pm: Another surge hits and I give it all I've got -- my little slippery slimey baby shoots out in one big whoosh! So much so hubby had no time to move into place to catch her! (luckily, our doc did.) She's screaming her lungs out and I'm totally amazed how noisy such a tiny bundle can be!

She's plopped onto my chest and nurse helps me get her latched on. She takes to the breast immediately -- awwww....

While hubby and I are all distracted by baby's arrival, doc has already jabbed me with Syntocinon in the thigh and massages my belly to move the third stage along (she said no to a natural third stage -- oh well, by then, baby is out.). I bleed a little more than expected.She orders Duratocin(?) to stem the bleeding. Nurse finds a vein in my hand and shoots in it (well ok, it would've been easier with a pre- emptive IV line, but it would've made labouring on the floor harder).

Out plops the placenta. I only catch a glimpse of it. Hubby doesn't care to look. He's took busy taking photos of baby who gets weighed and measured.

49cm and 2.93kg, but boy, can she scream!!! Apgar of 9 in first minute, 10 in second.

I get stitched up. Feel the lignocaine jab a little and some tugs after that. Turns out to be a fairly long tear of 3cm (I did have a feeling all those perineal massages wouldn't quite work for me).

Relief all round as baby is back on the breast and suckling happily away.

What an awesome experience. We are so grateful to our doctor, the Mt Elizabeth nursing staff and Ginny who taught us how to tap into the body's natural epidural to realise the birth that we wanted: a short active labour (4+hours), natural and most of all, drug-free!