The birth story
0700
I was woken up by a contraction and thought that it was yet another Braxton Hicks (False Labor) since I had been having a few such episodes which lasted a few hours with irregular contractions. I was looking forward to eating a nice birthday lunch, which my in-laws would treat me to. (It is a tradition in Joshua’s family to celebrate with a birthday meal on the Sunday just before the actual birthday for the birthday person)
0800
While we were preparing to go out for church service, I realized that the contractions had been pretty regular for the past one hour (perhaps about 10 min apart) so I started counting the minutes in earnest and true enough, the intervals were even beginning to shorten to 6-7 min apart. Alarmed, I alerted Joshua and we decided not to go to church to make sure that it was not a false alarm.
1100
Joash took his nap, leaving us parents the time and space to discuss whether we should cancel the birthday lunch and head straight to the hospital. Unlike in Joash’s case, the water bag did not burst and there was no bloody show thus we had a hard time making the decision.
1230
The intervals shortened to 5 min apart. It was then we took Joash, who had just woken up, to my in-laws’ place for them to take care and drove to NUH, hoping that it was the real thing so that we wouldn’t have to head back and make a wasted trip.
1500
It took quite a while to get admitted and for the gynea to come and check me. I was verified to be in labor at 4cm dilated. Learning from experience, I tossed the idea of braving the labor pains out of the window and opted for an epidural.
1600
I had the epidural at 5cm dilation. I was rather nervous but it proved to be quite painless. With the pain relief in place, Joshua and I enjoyed the rest of the labor watching a Jap drama series together on his laptop. Too bad I was hungry to the point of having gastric. My last decent meal was the night before. I had to stop watching the show as I endured a different kind of pain! Hahaha…
1900
I was finally fully dilated and it was time to push! Apparently, I was pushing quite effectively. After three pushes, the nurses asked me to stop pushing and wait for the gynea to come as they could already see the head. Joshua had the luxury of slowly admiring Jayna’s hairy head while we waited. After the gynea came, it was simply a matter of a few more pushes before Jayna came wailing into the world! Praise God!
Jaclyn: My precious princess! You feel sooo warm...0700
I was woken up by a contraction and thought that it was yet another Braxton Hicks (False Labor) since I had been having a few such episodes which lasted a few hours with irregular contractions. I was looking forward to eating a nice birthday lunch, which my in-laws would treat me to. (It is a tradition in Joshua’s family to celebrate with a birthday meal on the Sunday just before the actual birthday for the birthday person)
0800
While we were preparing to go out for church service, I realized that the contractions had been pretty regular for the past one hour (perhaps about 10 min apart) so I started counting the minutes in earnest and true enough, the intervals were even beginning to shorten to 6-7 min apart. Alarmed, I alerted Joshua and we decided not to go to church to make sure that it was not a false alarm.
1100
Joash took his nap, leaving us parents the time and space to discuss whether we should cancel the birthday lunch and head straight to the hospital. Unlike in Joash’s case, the water bag did not burst and there was no bloody show thus we had a hard time making the decision.
1230
The intervals shortened to 5 min apart. It was then we took Joash, who had just woken up, to my in-laws’ place for them to take care and drove to NUH, hoping that it was the real thing so that we wouldn’t have to head back and make a wasted trip.
1500
It took quite a while to get admitted and for the gynea to come and check me. I was verified to be in labor at 4cm dilated. Learning from experience, I tossed the idea of braving the labor pains out of the window and opted for an epidural.
1600
I had the epidural at 5cm dilation. I was rather nervous but it proved to be quite painless. With the pain relief in place, Joshua and I enjoyed the rest of the labor watching a Jap drama series together on his laptop. Too bad I was hungry to the point of having gastric. My last decent meal was the night before. I had to stop watching the show as I endured a different kind of pain! Hahaha…
1900
I was finally fully dilated and it was time to push! Apparently, I was pushing quite effectively. After three pushes, the nurses asked me to stop pushing and wait for the gynea to come as they could already see the head. Joshua had the luxury of slowly admiring Jayna’s hairy head while we waited. After the gynea came, it was simply a matter of a few more pushes before Jayna came wailing into the world! Praise God!
Presenting... *Drum Roll* My cutsie fuzzy bunny!
An hour after delivery
The aftermath
Though the labor itself was quite pleasant since there was no nurse from hell and epidural at the last min (9 cm dilation), the after effects of the epidural hit me really hard. I could not eat despite being so ravenous and vomited out milo and papaya on 2 separate occasions. The nausea and dizziness reminded me of the torture I experienced daily during my first trimester. I felt so ill and uncomfortable that I couldn’t really rest till almost 1am. After the effects of the epidural wore off, I could finally feast on milo and crackers! (They only had those 2 things in the middle of the night :P)Thank God that this time round, the episiotomy was small and I recovered quite quickly from the pain. The gynea took such a long time stitching me up as she had to explain the process to a houseman. I felt like the frog specimen in a science experiment! Made me glad that I was given epidural or I can’t imagine enduring the ‘surgical procedure’. LOL
Though the labor itself was quite pleasant since there was no nurse from hell and epidural at the last min (9 cm dilation), the after effects of the epidural hit me really hard. I could not eat despite being so ravenous and vomited out milo and papaya on 2 separate occasions. The nausea and dizziness reminded me of the torture I experienced daily during my first trimester. I felt so ill and uncomfortable that I couldn’t really rest till almost 1am. After the effects of the epidural wore off, I could finally feast on milo and crackers! (They only had those 2 things in the middle of the night :P)Thank God that this time round, the episiotomy was small and I recovered quite quickly from the pain. The gynea took such a long time stitching me up as she had to explain the process to a houseman. I felt like the frog specimen in a science experiment! Made me glad that I was given epidural or I can’t imagine enduring the ‘surgical procedure’. LOL
3 comments:
congrats girl! YOU look very good!
Really? Jayna or me? Hahaha... Thanks for the compliment. :)
haha Jayna looks perfect and so do you! :) looking fwd to some sibling photos! haha!
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