You are currently sleeping very cutely and soundly and mummy too had a very good and long rest at night:) You slept from 10.30 pm til 3.30am for milk! Which is an amazing 5 hours, an achievement indeed! Am hoping that you will be a little more awake these days to look around, be curious about things around you and interact with mummy, more than the occasional cooing :):):) Can't wait for you to smile and sing along with mummy during playtime!
Today mummy will be sharing with you about how you came into this world...:) Sit up (haha I know you can't for now, just pretend) and pay attention:)
It all started on 16 Feb (Sat) at around 2am, when mummy was awaken by pretty intense Braxton Hicks (tightening of the womb) which lasted for 1+min. It it became more regular from around 2-4am. Mummy was kept awake by the Braxton Hicks which occurred for 4-5 times each hour. Mummy became a little anxious so she went online to search for answers, keying in "Braxton Hicks" at 38 weeks. Hoping to find comfort that the "tightening of the womb" are normal and usual for preggies at week 38. The forums and websites showed various results, some say it may be false labour, others say depends on the frequency of the Braxton Hicks so mummy decided to time the "contractions" from 4am onwards: 4.04am (2min), 4.20am (1.5min), 4.32am (2min), 4.48am (2.4min), 4.58am (1.5min), 5.04am (1.5min), 5.12am (2min), 5.20am (2min), 5.25am (1.5min). By 5am, daddy was awaken by mummy's constant fidgeting and was asking mummy what happened. I told him about the Braxton Hicks that I felt since 2am. Daddy wondered sleepily if it could be an false alarm and asked if we should go to the hospital to check it out. Mummy said wait first then went toilet (for the 3rd time in the night) to relieve herself. After peeing, mummy noticed a bit of a bloody discharge and alarms went off in her! She recognised that this is probably a bloody show! (tell tale signs of true labour, not a horror movie haha...) so hurriedly told daddy that we should go to the hospital soon! Daddy quickly got out of bed and with eyes half closed, went to pack the charges while impatient mummy sat and waited for him to be ready while hugging on to womb womb with little you inside:)
On the way to the hospital, daddy contemplated going to pump the petrol first but mummy was like, no dear, think we need to hurry to the hospital cos womb is feeling uncomfortable. Daddy then drove at a faster pace to the hospital. Upon reaching Thomson Medical at 6.30am, we were shown the way to the observation rooms since ours was natural birth. When we entered, the first person we saw was...*surprise surprise*... Dr Adrain Woodworth! Haha the first thought in mummy's mind was, wha! how does he know that I am in labour and why is he here so fast??!! Questions afloat while mummy was rushed to the toilet to change into the gown while daddy went to register me. Later at the observation room, two nurses came in to check on me and said will be checking my dilation. To all of our surprise, the nurse said that I was 5cm dilated already! The nurses asked me if I was in pain and was shocked that I could still wake and talk to them normally! In record speed, I was wheeled to the delivery suite, Dr Adrain was called and anesthetist informed that I wanted epidural.
In the delivery suite, the next 15 minutes was a blur to mummy. The anesthetist came with a nurse and said that he would be administering the epidural now. Hearing that there would be a needle and blood involved, mummy started shaking and feeling very nervous. Daddy was not able to be inside the delivery suite with mummy while epidural was being administered :(:(:( Mummy remembered praying and asking for God's protection while they were preparing for the injection. When the anesthetist came with the needle, mummy was shivering and moving uncontrollably. He had to get 4 nurses to hold me down, one to hold my hand, one to sing to me, one to hold my spine, the other to grab my legs! Gosh...Come to think of it, mummy really want to thank the nurses for being patient with mummy and for tolerating with my nonsense (like asking song to be sung while epidural being done). With epidural done, daddy can finally come in to be with mummy:):) I remembered that when daddy came in, the first thing he was while stroking mummy's head is; "I am so proud of you dear." :):):) *smiles*... Was by this time, very sleepy and tired so was drifting in and out of sleep while daddy watched cartoon and played with his iPad. Time was about 7.45 am.
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| Azel at 1 min after birth |
Around 9.15am, 3 nurses suddenly rushed into the room and was frantically checking the monitors. We were told that your (precious Azel) heartbeat was dropping rapidly so have to deliver soon. Upon checking mummy's dilation, the nurses reported that I was 8-9cm dilated so the body was about ready to deliver you! While your heartbeat dropped, mummy's heartbeat increased! They got mummy in position to push and the 2 nurses were starting me off with pushing while waiting for Dr Adrain to come in. Mummy was super nervous, palms sweaty, legs shaking (not sure if its due to fear/epidural/cold or what). Daddy too was very seen to be very nervous, he held on tight to mummy's sweaty palms and prayed softly beside mummy's ears, all the while smiling and saying that mummy is very brave. Mummy pushed hard when asked to and relaxed to conserve energy when no contractions came. Because of the epidural, mummy really could't feel anything so just listened to the nurses' instructions on when to push and when to relax. Pushed like crazy when asked to but nurses said that mummy was pushing wrongly (hmmm didn't know that there is a wrong and correct push :P) In the end, when Dr Adrain came, he straight away did the episiotomy and asked me to push some more. After a few more wrong pushes, Dr Adrain asked daddy if he could use forceps to pull you out, daddy said yes, whatever it takes for the baby to come out please. Dr Adrain did so and mummy could only feel a strong pressure and jerking from the force. Finally, Dr Adrain placed you (still bloody, mucus filled and looking like golum) on mummy's body! Daddy was all smiles!!!! :):):):) Mummy was so proud of you!!!! Thank God for a fast, smooth and (almost) painless delivery :):):)
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| Azel at Day 1 |
