delivery (29th feb 2008)

29th Feb 2008 will not be a day that will be easily forgotten... Its the day that i spent 13hours in labour, not counting in the time spent at home with the cramps. That would add on another 2 days as the cramp- like discomfort actually started on the 27th Feb.
I checked into the hospital @ 9am on the 29th, and that was only after I had camps that were 2-3 mins apart. Now on hindsight, i should have waited even longer as to prevent being induced by the staff.
This was how the whole process went:
7am called Dr Fong as contractions were 4-5mins apart but the pain was still bearable. Instructed to make my way to the hospital. But as the pain was still bearable and this being my first child, felt that i still had time (heard that the first delivery normally takes hours and hours) so went to have my nice relaxing shower.
8am woke my hubby up to get ready to leave for the hospital as by now the cramps were 2-3 mins apart.
8.25am on called a cab, unfortunately met with a traffic jam on the way there.
9am arrived at Mt Alvernia Hospital, checked into the delivery suite. had my particulars taken down by the nurses there and was asked to.... 'go pee need to do urine test'....after which was strapped to the bed (this is major discomfort as lying there on that bed gives you a horrible backache. At 15min intervals a nurse would come in and check your contraction levels. They would also check the opening of your os. At which i was 3 cm open (need to be between 8 to 10 cm for delivery).
9.45am checked in by Dr Fong. No changes.
11am os checked again but to my disappointment there were no changes in the size of my os
2pm os checked again, still no changes. A nurse starts a drip to induce the labour. hubby falls asleep.... I tell him to go home and sleep in anger!@!!
4pm the pain gets to unbearable proportions. I give up my wish to have a drug free labour and begs the nurse for an epidural.
5pm the anesthetist arrives and in goes the epidural. A check to the os is done and in the process, my water-bag bursts with a vengence, soaking the lower half of my body.
5.30pm the epidural effects kick in and my blood pressure drops, hartman's solution was given via drip.... AHHHH pain free.... now i can sleep in peace...
8.30pm woken by the nurse... tells me that she is going off duty and that her workmate will take over the care of me...
9.30pm woken by a new face.... says that it should be soon..... but am still in happy land with no sign of any pain.
9.45pm Dr Fong's arrival signals the start of what I have been waiting for all day. All hands go into a flurry as everyone asks me to focuse and bear downwards as if i am to go to the toliet. Now as this goes on i suddenly feel nauseaous and ask for all the flurry and burry to stop.... in all I vomitted a total of 3 times before baby's head is seen. Hubby can still patronize my by saying how good i am doing and that baby's head is now the size of a 50 cent coin.
10pm Everybody is anxious as baby's head is out but the cord is wrapped around his neck.... I feel as though i have just been told that i have yet another 100km to run after having run a marathon. The nausea is not subsiding at all.... 'hurry you can't give up now... your baby's life depends on you... you have got to push.... dont stop...' were words the nurses and Dr Fong were throwing at me. at this point... I really could not understand a thing as I have yet to feel the urge to push. All this time, I have only been pushing according to their instructions.....finally in fustration.... 'I give up.... dont want to push anymore....' was my reply to their urges. In their urgency for baby to be delivered... the nurses and Dr Fong 'helped' me to deliver baby by pushing on my tummy....
10.13pm Finally..... Elijah Jerome's arrival is marked with a minute wail followed but the feeling of extreme exhaustion.....
10.25pm suddenly there placed on my tummy was an added weight.... 'what are the nurses doing....dont they know that I am so tired that I dont want to be disturbed...' oh look.... its your son...'my son... my son?.... oh my'
Oh that looks like my little brother, Josh when he was a newborn.........