Just so i dont forget the wonderful experience we been through on the day of her birth, i figured i should pen this down before it all gets blurry.
7 March was the scheduled day of appointment for us to see Dr Siow. In this appointment, we would already been 39 Weeks 5 Days into the pregnancy and Dr Siow would check if the cervix is open and we will be doing the usual CTG to check for contractions.
By this time, Hubs and i have already been waiting for baby to make her appearance over the last week and truth be told, we were getting abit impatient. Hubs was excited and anxious to meet his princess, and i was getting heavy and tired from all the pregnancy weight and not knowing when the labour would start, i was getting restless and unable to sleep well anyway.
8.30am : Arrived at Dr Siow’s clinic
8.45am : Strapped up to CTG – monitored a few regular contractions which i didnt feel a thing, but it was showing on the scan.
9.00am : Dr Siow checked my cervix and declared that the “door is not opened” and that baby is quite high up, perhaps because she is a biggish baby. He figured that maybe because of her size, she was not able to come down thru the birth canal. My blood pressure has been increasing over the last few gynae checks so he also suggested that we should try to get her out soon. Proposed to either induce labour or c sec on 9 March, Mon. At this point, Hubs and i were getting anxious. Although we had discussed this a few times, but it seems that the decision was hard to make when we had to. We discussed that if we were to go through induce labour, i would have to go through the pain of natural delivery and in the event that it does not work out, i would be going through emergency c sec which then hubs will not be able to be in the op theatre with me. But we also discussed to go through an elective c sec, hubs will be able to witness the birth of our baby BUT the recovery and pain of the operation will take longer, and moreover, our initial birth plan was to do natural delivery WITHOUT epidural. So this was all going way out of our plan!
We discussed with Dr Siow on the possibility of then doing the elective c sec earlier, since we were already getting impatient and no point waiting any further if we have decided on the c sec route.
Dr Siow suggested Monday, but we asked if possible to do on the next day (Sunday). And then i just asked if we could do it on Saturday itself. So this impromptu decision was made and honestly i felt a sense of relief that hey finally this is happening, we are going to see our babygirl soon. The clinic staff made arrangements with the operating theatre, anesthetist, pediatrician and unfortunately the op theatre at our chosen hosp – Mount Alvernia was fully booked till Tuesday!! As Dr Siow’s clinic is at Gleneagles, he suggested for us to be admitted to Gleneagles instead. (Way out of our plan and budget!!).
After all the arrangements were confirmed, we were told to admit to Gleneagles by 12pm. As it would be a elective C sec, i had to fast. No more food and drinks till after the operation. Elective C Sec was scheduled to be at 4.00pm.
OMG this is really happening. I was feeling rather excited but flustered. Honestly i have not stayed in the hospital before and i have not gone through any surgery in my entire life. i was very nervous because i have read up alot on natural birth and not much on c sec hence i was really thrown off my comfort zone.
10am : We drove home to drop off the car, and pack our stuff and grab the hospital bag.
11.00am : Took my last shower, packed the last bits, called a cab.
12.00pm : Cab arrived and we made our way to Gleneagles.
12.30pm : Admitted into Gleneagles, Bed 524. We requested for single bed ward as i was hoping hubs could bunk in with me (i secretly didnt want to be alone!). There wasnt any available single bed at the point of admission but they said probably after my operation, they would transfer me. My mom was with us and my in laws came shortly after. I was glad to have this family support as i was really quite nervous inside. Things were happening so fast that i didnt have the time to feel really scared, we were running on adrenalin at this point of time.
2.00pm : A Nurse came in to help change me to the hospital gown and get me prepared for the operation. Temperature taken, blood pressure monitored, Baby heartbeat was recorded.
I felt abit emotional at this point of time, this baby which i have been carrying inside me for the past 9 months was going to be delivered. What would she look like? How would she be? Will she have alot of hair? Will the delivery be smooth and good?
I felt her kicking inside me, and i know i was going to miss that.
3.00pm : The operating theatre staff came and transferred me to the bed to be wheeled to the operating theatre. They also wheeled a baby bed for Hubs to push alongside with me. I felt so emotional as they wheeled me away and i waved bye and see you later to my mom and in laws. I was sooooo scared but excited to see my baby girl. I AM GOING TO BE A MOTHER!!!
330pm : Waiting in the waiting area at the operating theatre, Hubs was given scrubs to wear, and i remember the nurses coming to verify my information many times. The anesthetist came and briefed me on the spinal jab which will numb my lower half of body so that the operation can take place.
3.45pm : Hubs was told to wait at the waiting room while they pushed me in to get ready for the operation. I was transferred to the operating table, the half screen set up, was then given the drip on the hand, blood pressure and ECG was put on to monitor my heart rate, and finally was given the spinal jab. It is different from epidural but it is also a jab which goes into the spinal to numb the lower half of the body. Dr Siow came in shortly and started pinching my belly asking if i could feel it. He also inserted the cathether to clear the urine. Soon i cant feel my toes and soon i cant feel his pinching. This feeling was rather scary actually, not being able to feel my body parts.
4.00pm : The operation started and Hubs came in to sit beside me. I was so relived to see him. Before this i was all alone in the cold cold room, not being able to feel my legs and having many people attending to me and treating me like a piece of meat. I asked if the operation has started and in fact Dr Siow has already made the cut in my belly. I couldnt feel it! Amazing. There was alot of gushing of water and suction sound. The next thing i knew, Dr Siow said there was going to be abit of tugging and err actually it was a hell load of tugging, i felt like i was being pulled apart just that i had no feeling.
4.10pm : The Anesthetist, at Dr Siow’s instruction, walked behind my head and started to push my belly from my chest down. It was a hard push and i felt a gush and a sense of relief and the next thing i heard my baby cry. My tears flowed down and i was trying hard to control because Dr Siow was cleaning up and sewing me up. Hubs gave me a kiss and went over to see babygirl getting cleaned up. The nurse then wrapped baby up and brought over to me. She looked so beautiful i couldnt believe she is mine and that she came out of my belly. She was a whooping 3.71kg! Hubs then left with the baby and nurse to get her measured and cleaned up while Dr Siow started sewing me back up. At this point, i was starting to get drowsy and sleepy. I think the multiple medicine was making me woozy.
5.00pm : I think the sewing completed at this time, i was already so drowsy that i couldnt keep my eyes open. I was pushed to the recovery area to monitor for an hour, and i dont remember anything except thinking where my baby was and how is she.
6.00pm : The nurses wheeled me back to my ward and hubs was actually waiting for me outside the operating theatre but i was so woozy that i didnt even realise that he was there. Once we returned the ward (lucky there was a one bed ward available!), hubs went to get baby from the nursery. I still couldnt feel my legs and it was really uncomfortable. The moment i saw my baby, i felt like crying again. How did we manage to create such a amazing human being. Just that morning, we went for our gynae check, and now she is in our arms.
The next few hours that followed was trying to get my legs back, that took about 6 hrs, and then because of the drip and cathether, i was not mobile at all and i couldnt cuddle my baby. The wound was also started to hurt and i had to take quite abit of medication. I was told to try to stand up the next day to walk.
Day 2 : They came to remove the cathether and i was supposed to try to walk and try to let the first pee out.
Day 3 : They removed the drip.
Day 4 : Discharged!
It was overall a very overwhelming experience that im glad all of us came out of it safe, healthy and happy.
I will write again on how i feel about being a mother now in the next post!
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