My Birth Story
It all started with the “show” on Monday 31 Jan 05. Was getting impatient by Tuesday evening when there was no signs of contractions yet. Went for a walk around the estate hoping to bring on labour.
Close to midnight, I felt a pain in my tummy. It felt like a tummy upset but nothing came out. Then it started feeling like menstrual cramp. I couldn’t sleep while hubby slept like a log. Didn’t know if the pain was really contractions. By 3.30am, the pain was coming like every 5 mins though it wasn’t the type of excruciating pain that I was expecting. Woke hubby up and told him that we better go to the hospital. I even took a shower, had a small slice of choc cake cos I was hungry and reached the hospital at 4.30am.
Mid-wife checked my cervix, I was only 2 cm dilated. She cleared my bowels and put me on the CTG machine to monitor baby’s heartbeat and my contractions while we watched the English Premier League match between Man U and Arsenal.
Pain was getting a little more intense at some point and the midwife came in because she could monitor from her station outside that she detected some distress in baby’s heartbeat. My gynae was called for and he arrived closed to 6am. Decided to burst my water to check. I was so tensed up when he burst the bag that the laughing gas did not help at all.
There were traces of meconium in the water, a sign that baby has already passed motion. He called for an emergency C-section immediately. From the grim look on his face, I knew that it was something serious and couldn’t stop sobbing and trembling. Was wheeled to the operating theatre. Everything was in a blur and so surreal, just like a scene from ER. I remembered telling the nurse that i had remnants of nail polish left on my toes and she removed them for me. Pediatrician and Anesthesian was already there. There were some small talk between the doctors - the anesthecian rode his bike here. Gynae tried to assure me that everything will be alright. Anesthesian stuck a needle into my hand, placed a mask over me and I was knocked out…….
The next thing I knew was something tapping my cheek and calling out my name. I tried to open my eyes but couldn’t. Couldn’t talk also as my throat was very dry. Could only give a soft croak. It was a scary feeling, being able to hear what was happening but not being able to respond. As I was being wheeled out of the operating theatre, I heard the nurse mentioned that baby is in the neo-natal intensive care unit. My heart sank when I heard that. As much as I tried to break out of consciousness, I couldn’t. Next I heard hubby’s voice, he seemed to be talking to someone on the phone, telling the person that baby was delivered at 7.04am. From the tone of his voice, he sounded happy. A sense of relief came over me. As the nurses transferred me over to the bed in the room, I managed to whisper and asked if baby is alright. Nurse assured me that baby is ok. Hubby came in and told me that baby is in ICU because the doctors wanted to monitor him in case he ingested some of the meconium. His vital signs are very good and he was very alert when he was brought out of the operating theatre. I later found out from gynae that 1 in 3 babies die from meconium poisoning.
(ETA : Not exactly meconium poisoning. the medical term is meconunium aspiration. baby's lungs get infected if he inhales / ingested the meconium which could lead to further complications)
Hubby showed me a picture of baby taken when he was wheeled out of the operating theatre. That was my first “meeting” with Joshua. As I was on the drip and feeling extremely concussed from the GA, I couldn’t go to the ICU to visit Joshua. He was finally brought to me at 1pm that day. My 1st reaction when I saw him was that he looks so small and fragile since his weight is only 2.41 kg. His length 50 cm, which is within the average length, given his daddy and mommy are both of lanky frame, I’m not surprised.
Despite the traumatic birth experience, I really thankful and feel so blessed.
I’m thankful to God for the wonderful gift of life. I remembered sitting in the gynae’s office last May asking him what could be wrong with me after suffering 2 failed pregnancies. God chose to surprise me with this pregnancy the following month. Tears always well up whenI think of how close I was in losing Joshua if we did not discover that he was already in distress. Every morning in the hospital, the nun will come and pray with us and we are reminded of how fortunate and blessed we are.
I’m also very thankful for having a supportive hubby. As the confinement lady can only come this coming Saturday, he took leave all the way to cook, clean and mother both baby and me. And he still found the time to update the Baby Book. I’m so ashamed to say that he’s better in handling Joshua than me.
I’m also very blessed to have many good friends who send their well wishes. Our hospital room was filled with hampers, gifts and flowers that hubby had to make 2 trips to bring the things back. Sorry, if I missed out sending the birth announcement to some of you in LJ-land. I was too groggy and didn’t know who I’ve sent the messages too. Nevertheless, I’m so glad that some of you took the time to visit me in the hospital. Sorry that I was a bit concussed that day :P
Thanks to farahdean , teokaren , babyflite, tomatojuice , vixette7 ,makeupmag, meow123, michanat for the gift. I hope I didn’t miss out anyone here :P
Sorry for the long-winded post but this was such an experience that I have to write it somewhere. Someday, I show this to Joshua Kyle what daddy and mommy had through to bring him to the world.
Close to midnight, I felt a pain in my tummy. It felt like a tummy upset but nothing came out. Then it started feeling like menstrual cramp. I couldn’t sleep while hubby slept like a log. Didn’t know if the pain was really contractions. By 3.30am, the pain was coming like every 5 mins though it wasn’t the type of excruciating pain that I was expecting. Woke hubby up and told him that we better go to the hospital. I even took a shower, had a small slice of choc cake cos I was hungry and reached the hospital at 4.30am.
Mid-wife checked my cervix, I was only 2 cm dilated. She cleared my bowels and put me on the CTG machine to monitor baby’s heartbeat and my contractions while we watched the English Premier League match between Man U and Arsenal.
Pain was getting a little more intense at some point and the midwife came in because she could monitor from her station outside that she detected some distress in baby’s heartbeat. My gynae was called for and he arrived closed to 6am. Decided to burst my water to check. I was so tensed up when he burst the bag that the laughing gas did not help at all.
There were traces of meconium in the water, a sign that baby has already passed motion. He called for an emergency C-section immediately. From the grim look on his face, I knew that it was something serious and couldn’t stop sobbing and trembling. Was wheeled to the operating theatre. Everything was in a blur and so surreal, just like a scene from ER. I remembered telling the nurse that i had remnants of nail polish left on my toes and she removed them for me. Pediatrician and Anesthesian was already there. There were some small talk between the doctors - the anesthecian rode his bike here. Gynae tried to assure me that everything will be alright. Anesthesian stuck a needle into my hand, placed a mask over me and I was knocked out…….
The next thing I knew was something tapping my cheek and calling out my name. I tried to open my eyes but couldn’t. Couldn’t talk also as my throat was very dry. Could only give a soft croak. It was a scary feeling, being able to hear what was happening but not being able to respond. As I was being wheeled out of the operating theatre, I heard the nurse mentioned that baby is in the neo-natal intensive care unit. My heart sank when I heard that. As much as I tried to break out of consciousness, I couldn’t. Next I heard hubby’s voice, he seemed to be talking to someone on the phone, telling the person that baby was delivered at 7.04am. From the tone of his voice, he sounded happy. A sense of relief came over me. As the nurses transferred me over to the bed in the room, I managed to whisper and asked if baby is alright. Nurse assured me that baby is ok. Hubby came in and told me that baby is in ICU because the doctors wanted to monitor him in case he ingested some of the meconium. His vital signs are very good and he was very alert when he was brought out of the operating theatre. I later found out from gynae that 1 in 3 babies die from meconium poisoning.
(ETA : Not exactly meconium poisoning. the medical term is meconunium aspiration. baby's lungs get infected if he inhales / ingested the meconium which could lead to further complications)
Hubby showed me a picture of baby taken when he was wheeled out of the operating theatre. That was my first “meeting” with Joshua. As I was on the drip and feeling extremely concussed from the GA, I couldn’t go to the ICU to visit Joshua. He was finally brought to me at 1pm that day. My 1st reaction when I saw him was that he looks so small and fragile since his weight is only 2.41 kg. His length 50 cm, which is within the average length, given his daddy and mommy are both of lanky frame, I’m not surprised.
Despite the traumatic birth experience, I really thankful and feel so blessed.
I’m thankful to God for the wonderful gift of life. I remembered sitting in the gynae’s office last May asking him what could be wrong with me after suffering 2 failed pregnancies. God chose to surprise me with this pregnancy the following month. Tears always well up whenI think of how close I was in losing Joshua if we did not discover that he was already in distress. Every morning in the hospital, the nun will come and pray with us and we are reminded of how fortunate and blessed we are.
I’m also very thankful for having a supportive hubby. As the confinement lady can only come this coming Saturday, he took leave all the way to cook, clean and mother both baby and me. And he still found the time to update the Baby Book. I’m so ashamed to say that he’s better in handling Joshua than me.
I’m also very blessed to have many good friends who send their well wishes. Our hospital room was filled with hampers, gifts and flowers that hubby had to make 2 trips to bring the things back. Sorry, if I missed out sending the birth announcement to some of you in LJ-land. I was too groggy and didn’t know who I’ve sent the messages too. Nevertheless, I’m so glad that some of you took the time to visit me in the hospital. Sorry that I was a bit concussed that day :P
Thanks to farahdean , teokaren , babyflite, tomatojuice , vixette7 ,makeupmag, meow123, michanat for the gift. I hope I didn’t miss out anyone here :P
Sorry for the long-winded post but this was such an experience that I have to write it somewhere. Someday, I show this to Joshua Kyle what daddy and mommy had through to bring him to the world.