Days of Eliza & Emily: The birth story of Eliza

Baby Eliza!

Yup Eliza has finally arrived! It's great seeing her, beyond words...i'm still adjusting to her feeding schedule, waking up many times at night to feed her and change diapers. anyway this was what happened on that fateful 30th nov...

850am - set off to Thomson Medical Centre to my gynae's clinic. appointment was at 9am but we wanted to miss the ERP (which we thot ends at 9am)...ok only to realize that ERP is until 930am.

920am - arrived at clinic. strapped on the CTG to check baby's heartbeat & contractions. prostaglandin (a tablet inserted to soften the cervix and for contractions to start). Nurse checked..and cervix only 0.5cm. Asked to go walk walk and come to clinic at 2pm

10am - Went to Orchard borders to walk walk. lower back was aching...

12pm - Went Mos burger to eat (yay!)

1245pm - Went to TCC to snack....i ate oreo cheesecake while Ww drank coffee (as usual)

130pm - went back to clinic...back really aching...feel a bit of contractions on and off but it's bearable.

230pm - checked baby's heartbeat and contractions again.

315pm - Gynae came in and checked cervix...3cm dilated. asked to go have tea,walk walk before going to the labour ward.

330pm - Hung around at Delifrance and drank hot chocolate until i can't take the ache anymore. (actually it's more of a lower back ache than the contractions that hurt at this time). could feel some contractions come and go.

445pm - Check-in into the labour ward, Ww went to do all the amin stuff while i got changed. Nurse inserted enema to clear all poo. had to wait 10mins but i think aft 5mins, i really cannot tahan anymore and rushed to toilet. feels so good after that.

515pm - moved to the labour room. Ww came back from all the admin stuff. talked a while, tried to watch some tv, watched the CTG scan and saw some contractions going up to 60+ but seems bearable.
this is the CTG...87 is the intensity of the contractions...99 being the highest

530pm - Gynae, Dr Tan, came and broke waterbag, chirpily saying that i'm managing quite well...4cm dilated already. Aft that Ww quickly goes to take his dinner. Contractions start to become more intense and i could feel like baby's head coming down at my pevis.

6pm - Nurse was asking if i wanted epidural and also if i was having the pushing feeing (imagine the wanting-to-go-pass-motion feeling..now u know why have to clear bowels first), I'm starting to feel but it was still bearable.

So the nurse checked and i was 5-6cm dialated already. if i want epidural i'll have to take it now otherwise it'll be too late to take it. and counting an average of 1cm dilation per hr, it would be possible that it'll take another 4 hrs to achieve 10cm dilation. uh-huh...i don't think i can take 4hrs more of more intense contractions..and it's starting to get bad :S so i decided to go for the epidural.

Very quickly the contractions were getting more intense, and the gas that supposedly relieves the pain doesn't help. The nurse said to keep breathing in the gas and out, and it was making me really groggy. It was just me and the contractions. i was wincing and curling up as the contractions came and went. (and squeezing Ww's arm really hard as the contractions peaked).

I had to wait for the anesthetist to come...possibly half an hour. gosh the waiting drove me nuts! and every time a contraction came i couldn't help but push even though i tried really hard to hold back.

the anesthetist finally came and everything happened like a whiz (cos i was still really groggy from the gas). The prick from the drip (because epidurals cause blood pressure to lower and the intravenous intervention of ephedrine compensates that) and the epidural was nothing compared to the contractions that i think i don't remember feeling it at all. Phew...i was super relived after that.

7pm - manage to be normal again. i see the CTG showing the contractions come and go..but i don't feel anything! yays! only thing was that i was shivering, one of the side effects of the epidural. we were told that the epidural will slow down labour and if i had chose not to take it, i could possibly speed up the labour time. not that i really will bother. as time passes i could feel a growing ache as the contractions intensify.

8pm - checked dilation again, seems to be ready to push soon. nurse calls Dr. Tan, tells us that he should come in 30mins. practiced pushing and Ww said he could a bit of the baby's head. the contractions continue to intensify but still can take it.

830pm - gynae not here yet :( contractions intensify, and i really feel like pushing and it's getting more and more painful. Ww remembers his colleague telling him the breathe in, blow out x3 to tide through the contractions and not push. (now then he remembers!!) trust me...even tho i think we learnt it at antenatal class, at that point of time you would not remember all these things in the midst of the pain & struggle.

840pm - i was watching the clock and praying hard my gyane will reach here sooooon..... requested to increase the epidural dosage...but i think they didn't, cos the pain was still there..argh.

845pm - nurses decide to guide me to start pushing first...and tada...finally my gynae comes. and all i remember was that i had to hold my breath and push really hard and long. by then, i didn't remember the pain...coz i think pushing is part and parcel of how contractions work. this is the hard work part, mustering all my energy and breath. and i could hear everyone encouraging me to keep it up etc etc.

i could kinda feel baby's head coming out. and according to Ww he saw my gynae stretching the cervix till he could see my pelvis bone (wah..i really can't imagine).

9.02pm - Baby Eliza takes her 1st breath of air and gives her first cry; and she was popped immediately onto my arms. Amazing! I was so relieved the labour was over and so elated to see her in person (after months of seeing photos of her in black & white thru the ultrasound scan). Dr.Tan gets phototaking Ww to cut the umbilical cord which Ww does with his shaking hands.

9.05 pm onwards - Ww follows the nurse as baby Eliza is cleaned up a bit, weighed and measured;

while i "deliver" the placenta, could feel Dr.Tan "pulling" out the placenta. doesn't feel much anyway. and because there was an episiotomy or tear so there was some stitching to be done.

Ww's back with baby Eliza all wrapped up and nice.

If you can see, baby Eliza's quite alert. (newborns are anyway) so she was looking around and having that curious look of her face...and her most expressive lips (which definately is like her daddy...Ww's parents say she's gonna be a talktative gal next time..we'll see we'll see).

10pm - In the ward, waiting for baby to be checked and bathed. Spent 45mins sending out sms-es telling ppl abt Eliza's arrival. by 11plus baby couldn't be brought to us yet because she was still too cold to be bathed. Ww & his parents went back first. by the time i saw my cute clean and bathed baby it was 110am. Oh but how sweet she is!

Next day, proud daddy carries Eliza.

and talks to her...

Long story...phews. and it has taken me 4 days to finish writing this.

God is merciful and amazing...because He has blessed us with Eliza, and the going through the whole labour made me be at awe at how He made our women bodies change and adapt to give birth to a baby. No evolution can think of that, not by chance, but by God's wisdom and His creativity.

More on life after giving birth....when i have time to slowly update....
Meanwhile...some photos of Eliza...
almost smiling...