The birth story

This is a very very VERY overdue post...XXM has arrived!

And so, let us cut out the preamble and go straight to the point!

22 Aug 2012, around 12am

G woke up for one of her usual middle-of-night bathroom trip. XXM is already 1 week past his EDD and G is getting anxious and a bit sick of being pregnant...

But this bathroom trip is different...for one, G is having a very bad backache
And for another, she is having 'the show'...
And lastly, as she finally gets herself back into bed, she was hit by a contraction.
Not those teeny Braxton Hicks she has been feeling since week 34..
This is the real stuff. She knows because it feels so different

22 Aug 2012, 6am

J's alarm went off and while he is lazing around in bed, G broke the news to him

"I'm having contractions"

Nonetheless, since the contractions are about 20mins apart, there's plenty of time...

22 Aug 2012, around 8am

Contractions coming at about 5-7min interval. G decides to call the delivery suite. Midwife who picked up the call ask her to stay at home unless the pain is unbearable or water breaks

22 Aug 2012, 8am - 11+am

G continues to monitor the contractions while keeping herself mobile...she even clean and dusted the furniture! (the squatting helps with moving the labour process faster)

Then, at 12+pm, while having lunch, G starts to feel unwell. Body aches and lethargy, as well as feeling feverish. Checked temperature, no fever but bordering on having one

G informs J to be prepared to send her to hospital as she is feeling unwell

22 Aug 2012, around 3pm

J came back home to pick up G to go the delivery suite. By this time, the contractions are coming hard and with the feverish feeling adding on to the discomfort, G is starting to feel drained

Checked into delivery suite at around 4pm. Plug set and antibiotics injected, panadol given and CTG strapped up, G tries to settle herself down and find a comfy position

22 Aug 2012, 4 - 8+pm

The hours passed by in a blur of contractions and endless breathing exercises. Everyone in the room (except G) was calm and speak in soft tones while G is busy with deep breathing and then pant-pant-blow. The transition phase was terrible. The contractions seem to fuse into one big one that doesn't seem to end. G remember screaming...though J denies that she did ("not scream, just moan very loudly")

Throughout the whole process, it never crossed G's mind to ask for pain relief. Though somewhere in the process, G nearly gave up (but still did not think of asking for pain relief)

And unfortunately, that leads to G being too tired to move out of the bed and into the pool...

Finally, G gets the green light from the OBGYN to push...and that's the word of the day: PUSH!

22 Aug 2012, 8+pm to 1017pm

Pushing and pushing...moving from the bed onto the birthing stool. The lines that are etched into G's head

"Push! 2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10! Quick change of breath and Push! 2...3..."

"Contraction still going on. Can you push again?"

"Now you are 2 weeks constipated. C'mon, push it out!"

And finally...FINALLY, with one mighty push, at 2217h, XXM is born :)

First line from J: It's a boy!
First line from G: Why is he not crying?

22 Aug 2012, 1017pm to 2am

XXM did not cry when he was born. But he came into this world with his eyes open! When the OBGYN passed the baby to G, XXM looked up and into G's eyes.

After the cord was cut, XXM was whisked away as he is still not crying.
The neonatal Dr came...and it was only much later that G realized XXM had to be intubated
G was helped back into bed while J observed the process of getting XXM to start crying
The midwives rubbed XXM's legs and feet while the Dr set up the oxygen support
G looked on in fear at the number of people surrounding XXM...and finally, XXM let out a weak cry. G heaved a huge sigh of relief...

After that cry, XXM had to stay away from G for some time to get his oxygen level back up..in the meantime, G had to be cleaned up...some time around 11pm, the midwife gently place XXM onto G's chest for skin-skin contact.

After an hour of skin-to-skin contact and XXM had his first breastfeed, the midwives cleaned him up. Then, J, G and XXM were transferred to the labour ward for some much needed rest...

And so..this is the birth story for XXM a.k.a. Li Chen An （李辰安）








To be continued...

The wait continues...

39 weeks and 6 days...

1 more day and XXM will be really full term.

But the worrying thing is that nothing seem to be happening to indicate if XXM is gonna arrive soon!

G went to see the OBGYN 2 weeks ago and was told that she is already having quite strong contractions. On internal examination, she was dilated at 1cm. That gave J and G some hope that maybe XXM is gonna make its debut soon...

1 week passed and at the next Dr appointment, G is still only at 1cm dilation! Even the Dr expressed some disappointment, and did some manual stretching to see if it will help. 

G is immensely disappointed since that Dr appointment. And over the weekend, she walked, climbed stairs, squat, shot some hoops and played Kinect sports, all in the bid to try and wriggle XXM southwards and stimulate the labour to get started. Despite all the efforts, nothing has changed. Stress is starting to get to G and her mood swings has worsened. Poor J has to put up with her yoyo-ing mood, and has been trying his utmost to support G through this period. 

G's worst fear is that XXM is growing too big for her to push out naturally, which means a C-section is now more possible. In fact, even if XXM remains a respectable size, if the dilation doesn't happen, a C-section is likely to be the route. Furthermore, G was hoping to avoid medical induction so as to prevent the cascade of interventions that may follow...especially the dreaded epidural. 

It has been a stressful weekend...luckily, G has started on her maternity leave. At least that takes the stress of working off her shoulders...

Hopefully, in the next update...there will be a picture of J, G and XXM

Anytime now...

37 weeks and 2 days...
2.8kg
Femur length 71mm
Head fully engaged in pelvis.
XXM is now full term and ready to meet and greet the world anytime
At the check up today, G's cervix is just starting to dilate, so Dr says probably not due too soon...looks like the waiting game is gonna last for while more. G also had her first CTG done today. Being able to hear XXM's heartbeat for a full 40mins is such an enjoyable experience! And the reclining chair was so comfy too..G drifted in and out of a peaceful nap, lulled to sleep by XXM's heartbeat...and awaken by the contractions that comes every 2-4 mins. G is kind of looking forward to the next CTG. Can't see XXM, but hearing the heartbeat is definitely reassuring

XXM is one active baby. Usually by this time, the head is stuck in the pelvic cavity and movement become less - less kicking, more squirming from side to side. But XXM continues to kick, punch, stretch, elbow, squirm more than before! Dr is kind of puzzled, but she say it shouldn't be a cause for worry. Just have to monitor closely and make sure the movements don't suddenly decrease by alot...

G had a moment of freaking out this morning. All this time, while growing a life inside her body, she has been preparing herself to be the caregiver for another human being (a much smaller one which she has no experience in). Suddenly, this morning, while staring into space, it suddenly hit her that not only is she going to care for a little human being, she is going to be a mother. Yes, a MOTHER. And now, she is having alot of doubts about her own ability to be able to raise a healthy and happy child.

J, on the other hand, is still fighting off a bad cough. He has been having trouble sleeping lately, probably subconsciously, the anticipation, worry and fear of impending fatherhood is causing enough stress to affect his immune system and sleep pattern.

A new phase in life...and lots to learn...lots of compromises and sacrifices...all for this little life they've created

Soon, very soon...at the most, another 4 weeks...at the least...well, who knows..might be tonight!

Almost at the safety mark

Today marks 35 weeks and 6 days. One more week and XXM will be safely full term and ready to come to this world. Hopefully XXM can wait for one more week...the crampy feelings in G's lower abdomen today seem to speak otherwise...

In the mean time, G is still getting frequent Braxton Hicks despite the medications and almost 2 weeks of HL to rest at home. Although the frequency has now reduced to about 3-4 per hour (and on a good day, only 1-2 per hour for about half a day), G is starting to feel more and more pressure downwards with each contraction. The sensation is quite scary, at times, it even feels like something is going to tear. Going to the toilet is now a stressful event as G keeps having the fear of seeing blood or that the water will break when she exerts...and going to toilet to pee is also a very frequent even, especially with XXM's head now almost fully engaged in G's pelvis, every little movement XXM makes is squeezing on G's bladder. Toilet paper runs out way too fast!

G 'accidentally' discovered that NUH offers a special service called EMMa Care - Enhanced Midwife Maternity Care. Though a little pricey, with a midwife following through the pregnancy (whatever is left of it anyway), the birth as well as 2 months post-delivery, G hopes that the midwife can provide the support she (and J) needs so that G can have the natural (and maybe even water) birth she wanted from the start. G thinks that J is secretly very relieved to have 'a trained person' there to help...at least now there is one more person for G to aim the drip stand at...

At home, G is fighting the natural instinct to clean and pack (nesting instinct)...but she is not winning the fight, at least not for the weekend that passed. The wardrobe is cleaned and packed, and baby stuff is now more organized in the shelving area. However, G will have to give up any form of cleaning/packing soon. Back aches and pelvic pain has been plaguing her, causing many nights of poor sleep and movement so slow, she takes almost double to the time to do anything physical.

At the same time, J is fighting off a bad bout of tonsillitis and a rash of unknown cause. At least his throat is now less sore, rash is less itchy and he is finally able to help out more...

All in all, it has been a rather eventful time since the last blog entry. And by the next entry, perhaps XXM will finally have a gender...and a proper name

Too many Braxton Hicks

After managing to 'fight' off the low Hb, SOB and heart palpitations, G held the hope that the rest of third trimester can pass smoothly...

Had the third (and probably last) ultrasound scan and J & G are both excited to see XXM blinking! XXM is now estimated to be about 1.8kg, and Dr estimate XXM to be about 2.8 - 3kg at full term.

The past few weekends have been occupied with shopping for XXM. All of the clothes are now laundered and neatly folded...toiletries for XXM are more or less all bought and even the containers to neatly hold all of XXM's barang barang have been bought, cleaned and filled almost to the brim.

Perhaps G didn't manage to get enough rest or for some unknown reason, she has been getting frequent Braxton Hicks...as frequent as every 10 mins...worried that the contractions will squeeze XXM out, G saw the OBGYN yesterday. Not true labour contractions, cervix not dilated though XXM has started to descend...Dr advised rest and also prescribe a medication to decrease the frequency of the contractions. If frequency still remains as high, G may need to be hospitalized. To say that G is worried is an understatement...33 weeks is too early. Hopefully the contractions will ease off and XXM can stay in-utero for another 4 weeks to reach full term

J is also getting anxious and worried that XXM will arrive too early...not everything is prepared for the little one's arrival...

As each day passes, both J and G are getting more nervous and excited at the same time...the one thing very different from preparing for a baby vs preparing for a wedding - you just cannot count down to The Day for a baby because Nature has its own timetable which no one else can see

Third Trimester

Today marks week 30.

J commented that sometimes it feels like G has been pregnant for so long, yet it also feel so fast cos XXM is coming very soon!

G cannot agree more. While it feels like G's been pregnant for ages, the impending arrival of XXM is causing some serious freaking out for both J and G.

But what will come, will come...and the best way to deal with freaking out is to get the control back. So, J and G went baby shopping over the weekend...and finally, on this 3rd (and hopefully final) visit to Expo, they bought the sarong frame and a baby cot (that comes with the cutest bedding set!). Over the next couple of weekends, time to start buying the other stuff...

On a more serious note, G hasn't been feeling too well the past week. Shortness of breath, heart , palpitations and giddiness plagued her daily...and finally, she put in a call to NUH Women's Clinic and got an appointment to see her OBGYN. Diagnosis: anemia. The drop in Hb is from 13.1 to 10.9, and although 10.9 isn't a very low value, it seems to be significant enough to cause the symptoms. Dr prescribed another supplement with higher iron content, and G is supposed to stay at home and rest for the week. Hopefully, with the rest and change in supplement, G will start feeling better soon.

XXM is definitely growing and getting more active. The bump is seem to get bigger everyday, which has caused poor sleep for both J and G...and G is still trying to capture a video of XXM doing the moves. 2 more weeks to the scan...J and G are both looking forward to it!

And so, the countdown begins as the number of weeks left dwindle to a single digit...

Bump likes to move it move it

G's been trying to capture a video of  her bump doing the hooky-pooky when XXM does the kicks and punches, but it's like XXM has a 6th sense that there's a camera awaiting and will stop moving...until G switch off the camera and then back it comes with the acrobatics. Sigh...

XXM is getting increasingly active, including doing somersaults of some sort inside G's womb. G once witnessed the crest of her bump shifting from the right to the left! Maybe XXM is doing a 'kallang wave' inside

Boy or girl? XXM remains as an 'it' for now...so many people has been asking until G is tired of answering. However, G did have this nagging fear that as the sonographer did not scan the private area for XXM, J and G has no idea whether 'things' are developing properly or not. So at the last Dr appointment, G asked the OBGYN if it is necessary to scan the area but no, don't let J and G know the gender. Dr gave a reassuring smile and said that if something was really wrong, the sonographer would have said so. So...no news mean either a healthy boy or a girl.

So...boy or girl? The answer will be out in August...in the mean time, stop asking G cos she is really tired of saying 'Don't know'