our baby ashley
okay, i know some of you have been waiting to hear more about the labour process, and see more pictures, but we have been so drained the past one week. things have settled down slightly (i hope i'm not jinxing myself here!); at least she has already formed a certain routine - sleeping for three consecutive hours, giving daddy&mummy a chance to catch a wink.
as for the labour process, here it goes:
3am (on 8 nov) - awoken when i started to feel strange cramps in my tummy (bearable type of pain)! i'm one of those lucky few that don't suffer from menses cramps, so this is quite a strange feeling. BUT is it finally here?!? or could it be a false alarm? woken up (the very sleepy but kan cheong) daddy, and we started to time the interval between the "contractions", and realised that they are occurring every six minutes!!! DAMN, the doc said to go to the hospital when contractions occur every five minutes! but since they are relatively painless, i decided that we should monitor it a while more.
about 330 to 345am - confirmed that the "contractions" are of a regular interval, and decided that we should go straight to the hospital! i had a quick shower (very importantly is to wash my hair, knowing i won't have the chance to do this for the next few days at least!), and zoomed off to the hospital.
reached hospital at about 430am, and was brought to the observation ward. the nurse checked and told me that i was already 3cm dilated, and confirmed that i am in labour! daddy was then instructed to do the hospital admission, while the nurse stuffed up something into my anus to flush out my rectum (so that i don't poo during labour) - eeks! contractions also became more intense at this point - OUCH! i put the breathing techniques taught during yoga class into practice, and i do think they work!
i was only brought to the delivery ward at about 7-plus where there's a mini tv and nice comfy chair - i think it's meant for the companion, but daddy obviously wasn't fated to enjoy all these. oh, and more importantly, it's only in the delivery ward that you have the laughing gas canister! the nurse explained to me the different types of pain relief - laughing gas (a mix of oxygen and nitrous oxide), thigh jab and spinal epidural jab... the nurse kept asking if i needed pain relief whenever she came by (read: not very encouraging), so eventually i gave in to the laughing gas. i felt less pain (maybe about 30% less?), but it does take alot of effort to breathe in and out during the contractions, especially when the contraction intervals are so short.
doc came at about 8-plus to do a check - and i was still only about 4-5cm dilated, i expected more after the pain. since dilation for first-time labour is usually about 1cm/hour, she predicted that i will only be 10cm dilated in another six hours, which means baby should be born around 2pm - OH MY GOD, another six hours of pain. doc also burst my water bag at this point of time to hasten the process, and put me on a sugar drip to give me energy. from then on, the contractions became even more intense, and by 10-plus i was actually already 7cm dilated, woohoo! but the problem also started here - ashley poo-ed and that's a sign that the baby is in distress and that could be dangerous. the nurse turned off the nitrous oxide in the laughing gas, leaving behind only pure oxygen (i think to calm the baby down), but this also means there is NO PAIN RELIEF now! thank god, she turned on the nitrous oxide after a few minutes, and from here onwards, everything seemed to happen very quickly - i could feel the need to push (ok, it may sound crude, but it's like the feeling that you want to pass motion, just more intense)... and by pushing you actually relieve the pain. the nurse called for the doc, and she came down almost immediately... i actually saw her put on her surgery gown, and i think it just took another two pushes before baby ashley shot out! AT 11:20 AM! yes, she literally shot out of me, haha, apparently i pushed too hard! PHEWWWWW. after that it's just the delivery of the placenta (see pic - eeks), the removal of blood clots, and the cleaning up - all in a couple of minutes.
that's the whole labour experience... i'm glad i made it without epidural (and daddy came out injury-free). :-) somehow i think the breathing techniques and perhaps even the raspberry leaf tea (more intense contractions to shorten labour) worked for me! if i have taken epidural, it would definitely have slowed down the pushing process, and if ashley had been in greater distress at that time, i might even end up having to go through caesarean section, something which i have always wanted to avoid at all cost.
here are the pictures taken by daddy while mummy was being cleaned up.
scribbled at 5:43 pm
.::.
okay, i know some of you have been waiting to hear more about the labour process, and see more pictures, but we have been so drained the past one week. things have settled down slightly (i hope i'm not jinxing myself here!); at least she has already formed a certain routine - sleeping for three consecutive hours, giving daddy&mummy a chance to catch a wink.
as for the labour process, here it goes:
3am (on 8 nov) - awoken when i started to feel strange cramps in my tummy (bearable type of pain)! i'm one of those lucky few that don't suffer from menses cramps, so this is quite a strange feeling. BUT is it finally here?!? or could it be a false alarm? woken up (the very sleepy but kan cheong) daddy, and we started to time the interval between the "contractions", and realised that they are occurring every six minutes!!! DAMN, the doc said to go to the hospital when contractions occur every five minutes! but since they are relatively painless, i decided that we should monitor it a while more.
about 330 to 345am - confirmed that the "contractions" are of a regular interval, and decided that we should go straight to the hospital! i had a quick shower (very importantly is to wash my hair, knowing i won't have the chance to do this for the next few days at least!), and zoomed off to the hospital.
reached hospital at about 430am, and was brought to the observation ward. the nurse checked and told me that i was already 3cm dilated, and confirmed that i am in labour! daddy was then instructed to do the hospital admission, while the nurse stuffed up something into my anus to flush out my rectum (so that i don't poo during labour) - eeks! contractions also became more intense at this point - OUCH! i put the breathing techniques taught during yoga class into practice, and i do think they work!
i was only brought to the delivery ward at about 7-plus where there's a mini tv and nice comfy chair - i think it's meant for the companion, but daddy obviously wasn't fated to enjoy all these. oh, and more importantly, it's only in the delivery ward that you have the laughing gas canister! the nurse explained to me the different types of pain relief - laughing gas (a mix of oxygen and nitrous oxide), thigh jab and spinal epidural jab... the nurse kept asking if i needed pain relief whenever she came by (read: not very encouraging), so eventually i gave in to the laughing gas. i felt less pain (maybe about 30% less?), but it does take alot of effort to breathe in and out during the contractions, especially when the contraction intervals are so short.
doc came at about 8-plus to do a check - and i was still only about 4-5cm dilated, i expected more after the pain. since dilation for first-time labour is usually about 1cm/hour, she predicted that i will only be 10cm dilated in another six hours, which means baby should be born around 2pm - OH MY GOD, another six hours of pain. doc also burst my water bag at this point of time to hasten the process, and put me on a sugar drip to give me energy. from then on, the contractions became even more intense, and by 10-plus i was actually already 7cm dilated, woohoo! but the problem also started here - ashley poo-ed and that's a sign that the baby is in distress and that could be dangerous. the nurse turned off the nitrous oxide in the laughing gas, leaving behind only pure oxygen (i think to calm the baby down), but this also means there is NO PAIN RELIEF now! thank god, she turned on the nitrous oxide after a few minutes, and from here onwards, everything seemed to happen very quickly - i could feel the need to push (ok, it may sound crude, but it's like the feeling that you want to pass motion, just more intense)... and by pushing you actually relieve the pain. the nurse called for the doc, and she came down almost immediately... i actually saw her put on her surgery gown, and i think it just took another two pushes before baby ashley shot out! AT 11:20 AM! yes, she literally shot out of me, haha, apparently i pushed too hard! PHEWWWWW. after that it's just the delivery of the placenta (see pic - eeks), the removal of blood clots, and the cleaning up - all in a couple of minutes.
that's the whole labour experience... i'm glad i made it without epidural (and daddy came out injury-free). :-) somehow i think the breathing techniques and perhaps even the raspberry leaf tea (more intense contractions to shorten labour) worked for me! if i have taken epidural, it would definitely have slowed down the pushing process, and if ashley had been in greater distress at that time, i might even end up having to go through caesarean section, something which i have always wanted to avoid at all cost.
here are the pictures taken by daddy while mummy was being cleaned up.