my birth story

feb 4

1 am
we arrived at the hospital shortly before 1 am and it was already 1.20 am by the time mac finished the admission procedures (we know the exact time as it was shown on all the labels, my bracelet, etc). mac had to leave soon after and the nurse started to do some checks on me, monitoring the baby's heartbeat and frequency of my contractions (pains) etc. the docs and nurses told me that i was having regular contractions (about 10 minutes apart) but as a rule of thumb, i had to wait till they were about 3 minutes apart until i'm ready to get into the labour ward! that means i will have quite a long wait...

4 am
i think i got about 30 minutes of sleep after the monitoring was done, but by about 3.30 am, i was asked to move to another bed and then around 4 - 4.30 am, i was feeling stronger contractions (that means more pain) every 5 - 7 minutes and i couldn't get back to sleep...

10.30 am
the doctors had a check on me and found that my cervix had dilated about 1 finger (1 cm i suppose) but it's still about 1 cm think. (note: the cervix has to get all thin and dilate 10 cm until the baby can come out and i can push.) the docs and nurses told me to walk more because that will help to move the baby downward.

lunch & dinner
mac came visit me during the visiting hours at lunch & dinner, but honestly i could barely talk to him because the contractions were really quite painful! they were still about 5 minutes apart. but mac accompanied to do the walking and helped massage my back because my back really hurts when the contractions came.

feb 5

1.30 am
the nurse had another check on me and said my cervix had only dilated about 1.5 cm but the good news was, it had got very thin already. she even said i should call my husband because i could probably get to the labour ward in a few hours (another note: we can get to the labour ward when the cervix is 3 cm dilated).

4 am
i walked the whole night and only rested on the armchair once in a while, hoping it could speed up the process... the nurse had another check on me... but there was no progress!

8.30 am
the doctors came and found my cervix had only dilated 2 cm (only 0.5 cm more in 7 hours! normally people say for first delivery, the cervix will dilate 1 cm each hour) and the bad news is, it had beome swollen (which will hinder the dilation). they asked if i wanted to be induced and yes! i couldn't really wait for another day because i couldn't walk, sleep or eat because of the pain!

10.30 am
i was finally moved to the labour ward and mac was allowed in to accompany me as well. i started to inhale entonox ("the smile gas") to relieve the pain but honestly i don't think it helped much... and 1 or 2 hours later, i asked to have an injection of pethidine and neither did it help much! and by 3.30 pm, i had an epidural and after that, i could finally talk and chat with mac properly! :P

9 pm
the doctor had another check on me and found that there was no progress at all (only 2 cm of dilation) and what's more, i'm suffering from a fever and she suggested i had a caesarian section to take the baby out.

10.14 pm
i was taken to the operation theatre shortly around 9.30 pm and rafael was born at 10.14 pm, weighing 3.09 kg and measuring 51 cm! : )

the paediatrician told me that rafael had taken in some meconium (baby's first poo poo) at birth and said he has to be observed for a day! i was only able to kiss him at the forehead and he's taken away...

11 pm
the operation had finished and i was taken to the recovery room. the docs said i had lost 2 litres of blood during the operation (quite threatening, isn't it?) but i was given some blood transfusion right afterwards of course. i was still having a fever and had to be on injections of anti-biotics.

feb 6

12.30 am
i was able to meet mac who was anxiously waiting outside and i was then taken to my room for a rest after a long day's work! : P



here's a pic of little rafael taken right by his daddy right on the first night.