Mei Mei's Birth Story

I didn't get down to writing a birth story for Ying Ying because I was too preoccupied and stressed with childcare then, being a first-time mother. So this time round, I am determined to record down as many facts as possible surrounding Mei Mei's birth before my memory starts to fail me down the road.

6 March 08 (Thu)

Unlike my 1st pregnancy where my waterbag broke suddenly, the trigger for this labour was contraction. I started experiencing discomfort in the abdomen around noon. I knew it was contraction because the discomfort came in some sorta pattern like once in abt 30mins.

I quickly did up a birth plan with the help of a friend who emailed hers to me. Turned out I needn't have done it after all cos I was in no mood to print it out - gotta go through the hassle of hooking up the laptop to the printer - just too troublesome! But doing the birth plan was good in the sense that it made me more mentally prepared as to what to expect before, during and immediately after the delivery e.g. what kind of positions I would like to birth in and other nitty gritty details like waiting for cord to stop pulsating before clamping, getting the father to cut the cord, to be able to breastfeed immediately after delivery etc.

Also read many birth stories online. Was amazed by some of the stories and wondered how mine would end up like. My 1st labour took me 22hrs before it ended up in caesarian. This time round, I prayed hard I would be able deliver quickly and naturally.

7 March 08 (Fri)
I couldn't sleep properly the whole night cos the contractions were becoming more regular, coming once in abt 8-10mins. Was supposed to have an appointment scheduled on Saturday so husband called the clinic to ask if we could change to today instead. But we later changed our mind and decided to go to the hospital directly because I couldn't imagine waiting at the clinic with all the contraction pain. I showered and decided to take a pillow with me for comfort. I must have looked very strange wearing pyjamas and carrying the pillow around in the broad daylight but I didn't care then. :p

We reached Mt A labour ward at around 11am. Was assigned to room 9 (there must be something special about number 9 - Ying Ying and Mei Mei were both born on the 9th!). The nurse attending to me was kind and empathetic. I requested to wear my comfy pyjamas to labour instead of changing to the hospital gown and she agreed. The nurse did a VE and I was found to be 4cm dilated. She then took my blood pressure, temperature and strapped me to an electronic foetal monitor to check on the baby's heartbeat and contractions. I was asked to rest while she called my obgyn who said he would drop by to check on me after lunch. Started munching on my stash of Hershey's cookies and cream chocolate (I bought 4 bars from NTUC cos they were on sale for $1 instead of the usual $1.50. heheheh.) for energy every now and then. But so did greedy husband. -_- He promised to buy some more chocs from the vending machine outside if we ran out of snacks.

Labouring in misery...

The famous rubber boots!

While waiting, we heard very loud moans coming from the room next door and a midwife telling her sternly to breath and not to shout. The mother was admitted later than me around 12pm but we heard the baby's cries at around 12.30pm! Talk about fast labour! Husband said he saw her at the counter earlier on when he was doing some admin stuff for admission. She looked ok and could even walk to her room by herself. Well, it was so touching to finally hear her baby cry. I can't wait to hear mine too...

My obgyn finally came in at around 3pm. He did a VE and I was disappointed when he said I was still 4cm dilated after 4hrs of intermittent pain. He suggested we transferred to the antenatal ward to wait instead. We chose the newly renovated deluxe single suite because it feels like a hotel instead of a hospital ward. Was assigned to room 332. It was a pleasant room which looks out to the expressway and parts of the MacRitichie Reservoir. Surprisingly, the contractions seemed to space out after we settled in. Husband commented I didn't look like I was in labour. He went home for a while to freshen up and check on Ying Ying while I spent the evening channel surfing.

My room right at the end of a long corridor...

View from my room - you could see people canoeing and exercising at certain times of the day!

8 March 08 (Sat)
It was 3am and I couldn't sleep because of all the contractions going on. Decided to ask to be transferred to the labour ward. Woke husband up to do the packing up. A kind nurse helped me on the wheelchair and pushed me there. I was handed over to a labour ward nurse who advised me to use the gas to relieve my pain. I was very reluctant because I wanted a drug-free labour so I said I would ask to use it if I really couldn't take the pain. But she was very insistent and kept asking me just to give the gas a try since it was mainly oxygen and there was no additional charge involved. Before I could protest further, she took off my specs, shoved the mask onto my face and instructed me to take deep breaths. So rude! :( I think this was the only unpleasant encounter I had throughout my stay. According to the nurse, the gas only works when you breathe in right before the pain starts. Meanwhile, she quickly did a VE and I was in disbelief when she said I was still 4cm! How could it be?! After like 15 hours of contractions??? Anyway, I was feeling groggy after breathing in the gas so I rested for a while. Again, strangely the contractions started to space out after I had settled in the labour ward. I felt kinda foolish.

My obgyn came in at abt 8am to check on me. This time he didn't do a VE because he said my contractions weren't that close enough. Besides, I looked ok to him. If I were in true labour, I wouldn't be able to speak as I normally do. So he advised me to go back home and wait until contractions were 1-2mins apart before coming in again. I asked what if he couldn't get to the hospital in time to deliver my baby by then. To that, he laughed out loud and said he didn't think I would be so 'lucky' (to have a fast labour). Oh well. Another nurse wheeled me to the lobby to wait for husband's car and we went back home. So anti-climax. The bill for the 1-night stay came up to $700+!!! All for nothing!!! :(

Back home, I had no appetite and couldn't eat at all. At about 730pm, my mucous plug came out. I was quite intrigued by it because I had never seen it in my life. It was painless and the discharge looked like a big lump of brownish-reddish jelly-like mucous and had no smell. I showed it to husband and he looked disgusted. I had asked my obgyn if I needed to be re-admitted if there is a 'show' like this but he said it meant nothing at all and doesn't necessarily mean the labour would come soon.

Decided to time my contractions again. This time, they were coming in every 5-6mins and lasted about 50 seconds each time. This meant I experienced pain 10-12 times within an hour! It got quite bad as time passed by. Trust me, you wouldn't be able to do anything at all (including talking) because you are in so much pain. The pain radiated to my hips and I tried to do mental counting and take deep breaths to cope with the pain.

I was so desperate that I got husband to call up a well-known doula whom we contacted briefly the day before but we didn't confirm anything. Unfortunately, by then she decided she didn't want to take the last-minute job and referred us to someone else instead. I decided against engaging latter as I had no personal referral for this person. (On hindsight, I am glad she turned us down because I didn't get to go through a natural birth! What a blessing in disguise!)

After so many hours of contractions, I was beginning to rethink about my decision to go drug-free. In the end, I decided to come to terms with reality by opting for epidural because the prolonged contractions were making me very tired and miserable.

9 March 08 (Sun)
I couldn't sleep a wink because of the contraction pain. Woke husband up to get to the hospital. I showered, wore a new pyjamas and took my pillow again. We reached the hospital at around 6.30am. Met the 'gas' nurse again. She said she was surprised that I could go home yesterday. She asked me if I needed the gas but I told her I would get an epidural instead so that I could get some sleep. She said she understood and she would call the anaesthist.

At about 8am, I got my epidural and blood drawn for the cord blood testing. The injection was highly uncomfortable and the anaesthist tried to ask me some general questions to distract me. The epidural was effective in taking away the pain. Soon I couldn't feel a thing even though the monitor recorded some contractions. Heheheh.

My obgyn came in about 9am. He suggested breaking the water bag to speed up the contractions. I was horrified because the thought of bursting the water bag was like doing damage to myself. So I told him I didn't want to intervene the 'normal' labour process (i.e. normal as in let the waterbag break by itself) and end up with a c-section again like my first time. But he pointed out there was no point in waiting and I wouldn't feel the effect since I was already on epidural. So I agreed reluctantly and he proceeded to burst my waterbag with the help of a nurse. Surprisingly, I didn't feel pain or even water leaking down. Think the epidural must have totally numbed my legs. Immediately, the contractions started speeding up, coming in once in every 1-2mins, instead of every 4-5mins as before, based on the monitor. Of course I couldn't feel a thing, thanks to the epidural. Heheheh.

So I rested all the way until my obgyn came in about 3pm. He did a VE and said I was still 4-5cm dilated and the baby's head was still high. He said the labour was not progressing because based on the frequency of contractions, most women would have given birth by now. :( He explained most likely I have a condition called CPD (cephalopelvic disproportion) - a mismatch of my pelvis and the baby's head. Either my pelvis was too small or the baby's head was too big to pass through. He said he understood I wanted very much to have a VBAC but in this case, we had tried in every way but to no success. By then, I was ready for the bad news and I agreed to the c-section because I had complete faith in my obgyn and trusted him. I believed him when he said there was no other way because he was so well-known for his pro-naturalist approach in birth delivery.

Anyway, he reckoned I would ever get to have a natural birth unless the baby is very small. Out of curiosity, I asked how many c-sections a woman can undergo. He pointed out the record was 8 for women in Ireland where abortion is not permitted due to their Catholic religion. Here, there were women who did c-sections as many as 4 times.

Strangely, after I knew I was bound to go under the knife again, I started to shiver like a frightened rabbit. Well, I shivered a lot for my first birth too but I had thought it was a side-effect of epidural. But this time round, I must had shivered because of fright because I didn't shiver until I was told of the c-section. The anethetist came in again. I must say he was very experienced. He injected something to make me drowsy so that I wouldn't shiver so much and it really worked. Back at KKH, they strapped my arms down. But I shivered so badly that my arms broke free of the straps and they had to hold me down. And all of which made me feel like a mental patient. :(

Another good thing about pte hospitals is that husbands were allowed in the op theatre, unlike KKH. Husband could even bring our camera in to take pictures of the baby too. I felt a sense of comfort knowing that husband would be present with me.

The op was very swift. I didn't even know my obgyn had started cutting. Just suddenly, I heard the baby cried and they cleaned her up a little before letting me hold her. I was so amazed that she looked exactly like me - small eyes and round chubby face.

Our very 1st photo with Mei Mei! :) My triple eyebags and pale lips were proof that I didn't sleep properly for 3 consecutive nights! (Note: The tube at the bottom right hand corner contained the EPIDURAL!!!)

The anethetist was very kind and offered to help us take photos. I thought my obgyn was very nice in that he remembered that I asked for my husband to cut the umbilical cord and he did so. I guess he must have gotten many requests for the father to cut the cord. Husband said it was quite hard to cut and it took him 2 tries to cut it. Hmm... I asked husband how the placenta looked like, he said he didn't dare to look. -_-

Oh, the time spent in the recovery room was so much shorter too compared to KKH. I was observed for only about 10-15mins before I was pushed up to my room. Whereas in KKH, I had to wait for nearly an hour or so.

Clean-up time! The elongated head was the result of being jammed at the birth canal for many hours! Chubby gal, isn't she? Check out her double chin - just like her father! Heehee...

Weighing time! Mei Mei clearly doesn't like being naked!

I only got to know from husband that baby is 3.725kg and 50cm long (at 39wks) when I was wheeled back to my room (which happened to be rm 332 again - yeah!). Ying Ying was 3.35kg and 52cm long (at 40wks). I can't imagine how much bigger she would have gotten if I wait till my EDD which falls on 18 March (which also happened to be my brother's birthday)!

Lying on the phototherapy pad on the third day. Mei Mei had mild jaundice. So the pediatrician advised us to let her go under the light.

Some pics of OUR hospital food throughout our 3-day stay...husband got a share also - meals were included in the $75/N companion surcharge! Food was not too bad lah! I kinda like the fact that they were all served cling-wrapped - felt a bit like I was eating airline food. Heehee...

Last visit by my handsome obgyn - Dr Paul Tseng. Believe me, he always manages to look so suave at all times of the day. He exudes this old school gentleman charm and charisma not unlike James Bond. You could tell he is indeed very senior in his practice - all the nurses seemed to be so respectful of him when he is around. Trust me, you will be in good hands if he is your obgyn! :) (Before he left, he jokingly looked out of the window and wondered aloud if Mas Salamat was hiding in the forest. Haha. I thought he would drop by the day after on my day of discharge but he didn't. Wish I had taken more pics with him. Alas! What a pity!)