GIVING BIRTH.
I am pretty sure that all of you that follows my instagram/facebook would have known that I have given birth about two weeks ago. First of all, so so so sorry for the lack of updates because I'm still trying to adjust my body to pumping milk every two-three hours and it is so tiring especially in the middle of the night. My body just can't get enough rest that I need!
All these aside:
Kaylen Ng JH is born on the 25th of August 2014, at 1447 hours, 1.5kg.
His Chinese name is decided by the parents, and of course, approved by me and Joey as well. I didn't actually think about the pronunciation of his chinese name in English, and readily agreed cause it sounds so nice in Chinese!
His name is:
黄敬衡 (Huang Jing Heng).
Kaylen is not in his birth cert because the in-laws have checked with the geomancer and realised that this english name of his is against his 八字, so we will only call him Kaylen verbally. Therefore, what is in his birth cert is : Ng Jing Heng.
And if you actually pronounce it in English, Jing Heng sounds like 'very lucky' in dialect. LOL! Now everyone is making fun of his name and calling him 'heng heng' etc. HAHA. I mean it is indeed a very lucky name, since he is born on the first day of the lunar eighth month, and his 八字 is very very auspicious! Geomancer told us that he will be a very handsome man in future, smart, a prodigy, very lucky with money etc. Basically everything is on the good side. But I'm sorry son, you got to stick with this name for the rest of your life HAHA, please don't hate us if you get mocked at in future, because it was your grandmother that chose the name for you HAHA. Look on the bright side! It still sounds very nice in Chinese! HAHAHAHA.
And so.... what really happened?
Hubby came back from Taiwan on the 21st of August and had planned a staycation to surprise me since he was away for so long. The duration of the stay was from 22nd to the 24th. On the 22nd, I was getting braxton hicks contractions, but it was just tightening of the uterus and didn't cause any discomfort so I didnt think too much into it, furthermore, it isn't even regular. But on the 23rd morning, contractions did start to become regular, like probably about 15-20 minutes apart, and it was causing me some discomfort. When I told my gynae, they observed me for about an hour, told me that the contractions isn't really something yet, so they gave me meds and my vitamins, and I went back. Oh, I was having bloody discharge, and the doct found out that there was some bleeding near the opening of the womb, but it wasn't something serious so yeap.
Throughout the day, it just kept getting stronger, and I had to focus a little on my breathing everytime the contractions come. But then again the doct say if the contractions were somewhat similar to the contractions when they were observing me, there was no need to go back. So I tahan all the way, I didn't go to them. I even sat through the movie 'Lucy' while having contractions LOL? It was already painful but I could still tolerate as long as I focused on my breathing. Before the movie still happily went for dinner with in laws and hubby, and went to Raffles hotel to buy mooncake somemore HAHA.
After the movie, when we returned back to the hotel, everything stayed the same, mild painful contractions with pooping feeling, so I thought I was having constipation. Cause I tried so many times to poop since morning and I just couldn't do it. UNTIL, after hubby slept and I was in the toilet, I saw this thick blood discharge which I suspected was the mucus plug. I panicked and told the half-asleep hubby, and we decided to just observe first. I stayed awake with the contractions getting more and more frequent, before I started crying and wailing from the pain at about 2am? That was when hubby decided to rush me to Thomson Medical Centre (TMC).
I was admitted into the delivery ward, and they contacted my gynae to diagnose my condition. They were monitoring my contractions and baby's heartbeat with CTG, and the nurses told me that yes I was having contractions. So before my gynae came, they gave me a jab, pills and put me on a drip to reduce contractions. To my horror after Dr Yeo's Diagnose, I was already 2cm dilated, and the water bag can be seen bulging.
Please excuse my bad illustration:
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| The black arrow shows the bulging water bag and the brown arrow is the cervix. |
So yeah, Dr Yeo's instructions is for me to stay bed-ridden, I can't get up to pee so I had to use the pee pan every single time I pee, my legs were elevated so I was laying in a slanted position which was very awful to my back. (Anti-gravity so baby wont push his way out) I had to try and sleep in that position, with straps around my belly to monitor the contractions, and the blood pressure thing on my right arm. (I thought that was damn uncomfortable until later on lol)
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| Last photo of my baby bump at 30 weeks! |
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| This was taken at studio M after the visit to the gynae in the morning! |
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| Hubby went off at about Sunday 6am to check out of the room and came back later at about 8am to check on me, before I ask him to go home and rest. There isn't a comfortable place for him to sleep so I'd rather he went home instead. |
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| He came back to find me later at night, and because I was told to not even elevate the bed in a position so that I can eat, he had to feed me my dinner. I was in that position since 3am!! My back was hurting so bad I wanted to cry. |
I could tell that he was feeling very very tired, so I chased him home at about 10pm while I attempted to sleep. I only managed to sleep like 3 hours for these two nights? The position was really TOO uncomfortable for me to sleep, and with the painful contractions that comes and goes here and there, I really can't sleep :/
Dr Yeo also recommended us to transfer to govt hospital just incase I have to give birth, and the bills wouldn't be so taxing on us cause baby will definitely have to stay in hosp for about 1-2 months. Dr Yeo is the nicest doctor ever, even explained to me that it is not that he doesn't want to help me with my birth, but he thought of our pockets for us. At 5am on Monday, when he did a second vaginal check, I remember him saying 'This is not good.', and proceed on to tell me that I am already 3cm dilated and may have to give birth within the next few days. Told me to call hubby, and helped me contact NUH and KK, which didn't accept my case so I eventually went to SGH.
That hubby left his phone outside in the living room when he went to sleep so I had a hard time trying to wake him up!! It took him so long to pick up the call and I was feeling sooooo scared. (The pain was getting more intense.) I don't know how to explain the contractions, but it definitely didn't feel anything near to menstruation cramps. It just kinda feel like someone was pulling your womb on the inside and held there for as long as the contractions last.
When Joey finally reached, Dr Yeo told us that SGH is willing to accept us, and I need to be transferred asap. My Gynae was so nice that he actually sat in the ambulance with me to SGH, just incase I suddenly need to deliver. The nurses from TMC told me that this is the first time that they have seen a doctor accompany the patient to another hospital, and he even went into the delivery ward with me, ensured that everything is okay, and told the nurse to take good care of me because I am a very special patient. I was soooo grateful to him. If not for the circumstance, I would definitely have gave birth under him in TMC.
- It will be quite lengthy for this part so hang in there! -
I finally arrive and settled down at SGH's delivery ward at about 8am, and the room was awesome!
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| The room looks something like that, but alot more spacious! There was also a comfortable couch for the husband. I thought I will be there for another one night or two! HAHA. |
So the doctors came to assess my situation, and they all work in a team so there were like 5-6 doctors attending to me. Baby's head was engaged so I could go for normal delivery, and baby's estimated weight was about 1.69kg. I HATE HATE HATE HATE it when they stick their fingers into my vagina to feel and see how dilated I am!! Super painful and uncomfortable :(
They were telling me that I might give birth within the next 48 hours, and if lucky, it may be dragged on for a week. They wanna drag for as long as they can because baby is still premature and so will be better for him if he stays as long as possible inside my womb. So they changed the drip to the Magnesium Sulphate drip which hurts LIKA BITCH cause it is super concentrated in the first 15 minutes. My wrist felt like it was gonna explode and my entire arm felt SUPER SORE!! I was close to tears from the discomfort because it made me feel like my body was on fire too. But I had to hang on because this helps to accelerate the speed of baby's brain development and prevents cerebral palsy in future.
The next thing they did? They had to monitor my urine so they inserted this tube with this small ball at the end into my urethra so I will 'automatically' pee into the container. BUT WHAT THE FUCK IT WAS SO PAINFUL DURING THE INSERTION!! the tube made me feel like urinating the whole time and it was super uncomfortable T_T. I also had the straps on my tummy to monitor the contractions, so HOW TO SLEEP U TELL ME HOW!? After an hour or two I was crying from the discomfort already, together with the contractions pain and all. In pain and discomfort, I beg hubby to ask the doct to do a c-section cause I don't wanna go through this pain and discomfort any longer and kept crying and crying lol! It was only awhile later that I feel slightly better and decided to eat cause I was freaking hungry!! The last time I ate was the night before at about 8pm, so I didn't have breakfast T_T
After eating, everything was okay for AWHILE. Contractions stopped, the discomfort from the drip was getting better. BUT WITHIN THE NEXT HOUR, my contractions suddenly got so painful that I was groaning and wailing in pain. I didn't know what to do so I just kept crying and asking hubby to let the doctors operate on me. When I started the yelling and screaming, hubby finally got the nurses and doctor to come. At about 12pm, when they checked, I was fully dilated. WTF WHICH MEANS I DON'T HAVE THE CHOICE TO DO EPIDURAL ANYMORE. I did try to ask for csect (AGAIN) and asked for epidural, but the nurse say "NO, you can do natural delivery and there is no need for epidural already, you are in active labour now." T_T
The only thing I remembered for the next few hours was more and more nurses and doctors/interns coming into the ward while I was yelling and screaming in pain and crying so badly that I couldn't sniff in the laughing gas, and had to use my mouth. Nurse scold me and ask me not to cry or scream anymore, don't waste any more energy :( So I just use the laughing gas whenever the contractions come, and they told me to just push if I felt the need to..
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| This hubby told one of the nurses to take photo for us and I was like "Seriously? NOW?" Cause I am already in active labour and in pain still ask me to take photo -_- |
-Nobody look chio while in labour one okay hahaha-
The pain from the contractions were so awful that I started grabbing hubby's shirt, pinch his tummy, grab his arms. But when he was texting and I couldn't transfer my pain to him, I slap his hand away when he tried to hold me and hold the bed instead LOL. I drank coke while in labour too HAHAHAHA, cause I was feeling very thirsty. When all the necessary doctors came, the caucasian doctor opened my vagina and stick this very long thin metal thingy into it and burst the water bag. I didn't see all this so it was hubby that explained it to me. I was on laughing gas all the way because the pain was unbearable but I could feel the gush of water coming out. After that, contractions became even stronger and more frequent. They had me holding on to my knees and pushing at every contraction. Basically I just followed what the doctors told me to do.
(I didn't go for any antenatal classes so I just anyhow breathe HAHA) Everytime I try to screamfrom the pain, the nurse will shut me up and just ask me to push, saying that I will waste even more energy on screaming. I was too tired to even hold my knees, and really really wanted to stop trying to push. In the end hubby and another nurse held my knees for me lol!! I had to sit up and push in the direction of my vagina and all I could feel is burning pain on my vagina and the contractions. I could also feel baby's head just around the opening. I didn't even know they did episiotomy (Cutting of the vagina) until the doctor told me at the end. They did inject a local anesthetic jab before doing the cut but I guess the burning sensation from the birth covered everything lol! The incision was made by a surgical scissors. I remember giving my hardest and longest push and FINALLY KAYLEN IS OUT. The head was the difficult part. I felt the rest of his body slide out shortly after his head!
Baby was taken away as soon as he was born so I could only hear him crying and see him from far.. I was still super high on laughing gas HAHA. They pressed on my tummy to stimulate another contraction for the placenta to come out. After the placenta was out, doctor told me that she will be giving me another jab of local anesthetic so she can stitch me up, and asked me to continue using the laughing gas if I want to. The jab didn't really work cause I could still the pain from the process but I was too tired to think about anything else. The room emptied out pretty quickly and I was left in the room after that. I took a nap hahahaha! Woke up at 4 plus where they changed me into the 'maternity' attire before wheeling me up to my ward.
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| The very helpful nurse who was there to take care of me since 8am! (I haven't showered since Saturday night!!) |
Even after I was awake I haven't seen the baby yet lor!! Joey went up to see him after I delivered but I was still resting so didn't go. When I was wheeled out of the delivery room, my father and sis and in-laws were waiting outside and they congratulated me! It all happened so fast that I didn't have time to react, but I was really glad that I got over the process. Hahaha. I remember the thing I told Joey right after the birth was " I am never going to go through this ever again." HAHA.
The recovery part was okay, I can still sit down, just felt a little sore that's all. The first trip to the toilet was messy lol! I was dripping blood as I walked to the toilet. I lost alot of blood during the birthing process so my blood pressure was very low. Nurses had to help me use the toilet because I was feeling sooo giddy. But at night when my mom and dad and brother came, I was feeling so much better so I went down to the coffeeshop to have a cup of milo! By the night time I was able to walk around already :) I started hand expressing milk for Kaylen, even though he wasn't able to feed yet.
That was when the whole breast feeding journey started. (I will blog about breast feeding and confinement tomorrow cause I am already feeling SUPER SLEEEEEPY and I need to sleep badly!)
First photos of Kaylen after birth, taken by daddy:
Even though I went through tremendous pain and discomfort for him, after seeing him, I forgot all about the pain. The only thing I can remember is how much I love him, how much he means to me and hubby, and that he is the best thing that has happened to us and the best gift from god.
Mummy and daddy loves you!!
