On 5th June 2012 2am, I felt a slight wetting feeling while sleeping. Immediately I woke up and went to the toilet. The color of my urine was grayish in color and the amount seemed more than usual. Sensing something unusual, I quickly woke sandbox up and told him that I suspect a leaky water bag. He was wide awake after hearing me. Then I woke my mum up and told her as well. My mum quickly prepared breakfast for us, an egg and a dumpling plus milo. sandbox and I started to brush teeth and take shower, getting ready to go to the hospital.
We reached the hospital at around 3am. The nurse asked about my condition and a doctor came to examine my baby's heartbeat, contraction frequency and dilation. At that time, dilation was only 1cm. There were around 6 pregnant ladies queuing to be admitted at that time. Around 6am in the morning, we were all sent to the hospital ward with a wheel chair.
The General Hospital has a strict visiting time schedule. Family members are only allowed in the hospital ward from 6am to 7:30am, 12:30pm to 2pm and 5:30pm to 7pm. Sandbox waited at the corridor outside the ward all the while. Mum and parents-in-law came to visit every visiting session.
My dilation was only 2cm at noon time. And I was already finding the contraction pain unbearable. At around 7pm, my dilation was only 3cm. I could not stand the pain and asked sandbox whether we should change to private hospital and go for C-sect. Of course nobody agreed. Well, I started walking up and down the corridor of the hospital ward, trying to distract myself from the pain. After awhile, I went back to bed and tried to visualize the 10cm dilation picture I saw sticking on the doctor's examination room. Hopefully my dilation can be complete faster and end this pain. By around 10pm, my dilation was at 7cm. The doctor arranged to send me down to the delivery ward. Sandbox followed along.
In the delivery room, the pain got more intense but dilation was still not complete. Until 12 midnight, sandbox was let into the room and the nurse started to tell me how to push the baby out. Having bearing the pain for too long, I was already exhausted and did not have the energy to push anymore. The nurse kept on saying it is like passing motion, but need to be long and don't stop pushing or else the baby will not come out. I lost count of how many pushes I have tried but there was no progress. Then 2 lady doctors came in to help. The instruction they gave were clearer and while I push, they were more motivating and finally they could see the baby's hair. At this point, the nurse commented that the baby's heartbeat seemed less stable as the oxygen level is dropping. I was very anxious as I do not want to go for C-sect after all this pain. With all my might, I tried a few more pushes and finally the baby was out at 1.02am. I couldn't believe I did it! I was so relieved.
A pediatrician came in to check the baby. The nurse gave me an injection at the thigh to make my uterus contract and she could use controlled cord traction to gently pull the placenta out.
Unfortunately, the placenta did not come out as expected when the nurse tried to pull it out. According to them, I had retained placenta due to a cord snap during controlled cord traction. I was then pushed to the operation theater with half-body spinal anesthetic so the doctor can remove my placenta manually. Poor sandbox waited for me till 6am outside the operation theater, as I was only released back to the hospital ward after I could move both legs.
Giving birth was such a painful experience for me. I really do not dare to think of having another baby for the time being. I think I will need to study more of other options before having a second baby. But I am real glad that I managed to delivered my baby boy healthily. His smile is just so adorable!
