The Big Day

I have not been writing for more than 2 weeks. Yes, Kaelyn was born on 30 July 2007, at 8.03am. She weighed 3.53kg via natural birth with length of 50cm and head circumference of 33cm. I did not expect her to be 1 week early, though I know there is such a possibility. Here is an account of what happened on that day:

On the early morning of 30 July 2007 (Monday) at 1am, I felt a gush of warm liquid down my legs. I knew my water bag had burst and immediately woke David up. For a moment, both of us didnt know what to do. I quickly went to the bathroom to check and shower (i remembered Mrs Wong BB had said when water bag burst, we still have time for a quick shower but no time for shopping!). Meanwhile David called the labour ward to check what we had to do. After asking several questions, they told us to go down. While showering, I felt myself trembling the whole time, I think I was panicking...

Half an hour later at 1.30am, we were ready to leave for the hospital. I began to feel stomach pains which resembled the type of pain we get when we need to go to the loo. Believe it or not, I didnt know those were contractions (after all, it's my first time!). The pains went on and off throughout our journey to the hospital. When we reached the hospital the pain became more intense and unbearable that I had to be wheeled into the delivery observation room in a wheelchair.

In the observation ward, the nurses took my weight, blood sample and gave me enema. The pain was now so unbearable that I had to hug the sides of the bed to give me some slight comfort. They then wheeled me into the labour ward. The contraction was by now every 2 minutes and dilation at 3cm. While waiting for the doctor to administer my epidural, they gave me a gas mask to breathe in. That didnt help in easing the pain at all - just left me very giddy. I kept demanding for the epidural. It seemed like an eternity when Dr Lee finally arrived to administer the epidural. The pain of the injection entering my spine was nothing compared to the contractions.

After administering a full dosage of epidural, I felt an instant relief. No more pain, but I started to shiver uncontrollably - a side effect of the epidural. I prefer the constant shaking rather then the excruciating contraction pains! My lower half of my body was also totally numb.

So there I laid, with David by my side from 3am plus to 7 am plus, I think. During this time, the nurses kept coming in and out to monitor the contractions but no one updated us on the situation. We kept drifting in and out of sleep. Finally at 7am plus, my gynae Dr WK Tan came in and checked on the dilation. She said i was fully dilated and ready to deliver anytime. I was caught by surprise.

She soon started to prepare the instruments required for the labour. With David to help support my neck and thigh, I listened to Dr Tan's instructions to push. When the machine indicated there was a contraction, she asked me to breathe in deeply and push with all my might even though i could feel nothing down there. Within 3 pushes, the baby was out!
Dr Tan then proceeded to stitch up my wound (episiotomy) while the baby kept crying in the background. I was relief that the ordeal and experience of a lifetime is over! But there are many challenges ahead of us.