Naomi's Birth Story

Here's the birth story, while it's still fresh in my mind.

If you've been following my blog, you'll probably know that I had my eye on 2 March for Naomi's birthdate. As such, when I when to bed on 1 March, I couldn't help but wonder if the next day would be D-Day.

I have no doubt that my body took an unconscious cue from me, because I started feeling contractions in the middle of the night in the wee hours of 2 March. The problem was, I was awakened in the night, not so much by the contractions -- by then I was so used to being unable to sleep and feeling all kinds of discomfort and tightening while lying down that it initially didn't occur to me that I was having contractions -- but rather by a pesky mosquito who had not only bitten me, but also Noey. At that time, my priority was getting Noey back to sleep, contractions or otherwise, so I just prayed that I wasn't seriously in labour and concentrated on getting him settled.

It unfortunately took nearly 2 hours before Noey finally fell asleep. By that time, it was nearly 5am and the contractions seemed to be coming with more regularity. And I was starting to think: Is this it?

You would have thought that doing this the 2nd time round, I would actually know if I was having contractions or not. But at that time, I really wasn't sure. For one, it wasn't actually THAT painful. Also, my water hadn't broken, unlike what happened with Noey's birth. I had also been having Braxton Hicks on and off for weeks by then. I decided to time them and for the next hour, they appeared to be coming approximately 5 mins apart. Even then, I still didn't wake DD. (I figured he was tired from a late night and I didn't want to wake him for a false alarm. Yes, sometimes I think I'm too kind to my husband, especially since the reason for his late night was that he had been playing computer games!)

Instead what I do do is hop out of bed and snap the last pic of my big belly. Sometimes I wonder about my priorities.

Walking makes me feel a bit better, which confuses me further.

In the end, I wake DD around 6.30am when the contractions fail to go away. "How far apart are the contractions?" he asks. "5 mins," I say, and he is immediately awake.

I toyed with the idea of waiting till my appointment with Dr Wong at 9am but in the end, we decide that we should make the trip to the hospital to check, just in case this turns out to be the real deal. We therefore set off around 7am, leaving Noey asleep in the care of our helper.

At that time, I think both of us were still unsure whether I was really in labour. However, the nurse who met me when I walked into the delivery suite was certain that I was, just by looking at me and the way I was walking. She hustled me to change into the hospital gown and started instructing me on all that had to be done while shooing DD off to take care of the admission procedures. "Err, can we check if this is real before I go do the admission?" my husband asked. The nurse gave him a look. "IT'S REAL." she said. "Hokay!" he thought, and backed off.

The nurse eventually did the (very uncomfortable) VE and yes, I was 2cm dilated. DD started getting very excited.

I wasn't sure before hand that I was going to take the epidural this time round. I was hopeful for a quick birth and felt that the epidural had slowed the process down the first time. But the fact that I hadn't gotten much sleep at all the previous night won out in the end. "Just take it," said DD and all the nurses. So I did. I don't remember the dosage the last time round, but this time it was set at level 7, and I was surprised that I was still able to feel and move my legs (which were just a bit tingly), though the pain was much reduced. I must admit I was a bit nervous about that. I mean, wasn't the point of the epidural to block off everything nasty? Feeling the discomfort of being catheterised was not part of the deal in my mind.

Dr Wong came at 8.45am and I was apparently 3cm. Good news. She then made a small hole in the water bag, telling me that she was going to release some water and a WHOLE LOT of water gushed out, surprising everyone. When we saw that, I was kind of relieved that my water didn't break at home naturally this time, or it would have been quite a gush, just like in the movies! I think that would have scared everyone, including me. It was kind of weird feeling all that warm water, but at least my poor overstretched skin started feeling some relief. Dr Wong then brightly informed us that she'd be back around 12noon to check and maybe, if it was a quick labour, we'd be ready to push by then.

Thereafter were the best parts of the whole process -- I got to have a couple of egg sandwiches for breakfast and take a nap. Ah, no point labouring hungry, I say. All this time DD was bouncing around excitedly, so much so that the nurses kept selling him to sit down and relax. Hah. You'd think this 2nd time round he would have been more zen about the whole affair! I guess the fact that we kept hearing the cries of newborns in the delivery ward, thanks to the fact that the baby weighing station was right outside our room, also added to his anticipation.

Time passed uneventfully, though I could feel the contractions slowly getting stronger and more and more downward pressure.

One of just the two of us, before the newest member of our family made her appearance. All smiles thanks to the epidural!

Even managed to check and update twitter!
(The stains on the bed are from the iodine applied during the epidural.)

Round about 12 noon, they checked again, and hurray, we were at 9cm. Almost ready to push! The activity level in the room increased at that point as they started moving things in and re-arranging stuff for the actual delivery.

Somehow both my babies don't seem to react well to being ejected from the comfy confines of the womb. During this stage the last time, Noey's heart rate started going up to 200 every time a contraction rolled round. This time, Naomi's heart rate took a dip to around 100 during each contraction. Again, I was told that I should try to push the baby out quickly before it got too stressed out. That stressed ME out instead!

No matter, we got down to business.

The nurse directing me this time was a real DRILL SERGENT. She looked me in the eye and told me I could push the baby out all by myself this time (Noey had a forceps assisted delivery), and then proceeded to yell me through each contraction. I think she also didn't take a breath through each push! Because my epidural dosage was pretty low this time (and they dialed it down to 4 at this point), I could feel the contractions and the urge to push every time one rolled round. But because I simulated pushing the entire way through the last time round with Noey, I didn't really know how to push. It took me a while to figure out that that feeling like I needed to take a dump? Yup, that was my baby!

It took about 20 mins of tiring pushing before the baby started to crown. Then at that crucial point, they made me stop. ARRRGH. To catch my breath and allow the baby to recover, they said, but I knew it was more because we had to wait for my doctor to arrive. I think it was only a couple of minutes, but those few minutes were excruciating. I felt like I was super constipated but the crap was stuck and I couldn't push it out. DD tried to be encouraging and excitedly tried to explain to me that the baby was just there but I snapped at him and asked him to just leave me be while I was breathing through the oxygen mask cos I really couldn't concentrate on anything. I later told DD that I couldn't imagine having to do that AND be in pain without the epidural!

It was such a welcome sight when Dr Wong breezed through the door.

Just one more push and out she came. Our little Naomi.

Looking like a sweet little nun, all bundled up.

Thereafter, the rest of the time passed by in a happy buzz. And when I put her to the breast in the delivery room, I really got nostalgic. Nearly 2.5 years after Noey's arrival, we were starting again.