The Labour Story of Sean Gabriel Wee
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Okay where should I start. I want to be brief, but maybe I'm just long winded :P So here's the story of all good intentions to be natural that ended up in the operating theater anyway .. hehehe
One week before the birth, I started with false labour. Now , never experiencing this b4, I just went with whatever the book say. Time the contractions and wait till it gets really painful. So anyway, the contractions started early friday morning and went on regularly the whole day. They weren't painful, so we waited and waited. Saturday morning, I had a series of long contraction and then they went away. I read up on the internet abt it and found out it's called prodromal labour. Seems that it can last for days to weeks! Now.. how can a first time pregnant woman know the difference between false labour and real labour?? Since then, there were regular contractions for a few hours everyday. Since they were just irritating, I didn't really bother. After being anxious the whole of friday, we were quite calm.
Thu, 7th Sep. contractions started at 10am. They were regular too. We had put all the bags for the hospital into the car and were on our way to a shopping centre. Sam was going for a meeting and I was going to meet a friend for lunch. Upon arriving at the carpark, I put on the TENS machine. It's a small little thing that send out electrical pulse to the body. It's supposed to get your body to increase its endorphine level so that the body can withstand a higher pain level. You are meant to put it on really early during early labour.
Anyway, the contractions were abt 45 seconds each and 10 mins apart, but they weren't painful, just irritating. This went on for the whole day. By nighttime, the contractions were getting stronger and longer, but they were still abt 10 min apart. Which is really quite the opposite what the books say, but they also say that its the time of each contractions that's important. By midnight, the contactions was abt 90 seconds each and I called the hospital. They told me to wait till it's too uncomfortable to stay at home. So we waited till 2.30am By then the contactions were 2 min each and they were really uncomfortable. No water bag burst, no Show (the losing of the cervical plug), nothing.. but it felt like real contractions. So we went to the hospital.
When we got there (3am,Fri 8th Sep), each contraction was rather painful, then they examined my cervix (Owww..rather painful having a stranger's hand digging inside you.. ) and said that they could only get the tip of the finger in.
5am - Another cervical check..Owww..cervix dilated 3cm. I was ratehr happy since things were moving along, but the contactions were painful. I asked for the gas but the senior nurse didn't allow me. She said it was only to be used near the end.
7am - Change of shift. got a new nurse and she allowed me to use the gas. I guess my pain tolerance is just not that great. I was already writhing in pain.
9am - Another cervical check and it was still only 3cm!!!! I was thinking.. I can't even stand the pain now and things haven't been moving for the last 4 hours. I don't care abt not wanting to use the epidural, I asked for it. I didn't scream, but lets just say by the time the anesthetist came, I was in agony. After that... blisss.... no pain, just numbness. The numbness was a bit worrying since I felt bloated from waist down. Can't move, but I was able to get some sleep. The only thing uncomfortable was the sensors (for baby heatbeat & contraction) digging into my tummy.
3pm - Dilation was only 5cm. It was moving really slowly. Now text books says that the dilations takes about 1 hour for every cm. So mine was taking a very long time, abt 3 hours every cm. But they also say that first time labour usually takes longer. So I tried to be patient.
7pm - Dilation 6-7 cm. Baby heartbeat was unstable. It dropped after every contractions. The Doc said that if it continues we'll have to go for C-section. Then the heartbeat was stable after all, so we still hoped for a natural.
9pm - Dilation 7cm. We asked the Doc if we can wait a bit longer b4 opting for C-section since the baby's heatbeat was stable. He gave us time until 12am for dilation to go to 10cm. I had to have my epidural dosage increased since I could feel the contractions and they were really painful. Or maybe I'm just a wimp :P hehe
Sat, 9th Sep 1am - Dilation 8cm. We asked for more time since it was so close. Only 2 more cm adn the contraction was really going along. Each contractions were several minutes long and only 1-2 min apart. It really felt like it was going to happen soon.
3am - Dilation 9cm
5am - Dilation still 9cm
9am - Dilation stiilll 9cm. Contractions was BAADDD.. It felt as if a bowling ball was trying to pass through my ass. Here I was doped up till high heaven, but I could feel each and every contractions. Doc said that it was too dangerous to do a natural birth even with forcep delivery. So off I went to the operating theater. Doped up some more with epidural, striped naked and let the doctors do their work.
9.36am - Ooeeee... a loud angry cry, and thus born Sean Gabriel Wee, 3.86 kg (8.8 pounds), 51 cm.
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