My birth experience

Just feel like writing down some thoughts about pregnancy and birth.

I just had my first baby at the age of 32. Well I would quite like to say I have her at 31 but the pregnancy lasts almost a year.

Like many other women, there's always some little stories to tell about pregnancy and giving birth.

Pregnancy is the first reason that makes me think I need a pedicure. And no, I'm never a girly girl who needs to do maintenance work like facial, manicure or pedicure. The need for pedicure arised because I can no longer touch my toes, and my increasingly long toenails might make holes in my socks. Yeah and I need help to put on socks and shoes. Strangely this made me think, the most romantic thing a man can do for you, is not kneel down on one knee with a big diamond ring or fixing your shoe lace, is when he kneels down just to help you put on your shoes while you're carrying his baby.

有人说，他蹲下为你系鞋带是一种浪漫。身为务实的处女座，我从来不是追求浪漫的人，也并不觉得男生蹲下为你系鞋带是件浪漫的事。毕竟我有手有脚，自己可以系鞋带。而我只有在怀孕后才发现，更浪漫的是他蹲下为大腹便便的你穿上鞋袜。我认为的浪漫，是你在最需要他的时候，他就在你身边。

Basically, my pregnancy is still considered quite straight forward. Some serious heartburn (yep, baby did trun out quite hairy) and a few colds, iron-deficiency, I'd say there's nothing really serious. So, I was just carrying on how and what I normally do, with a bit of extra caution and rest. I cut down some working hours - used to work from 10am to 8 or 10pm

No more midnight pees
No more heartburns
No more struggling to wear socks and shoes
No more struggling to get out of bed

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My baby Amelia is about3 weeks old. Her ultrasound EDD is 2days later than calculated EDD. It was the ultrasound EDD that showed the signal of her arriving to this world.

9.15am
There was an early morning appointment with the Obstetric doctor. It was the first time being examined by male doctor that day, and I'm already 2cm dilated. Dr. was unable to measure her size as she's already very well engaged at the pelvic bone. I can feel very mild period pain. Dr. predicted that I'll be in labor within 24-48hrs.Fetal heartbeat,fetal movements and contraction were measured.

9.30pm
Contractions getting stronger, 10mins apart.

12.30am
Contractions became 5mins apart,and slightly unbearable. Finally called Emergency Obstetric Unit to check if now is the good time to go to hospital,but being told to wait as long as possible. Had to put on the TENS machine to distract myself from the contraction pain. Also get hubby to bed for a quick snooze. Will need him to be there for me.

3.30am
Was pretty much counting the minutes by playing Jay chou's YouTube playlist. Sing whenever I can to distract myself. And finally couldn't last any longer and had to wake hubby up. Brought the hospital bags.

I lost count on the time. Every minute seems like a decade, I was just aiming to get through every wave of pain. I was put to a temporary ward, I tried not to moan but at the end had to. They transferred me to Home-from-home unit. After sometime measuring the fetal heartbeat and contractions, the midwife thinks the baby could be underweight and would not be able to go through long labor process. I was transferred to delivery suite.

At that stage, I was struggling to keep my eyes opened. I remembered being put onto a bed, got into a lift and brought to a higher level in the building. I also remembered it was a nice room. I can vaguely see the blue sky. It was a day with good weather but I was too weak to enjoy it. The midwives sped up the labor by giving me two doses of oxytocin, and the contractions came very strong and it hurts like hell. At the end I had to ask for an epidural.

It took a while for the anaesthetist to come, but just right before I was about to get a massive needle into my spine, she was whisked away for an emergency ceasarean. 40 minutes feels like hours. And then she came back, she has a very cheerful voice but I barely remember how she looks like. She's happy with my distinctive backbone and praised that I was being still during the needle insertion, by saying she doesn't mind doing a few more times on patients like me. Actually I did feel scare when thinking about the size of the needle, but I think it wouldn't be as bad as the labor pain. Indeed, it wasn't.

When the effect of epidural kicked in, I had to say epidural is the best invention ever! Instant pain relief, bit the pain is still there. I read that I'm not supposed to feel the contractions, but I actually can feel it! This caused my heavy reliance on the gas-I held onto the gas pipe and didn't let go, to the extent my hubby was laughing at me. That means I was pretty much stoned and I occasionally spouted some random stuff to the midwives (Mary and Rebecca). Later they actually found that there was a leakage in the tube inserted to my backbone, but I was already at the stage to push. It was tricky to push according to the contractions but I did it. Hubby said the actual pushing stage only took 30 mins. I couldn't open my eyes most of the time, I've only managed to hear what the midwives were telling me.

Finally in evening time, she arrived! Hubby get to cut the umbilical cord and she was put to my chest. After receiving an injection to shorten the time in removal of afterbirth, I was cleaned by the midwife and transferred to a temporary maternity in-patient ward. I had some stitches, an enema and a catheter insertion for 6hrs due to epidural. Mary was trying to cheer me up by saying my baby looked up when she come out,unlike other babies who normally look down. But I wasn't amuse as I know I'm having a back-to-back delivery, i.e. baby should be facing downwards (mother's backbone) but she faces upwards instead, meaning her delivery will either bruise or break my tailbone.

Because baby's underweight and her body temperature plummeted to 35 deg, she had to be put into an incubator for one day followed by very close monitoring, i.e. her blood sugar is measured every 3hrs to make sure she's taking sufficient breast milk to maintain her blood sugar level. Afterwards, she's checked by a pretty paediatrician doctor (who looks like Amanda seyfried-phewit!) and monitored for 12hrs.

To my surprise, U hospital staff took serious care of the mothers too. My blood pressure and temperature was measured from time to time, and my stitches were checked to make sure I didn't suffer high amount of blood loss and/or wound infection. To measure the normal function of bladder, it was necessary for them to check whether my first toilet break had urine of 300ml and above after the removal of catheter.

Funny thing is, in the first night, there was a very loud midwife who came to check on everybody else. She nearly pulled the catheter out of me by not noticing the urine bag was hanging on the side of the bed. But I was amazed by how she handled my baby - the way to describe that is, she can toss my baby around like a fish! I wasn't angry at all because I know that that's due to how experience she is. Baby looked fine and she wasn't crying at all. It's just very funny.

There were another two mummies who just had ceasarean (one planned and one emergency). Our babies took turn to cry at night and sometimes having a duet or choir.

I am determined to breast feed my baby, and I was glad that I received a lot of help from all the staff. There's frustration of unable to latch on properly but the support is there, and I am glad that I have sufficient milk supply to fill in her little tummy.

Later I was transferred to a private room with a tv. I was given a menu each meal to order the next meal. The food is quite healthy and tasty, the only thing is just, the portion is a bit small for my big appetite.

During the 3day stay in the hospital, I was asked at least twice a day whether I need any painkillers. There's a midwife who pushes a trolley full of painkillers from ward to ward asking any mothers and give away the painkillers. I was very worried about baby's temperature the second night but a midwife persuaded me to get some sleep. Indeed, I won't be able to take good care of my baby if I'm not in a good condition. though now think back, maybe that was the reason why they didn't suggest skin to skin? Anyhow, I'm glad we're finally get discharged after 3 nights stay at the hospital! And there it starts of my breastfeeding journey…