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My Labour Adventure

6 min read
My Labour Adventure

Selina Che Ali shares her labour story with theAsianparent.com

Now now…… where do I begin??

In my 28 weeks check up with my gynae, I was told that my baby’s head has gone down. And maybe I will be giving birth early than my due date 13 Oct 2010…. Happy and excited I was cos I remembered when I was pregnant with my firstborn, he was very very comfortable inside me that I had to be induced….. I was more prepared than ever I may give birth early that I had everything ready before I was full term, 37 weeks.

37 weeks, 38 weeks came and nothing happened. Same goes for 39 weeks. By my 40th week, I was very anxious and worried as to why my baby didn’t want to enter this world early…… Everybody kept on asking if there were any signs of labour. My cousin declared that maybe my baby wanted to enter the world on 20 Oct 2010…

On the Tuesday, 19 October, 1 day shy from my 41 weeks, I went for another check up. Had my baby’s heart beat scan and everything seems fine. My gynae give me another week and then I could make a decision on whether to induce. On the way home, inside the car, I kept talking to my baby. Asking when will she make her appearance and wonder if she is too comfy inside my tummy. Later that night, I went to be hoping something would happened.

While sleeping, I felt like I was in a dream, kept tossing and turning and that I had tummy cramps. At around 5.30am, I woke up and went to the toilet. Then I spotted blood clot. Still half awake half asleep, I wonder if I should inform hubby, which I then decided not to cos I knew I would not go into labour immediately. I decided to do a final check on the hospital bag and get some sleep. This wasn’t a good idea cos I couldn’t sleep at all. The contraction came and it was about 15 mins apart and I tried my best to endure it. It was about 10am that I woke the husband up and told him about the bloody show and my contractions. We decide to get ready and before we leave the house at 11am, I kissed and hugged my son who was still asleep.

On the way to the hospital, we called my gynae up and let him know. Along the way, the contractions seemed to be getting wider apart. And the interesting part was, once we reached the hospital at about 12pm, there is NO contractions at all!! We proceed with the registration and I was brought up to the delivery ward. The nurses told me that I may need to wait for my delivery suite cos currently, its all occupied due to the favourite date!! I was shown to a 2 bedded ward where I had my lunch and was given the enema….. Next was the checking of the cervix and I was so sure that I could at least be 2 – 3cm dilated. The midwife checked and dropped the bombshell on me. I didn’t dilate much, only at tip of a finger… Yes, that’s right, the TIP OF A FINGER!! At this moment, I was doing some calculations. If it takes 1hr for 1cm of cervix dilation, it means I may need about 8-10hrs before I could be fully dilate!! And I thought that was the end of the not-so-good news. Boy, was I wrong!! After answering some questions by the midwife, she asked if I am aware of what to expect from my second time giving birth. Of course at that moment, I said yes, it would be something like the first one, right?? No I was wrong. This was her exact words, “Selina, this time round, the pain would be much more intense but the waiting period is much shorter.” Now now, did I hear it correctly. Did I hear pain, much more INTENSE?? In my heart, I was going, “Do you need to mentioned the word INTENSE?” If given a choice, I really wanted to go back home there and then!! But I was more anxious to give birth and determined to get it over and done with……

Finally, the delivery suite was available and as the midwives were going in and out, lots of things were going thru my mind. Can I really endure the pain this time round? Would I need to use the epidural should the pain be unbearable? The husband assured me that I’m a strong person and he will be by my side all the way. So they put me on the drip at about 3pm and like almost instantly, I could feel the contractions coming on slowly but surely and strongly…… I concentrate on my breathing and kept praying while holding and squeezing hubby’s hand when the contractions came. 45mins later, I asked for the pethedine which does not alleviate much of the pain. I then put on the gas mask and after the 4th time breathing in the gas, I could feel myself slowly drifting to sleep with the constant pain….. The gas did wonders for me this time round. Eventho I could feel the contractions coming on strong, I still manage to have a short nap.

At about 5pm, my gynae came and checked my cervix. I was given a very very good news, that I had fully dilated!! I was estatic while being high and kept thanking god. The midwives got everything prepared and my gynae told me to push slowly whenever I feel like passing motion. I of course knew myself very well, didn’t push whenever I felt like pushing cos I didn’t want to be drained out of energy when its time for me to do the real pushing. I endure and manage to refrain from pushing till about 6pm when my gynae came and asked me to push.

I started to push slowly and I could feel my baby’s head crowing and I said to myself, “This is it Selina. Give it all you got now. Baby’s gonna be here any moment.” This time, I gather what’s left of my energy and start to push. With the 3rd push, the baby’s head was out and another push, my baby is out, finally……. I felt a huge load of relieved and was smiling when I saw my baby……. It was at 6.15pm that Dinah Sharleez made her appearance in this world and now I’m a proud mummy of 2!!

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dania

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