------ Warning : detailed and rather gory post ahead! ------------------
Baby Erin, fresh from the oven :)
June 23
8+pm - Not really sure, but thought I was having regular contractions. To go to the hospital or not? Contemplated for 1 hour plus.9+pm - Decided to go to the hospital. Called my parents to take Elyssa and maid over to their house for the night. Warned them could be false alarm and we may be home soon.
10pm
-Nurse confirmed 4cm dilation! Phew, I was relieved it was not a false alarm!
- Nurse asked about pain relief - injection and laughing gas or epidural. Was feeling a little gung ho so I said to try without epidural first. (gynae previously mentioned that 2nd delivery should be much quicker and I could try without)
- Nurse gave enema and injection (supposed to relieve pain by 10-20%)
June 24
12am - Already groaning with each contraction. Nurse checked : 5cm dilation. Oh no.... 2 hours for 1cm??? And definitely not so gung-ho about the "no epidural" option. Asked for laughing gas.
12.30am - 5 to 6cm dilation. Painful contractions.
1am onwards - Ok, things started to get blurry from this point onwards. Drowsy from the effects of the injection and laughing gas. Vaguely aware that nurse said 6 to 7 cm, then 7 to 8 cm.
- at some point, realised that my gynae was already there and am surrounded by more nurses and midwife.
- at some point, heard some shouting. Delusionally, was relieved for a while cos thought that baby out already. Then realised gynae's hands still empty...... Then realised the shouting was too loud to be from baby.....Then realised it was ME screaming like a mad woman. (and I thought they exaggerate in movies!)
- screamed and hung on tight to hubby's hands during contractions. Too blur to handle the laughing gas contraption so hubby held it to my mouth for me.
- at some point, heard the mid-wife saying "can push already!"
- more screaming from me. In serious pain!!! Gynae kept saying I wasn't pushing right. (I was silently cursing her at that point. Kept thinking - easy for you to say only!!)
- felt I had no more energy to push and asked for vacumn.
- saw Gynae took out the vacumn equipment. One final BIG push, one bad burning sensation (like the most gigantic poo) and then............ baby is OUT!!!!
Time of birth: 1.40am.
Post Delivery
When I gave birth to Elyssa previously (with epidural), the birth story pretty much ended after she came out. But without epidural this time, there were a couple more unpleasant experience - 1) delivery of placenta 2) gynae stitching me up and 3) manual removal of blood clots.
No. 3) was by far the worse. Just when I thought it was all over (when I finished the one hour rest period after delivery) nurse came and pressed my tummy area and said there were still a lot of blood clots. So she reached hands inside me and practically pulled them out..... clumps of warm clotted blood fell out each time. Yuck and super Ouch! (she did it three times)
After Thoughts
I still can't quite believe I managed to survive the labour without epidural !!! He hee..... I'm rather proud of myself ;) Painful, painful experience but phew, I did it! Looking back, the very intense pain was probably less than half an hour (though it felt reaaaallllllly long).
HUGE plus point is the recovery after labour. No backache at all (I had bad backache for a few days last time) and aside from the minor discomfort of the stitches, I felt almost back to normal the day after the delivery.
-Nurse confirmed 4cm dilation! Phew, I was relieved it was not a false alarm!
- Nurse asked about pain relief - injection and laughing gas or epidural. Was feeling a little gung ho so I said to try without epidural first. (gynae previously mentioned that 2nd delivery should be much quicker and I could try without)
- Nurse gave enema and injection (supposed to relieve pain by 10-20%)
June 24
12am - Already groaning with each contraction. Nurse checked : 5cm dilation. Oh no.... 2 hours for 1cm??? And definitely not so gung-ho about the "no epidural" option. Asked for laughing gas.
12.30am - 5 to 6cm dilation. Painful contractions.
1am onwards - Ok, things started to get blurry from this point onwards. Drowsy from the effects of the injection and laughing gas. Vaguely aware that nurse said 6 to 7 cm, then 7 to 8 cm.
- at some point, realised that my gynae was already there and am surrounded by more nurses and midwife.
- at some point, heard some shouting. Delusionally, was relieved for a while cos thought that baby out already. Then realised gynae's hands still empty...... Then realised the shouting was too loud to be from baby.....Then realised it was ME screaming like a mad woman. (and I thought they exaggerate in movies!)
- screamed and hung on tight to hubby's hands during contractions. Too blur to handle the laughing gas contraption so hubby held it to my mouth for me.
- at some point, heard the mid-wife saying "can push already!"
- more screaming from me. In serious pain!!! Gynae kept saying I wasn't pushing right. (I was silently cursing her at that point. Kept thinking - easy for you to say only!!)
- felt I had no more energy to push and asked for vacumn.
- saw Gynae took out the vacumn equipment. One final BIG push, one bad burning sensation (like the most gigantic poo) and then............ baby is OUT!!!!
Time of birth: 1.40am.
Post Delivery
When I gave birth to Elyssa previously (with epidural), the birth story pretty much ended after she came out. But without epidural this time, there were a couple more unpleasant experience - 1) delivery of placenta 2) gynae stitching me up and 3) manual removal of blood clots.
No. 3) was by far the worse. Just when I thought it was all over (when I finished the one hour rest period after delivery) nurse came and pressed my tummy area and said there were still a lot of blood clots. So she reached hands inside me and practically pulled them out..... clumps of warm clotted blood fell out each time. Yuck and super Ouch! (she did it three times)
After Thoughts
I still can't quite believe I managed to survive the labour without epidural !!! He hee..... I'm rather proud of myself ;) Painful, painful experience but phew, I did it! Looking back, the very intense pain was probably less than half an hour (though it felt reaaaallllllly long).
HUGE plus point is the recovery after labour. No backache at all (I had bad backache for a few days last time) and aside from the minor discomfort of the stitches, I felt almost back to normal the day after the delivery.
16 comments:
Happy Confinement..!!
You are amazing! You did it, without epi:) Have a good rest and a good confinement.
Congrats again Adrine and glad you did it without epidural. For both my kids, my two different gynaes did not encourage epidural so I didn't take, but for William was worse coz I only had the laughing gas... pain pain... but yea agree with you that recovery is much faster.
Eat well, rest when you can. Take care and hugs and kisses to Erin.
Congrats and Bravo to you mommy! Get more rest k...
gosh, i can feel the pain just reading about your post. you are so so brave. bravo! how's the little one doing and how's jie jie?
Eeek eek eeeeek. I much prefer to be KO during delivery! Heh. But the fast recovery makes it worth it. Until now my C-sect scar bothers me a bit.
Wow..you are really brave. Some more Erin is a big baby ler. Take good care of yourself and baby. Enjoy your confinement.
Wah, next day, feel like almost normal??? U really 'keng' la. After all the pain and ripping...! haha!
Reading ur experience makes me think back about my encounter too with Ally's birth.Similar to urs!
bravo mummy :)
mine was prolonged delivery, ended up with c-sect..what a nightmare :(
Congrats babe!!! Well done my dear :) xoxo
this brings back quite a few memories! i was screaming too.. and then my doctor said don't use my energy to scream, use it to push!
congrats again:)
COngrats to you for bravely going thru the hardest physical part in bringing a baby out to this world! :-) Glad you went thru it all safe and sound! Congrats again!
This reminded me of my own labour. I didn have epi. just the gas. I didnt know about pressing those blood clogs..probably i was too worn out by then.
These will be the memories that every mother will have..and will not be forgotten..hehehehe
Will pop by to visit you one of these days..before u start work.
This is certainly great milestone for your girl to review after she has grown up, congratulation mmmy!
i miss confinement so much. hope u enjoy as much as i did!
congrats mummy.
I delivered my first baby at gov hospital klang, and trust me, more unpleasant experience than pleasant one. Lots ppl ask me "Berani mati huh" :P Shall blog about it later.
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