Charis Girl's Journey: November 2008

Wow, time does flies. From the time I gave birth, did my confinement, struggling with breastfeeding, transiting into a new mother-wife role till now, it's been 3 months and 7 days already. It's not a long time in a real time sense, but it seemed like a long long while for me.. Ha ha..

I realised more than ever before that life is full of transitions. From young, we transit from primary to secondary, then jc or poly or university. Then comes work life where we transit from company to company, industry to industry, familarising and adapting ourselves to the different cultures and colleagues in different places. In terms of relationships, we transit from friendship to courtship to marriage, having to learn how to know and keep friends as a single, then as a married person and then as a mother. Wow! Life is an art, constantly evolving into something new with the old.

I can still remember how surreal I felt when I first tested on the pregnancy kit that reflected a plus sign a few days before Chinese New Year 2007. I told dear, mum and sis about it but needed an assurance from the doctor that it was not a mistake. Dear and I went to my family doctor and did another test. No doubt about it, I was pregnant! Then I was told by my family doctor that if the normal pregnancy kit is tested positive, I must be really pregnant because the kit can only pick up late pregnancy.. Ha ha.. Just wanna to be very sure cos I am a first time mother. But come to think of it, I'll still do the same even for my 2nd or 3rd pregnancy!:)

The first 3 months was quite tough, feeling nauseous, lost interest in food, nauseous again at the smell of fish and even the smell of charcoal to remove odour from my store room! The stress of first 3 months was if I can keep the baby safe and stable in my womb cos the risk of miscarriage is very high in the first trimester. It was also about reconciling with an existence of a little life inside of me without any visible outward evidence..

Then came the 2nd trimester. I was feeling much better, appetite came back with a double dose and I found myself having supper every night! Poor dear had to go down and buy me food almost every night, sometimes as late as 12am.. Charis, must remember how your daddy sacrificed to keep mummy and you happy.. Hee hee.. Dear and I even went for a Japan trip with Ah Thia and Jordon! Basically, everywhere is walking, walking and even more walking around Japan.. in their MRT station where one subway is linked to another by almost 5 mins' walk!... then the fateful walk to Osaka Castle which seemed so near at the gate entrance, but so endlessly long to get there :)... and not forgetting the exciting shopping which suggested more walking! In fact, I walked so much that my leg was so painful that I couldn't walk for 2 days upon arriving back at home. Price to pay for the wonderful experience :) Oh and Ah Thia suddenly realised my tummy got bigger at the end of the trip than we first arrived in Japan when we were in the ladies waiting to board the plane back to Singapore. Must be all the yummy ramen, bento, mackerel set, yoshinoya and all the street food we sampled!

Finally, the third trimester. Wooh.. My tummy started to grow bigger and bigger towards the last month and I really had to slow down my walking and I found myself losing my sense of balance easily. Breathing became increasingly challenging and it was a dread having to climb 4 storeys to get to my house :( I was having a few false contractions and nothing seemed to be stirring after that and my gynae, Dr Tan told me that the baby was happily staying inside my womb, and probably will go past my estimated due date on 26th Sept 2008. We even scheduled 29th Sept 2008 for induced labour cos seeing the way things were, my baby wasn't coming out anytime soon. In fact, Dr Tan was going away for a short trip from 27th to 29th Sept and she was joking that if she's the privileged one to deliver my baby, she's gonna come out either before or after her trip! If not, it'll be another female gynae she has arranged for us. Of course, dear and I prayed that it'll be before Dr Tan leaves for the trip cos I didn't want my baby to overstay in my womb in case she starts pooping inside and risk swallowing the poops!

Well, on 24th Sept, it was our cell group dinner and we went Manhattan Fish Market at Central for dinner. It was an enjoyable evening and I reached home around 11pm plus. After settling down and washing up, dear and I went to bed at 1.30am. I was just lying down on the bed and turning to dear's side to talk to him when I felt a huge gush of water flowing out onto the bed. This gush of water was too much for a urine i thought, so it must be my water bag bursting! I called out to dear and said,"I think my water bag has burst!" Dear rushed to get a towel and water just kept on flowing out on my way to the toilet for a bath. I bathed and washed my hair and rushed to Mount Alvernia and we managed to admit at 2.15am on 25th Sept. The fluid was still flowing out and I really must have a good level of amniotic fluid inside my water bag so much so that my white pants was stained wet with the light yellowish fluid while walking through the hospital to the delivery suite. Quite embarrassing though cos there were people around but I couldn't care less, all I could think of is to get to the delivery suite asap.

Now the contractions started coming on but it was manageable for the first hour. The nurse came in and told me to get some sleep cos I was still early in my labour and my gynae wasn't coming in till 9 plus am, so I managed to catch a few hours' of sleep. Then after that few hours, the nurse came in to check and my cervix was dilated to 3 cm. She then informed my gynae and was decided that they will induce my labour. I was put on the drip and very soon, my contractions became stronger and more frequent and I inhaled nitrite oxide for relief of the pain, and for a moment, I felt I was floating cos the gas created a mild sedating effect. Initially that was helpful, but then as the contractions intensified, I found myself cringing and tears started rolling down my cheeks uncontrollably. I was relating the joke that when i went to the toilet, I sat down on the toilet bowl and asked God, "God, can I don't give birth??!!" Well of course, there was no retreat and I had to move forward! I asked dear if I should go for the epidural now and he passed me the red button to alert the nurse if I really can't take it. I tried another round of contraction and I pressed the button. Couldn't take it anymore! It was a bad menstrual cramp to the power of 10! The nurse came in and let me signed the form, and a while later informed me that they were still trying to get hold of an an anesthetist. I almost fainted once. Then the nurse came in again and told me she has contacted one anesthetist, but will take another half an hour to reach. I almost fainted again.

However, just as when I thought it was going to take forever, the anesthetist came in and calmly prepare his apparatus while explaining all the possible side effects to me. Finally, I was ready to get on with the epidural. I was told to bend in a U-shaped manner, clutching my knees to my chest while on the other hand I was inhaling and exhaling non-stop on the nitrite oxide when a sharp pain hit me when the needle poked right into my spine. Of course, I didn't moved one bit lest the needle breaks before it is removed. The effect of the epidural was really quick. In less than a few mins, I was numbed waist down and i couldn't feel much sensation anymore. Soon, my body started shivering uncontrollably due to the side effects of the epidural. Then my gynae came in around 10plus am and checked how much I have dilated. She estimated that I should be ready for active labour around 4pm to 5pm that day. However, around noon time, the nurse came in to check my contraction rate as well as my cervix and found that I was fully dilated, and was ready to push the baby out. My gynae returned and helped me through the process. She inserted a tube to drain out urine cos I wasn't going to receive any signal to pass urine since I was numbed waist down. She then proceeded with episiotomy and instructed me to push downwards like how we will pass motion. Soon, she could see my baby's head but my push wasn't sufficient to get her head out of the pelvis. In fact, Dr Tan told me that the baby's head was sliding in and out of the pelvis. Poor Charis.

Finally, Dr Tan asked if I was too tired and if I needed help by using a vaccum. I told her that I'll try once more and still, I didn't managed to push her head out. Soon, 2 nurses were on my left and right, pushing my tummy downwards and crying out "Push! Push!" with my dear joining the chorus alongside. I still had to muster all the strength I know how even though the vaccum was to be used. Before I knew it, Charis's head popped out! And with a final push, the rest of her body came out.

It was the God-appointed time of 2.11pm on 25th Sept 2008 for the arrival of my baby darling!

Here's some shots in the delivery suite... a little bloody as some commented