My first encounter with AJ (Part 2)

12^th January 2008

7:30 AM. "Finally, we've got your result back." Sarah came in with the pretty doc again. "Your result came back normal. But I would like you to stay here for the night. Meanwhile you are here, we would like you to collect a 24 hour urine *yucks* to ensure everything is normal." said doc.

We were then sent up to Norfolk ward with 3 other expectant moms. Jimmy drove back home to continue his nap. Lucky him. My day was wasted by watching tv and collecting urine. Aaah....Bored!...I wished I was resting at home on my bed comfortably. Even the food was not that tasty. Jimmy came in shortly later in the evening. We ended up just watching TV together until the visiting hours finished. =.=


13^th January 2008

2:35 AM. Time passed by really slowly. I was fortunate that I was able to sleep on the first night in hospital. But I was waken when I had a sudden pain on my back. Arggh...I still remember it. It was so painful that both my legs were cramped.

After 15 mins of non-stop pain, I called an on-duty midwife. Explained the situation. Do you know what she responded? "We can't be sure that it's the true contractions. I can get you some paracetamol if you can't bear with the pain."

Gosh, this is really annoying. How will I know it is the time if the midwife doesn't even know? I refused for the treatment, hoping that it will fade away at some point later by getting back to sleep.

4:00 AM. *White Flag* T___T. Took the paracetamols hoping that I can get some decent sleep. Aaaahhhh ~~~ It finally gets better.

10:15 AM. Back to the usual me. Waiting to give birth. Two on-duty doctors came in asked how I was doing. To my dismay, I was requested to stay for another day eventhough the urine collection result came back normal.

5:15 PM. I was watching tv when I felt something not right. Nope, not the pain. The contraction has been on and off today. I felt a large amount of discharges out of a sudden. Didn't bother much at first place.

Jimmy arrived shortly later. Went to toilet to check that everything's ok. My discharge was brownish instead of red blood previously. Alert the midwife immediately. I was right. My water broke!

"Congratulations. It's your baby's first poo. Which means you could be giving birth any minute. Let me arrange you to go down to the labour ward.", she smiled.

Jimmy widened his eyes after I told him. We packed our bags and getting ready for the war. Then out of a sudden, I felt really really freezingly cold but the room was damn hot! So I wear my thick jacket to warm myself.

6:30 PM. A midwife came in with a monitor device. My temperature was 39^oC! Fever but I'm still shaking. She later explained, "The labour ward is currently full. So you might need to stay here for a bit longer." =.= "With your temperature, there's a risk. You need to cool yourself down. If this goes higher, you could have a still birth. I'll get you paracetamols to cool down. Meanwhile, I need to monitor your contractions and baby's heart rate while you're here." *Sigh* Why does delivering baby so risky one?

8:15 PM. Still stuck in Norfolk ward. My butt was getting more cramped due to immobility since in monitor. The most disgrace thing was I "broke wind" in the room with the other expectant moms. =.=. *paiseh...paiseh* Needless to say, my contractions became stronger and stronger by minutes. I was crying out of the pain. T___T

8:35 PM. Finally! I walked myself down slowly to the labour ward. Had to stop everynow and then when there is a contraction. So difficult to walk at that stage. It took me 20 minutes to actually reach the labour ward. Normally just 5 minutes!

8:55 PM. Changed to the hospital nightie as soon as I get there. Nicky introduced herself as we met. Without wasting anytime, she checked my temperature (38^oC), baby's position (well-positioned), dilations (4 cm), baby's heart rate (normal), contractions (3 every 10 minutes) and blood pressure (don't know!).

Nicky later asked me to start pushing. "One more push, Margaret. Give me one more push. You can do it!" She kept saying that again and again, I thought how many one more push I should give?

What! Didn't expect the pushing part so soon. I couldn't because of the pain. I had gas and air (purely oxygen) to breath through my mouth. But got sleepy and dizzy that I couldn't respond to Nicky. Didn't have energy to push even!

Nicky then asked for the breather to be taken away so that I can push it with my own energy. Somehow I got used with pain and with all energy that I have, I keep pushing and pushing.

When the baby's head is coming out, I was really in pain (Only moms who given birth know the pain). But as soon as the baby's head is out, the rest (baby's body and placenta) came out easily. I was taking really long breaths when the baby was successfully delivered. But got worried when I didn't hear him cry.

You must be guessing that the doctor have to pat his butt to make him cry. Not anymore nowadays. The doctor carried the baby to a big noisy machine as soon as Nicky cut his umbilical cord. Then the doc used a tube to suck the fluid from the baby's nose to let him breath using his nose for first time. Then, he cried. I smiled weakly. Jimmy smiled. His heart rate, skin color and temperature were checked before was wraped with a warm blankett and handed over to us for the first cuddle.

11:57 PM. Everyone! Let me introduce to you all, my first son, Adrian James Ling. After almost 3 hours of pushing, we finally met AJ. He was so cute and starred at us without blinking his eyes. Bless him. Won't forget our first moments.

Here are some photos:

Days before labour. Fat pig!

Looking still good after labour

Geng! Still walking after labour

Trying to get his weight

Finally, rest in his cot.

Q: So, am I going for another one? A: "Yes, if financial allows but in the next few years."
Q: Aren't you scare with the pain? A: "Yes, but I forgot the pain immediately after I hear the baby's first cry"

p.s. many many thanks to my dearest, Jimmy for being at my side all the time.