Jerry's birth story - Cherieladie;

And so, after being in pain for almost 13hrs, I had my breakfast and was asked to head to the delivery floor where all the holding rooms were and waiting for gynae to come check on us. Us because my gynae was going to deliver 4 babies (one after another) and all the mummies were being placed together.

He checked my dilation, 2cm and proceeded to break my water bag. Just like how many told me, it was a warm fuzzy feeling.. But moments later, I had some really bad news. The baby is in distress and has already passed faeces in the womb. If the baby swallowed the faeces in the womb, he will have lung problems and complications. I was presented with the options – c-sect immediately or risk waiting for natural labour but I was given only 5 hours to get the baby out. If baby is not coming out by then, gynae would have to c-sect there after.

I was in a confused state and didn’t know what to do!! I didn’t even had the boy with me when the doc explained all that.. When I finally saw hubby, we had only about a minute or 2 to decide. Knowing how much I wanted to try for natural, we opted for that since we still could have a shot at it. I was being put on a drip subsequently and was being induced further.

By 9am, the contractions were getting bad and at faster intervals. i was timing them and it went from 6 mins to 4 mins.. Fast forward to 11am. I was in pain for the contractions at 2 minute intervals for an hr already and was literally going bonkers. I barely could breathe between the contractions, and before I could recover from one wave, the other hit me. I thought the end was almost near..

I mean, contractions at 2 minutes intervals.. How far could I be right? I was so so wrong. Got the midwife to check on me and guess what?! After 3.5hrs of pain, I was only 3cm dilated. That was when I lost it.

My sanity, I mean.

The time, it was running very low. I only had about 2 hours left to get baby out. And at the rate I am dilating, there is NO WAY I could ever ever make it for natural birth with 7cm more to go.. (usually takes an hr to dilate 1cm). My dilation is not happening fast enough.

The pain. I kept asking the boy the time. I was counting down to the amount of time I had left and how much longer I had to endure. I was surprised at myself for not screaming still at the point in time, but I was that close to biting the wooden handles at the side of the bed, while trying to concentrate on my breathing. The poor hubby saw me suffering helplessly.

And guess what I did after I lost it?! I asked for pain relief. And I guess that was the best decision I ever made, and probably the only reason that prevented a c-sect delivery. I was rather upset though, I had so wanted to do it without any pain relief prior. We decided to administer epidural and the anethetist barely could do it cos she only had one minute intervals to do every step before my next wave of contractions came.

When she was done, i felt better and the medication dosage for inducing me went up by leaps and bounds, while the anesthetist told me she kept my epidural dosage to the bare minimum and ask me to try that first. If I couldn’t stand the pain, they could up the dosage. Well, I couldnt care a shit after that because I wasn’t feeling a damn thing with the minimum dosage. The lady beside me was still screaming in pain though (with epidural) and my hair stands each time she’s being checked for dilation since her screams are getting to me.

Me, after the epidural was administered.

Ok. I was playing a fool with this bowl that was given to me cos I wanted to vomit at some point in time.

Could you tell that I’m not in pain at all?!

Well, what happened within the next hour was amazing and the reason why the decision to take epidural was the best and that prevented the c-sect. My dilation shot up to 6-7cm which is v good news and they upped the inducing medication again since time was running short. I wasn’t bothered with any more pain except the intense urge to pass motion 30mins later. Dilation checked, 9cm. Woohoo, I was happy like a lark.

I turned to hubby and said, I think I’m gonna shit out a 3kg shit soon! ok, gross I know.

I kept telling the midwife thereafter that I think the baby is coming out. I was feeling the pressure mounting but my gynae was still operating a caesarean birth and there were no available delivery rooms vacant.

So when they finally transferred me, my gynae came 15 mins later, asked for a pediatrician to be on standby in the room because the baby could have complications and started asking me to push. I think I only did about 10-15 pushes and the next thing I know, the baby was plonked onto my stomach.

I was SHOCKED. I didn’t expect the baby to come out so fast. The boy was shocked. He said he only turned to me for less than a minute, help me count my breaths and ask me to look at him (cos i was staring at the ceiling) and the next time he knew, he saw a tiny purple color face staring back at him. Jerry opened his eyes the moment he was being plonked on me!

Funny bit. The moment the baby was plonked on me, the nurses all shouted – the time! Daddy, look at the clock! Look at the time the baby is born! 1459, the clock above me displayed. (of cos I couldn’t see a shit)

And the gore. Blood was splattered everywhere, my legs, the stirrups, the floor.. My gawd. It looks like a crime scene and it was then I realized that my gynae used the vacuum to assist the birth and did an episiotomy on me. All within that 10-15mins and my 10-15 pushes?!

The boy (still in shock) was asked to cut the umbilical cord and baby was quickly taken to the pediatrician for inspection while we all waited with bated breath. Her hands were fast (I mean they were all damn fast), she turn the baby around, checked for all symptoms and within the next 2 minutes, looked up and said, baby is ok.

Phew, what a sigh of relief.

and there, the first birth story of my life. I told the boy I’m never gonna do this again! Haha. (dunno who ever mentioned that she wanted at least 3 kids last time).

And oh, the stitching up is the painful bit for me. The pain was bearable but I still went ouch ouch ouch. Weird, because I survived everything else and that would be the last thing on my mind. I guess the focus was elsewhere now..