And here comes the 3rd one...

Finally the wait is over. And she's 3 days overdue. Yes, another 'she' :)

I noticed the 'show' at ~2am after I told baby that she can come out now (you see, before that I kept telling her to wait until Jie Jie finished her exams, but then when her due date came and went, and my gynae told me that she could only let me wait for another 10 more days, I started to get worried). I timed my contraction and when I noticed it's consistent with about 7 minutes apart, I went to have a bath. That was at ~3am. After bath, I tried to go back to sleep, as I thought of waiting till morning to admit. But at ~4am, I felt the contraction was more obvious so I went to wake hubby up. He suggested we wait till 6am but he went to get himself ready as well, and made sure all the camera, etc were fully charged. I was hoping to go to the 6.45am mass that day (yes, it's a Sunday) but MIL advised us to go straight to the hospital as this was the 3rd one already, and she could come really fast. I called the hospital to ask for advice and they told me to go straight to the delivery room since I had 2 symptoms - the 'show' and consistent contraction pain. If really it's not time yet, then they would release me and I could go home.

Hubby told the girls we're going to the hospital despite me asking him not to wake them up. In the end, I had some hard time trying to get away as SJ was already crying and wouldn't let me go. SY was ok as she's very excited herself.

SY wanted to take a photo with me , and I was having contraction pain in between. I purposely picked the same maternity blouse that I wore during SJ's birth!

We reached the hospital at 5+ am. It was raining so hubby dropped me at the A&E before I got wheeled to the labour room. There the nurse performed the CTG test on me to check on baby's heartbeat and my contraction level. I was also asked to press a button when I felt baby's movement and the printed graph would indicate when there were movements or contractions pain. The test took 20 minutes and after it's completed, the nurse told me that I could check-in to my room as the contraction pain was not that strong. However, on my way there, it came quite strongly until I could hardly walk at 5min apart, so they asked me to change into the labour suit and wait in the labour room instead. I was already 2-3cm dilated by then and it was 6am. Hubby went down to settle the admission process while they settled me in - gave me the medicine so that I could clear my bowel, etc.  

The pain chart - at that time I was only in level 4

I thought of reading ebooks as painkiller but alas! I hardly manage to start :(

Baby's warmer unit was all ready... can you see that it's only 7:15am? 

At 7.50am, I was 4-5cm dilated. Contraction pain was about 3 minutes apart. I heard that another mother who was admitted later than me had already delivered! It's also her 3rd one and I envied her so much for her fast progress. But I could hear her screaming in pain, which I did not envy at all. The nurse told me I still had a long way to go with my current progress. 

I was given the injection (Eben) at 7:55am per my request. Before that I was already on the Antennox laughing gas. I started to feel drowsy and sleepy at 8am. Since the progress was slow, my gynae came in at 10:20am to break my water bag. I was only 6cm dilated then. And that's when the nightmare began. The pain was excruciating and grew stronger with time, but my dilation didn't show the equivalent pace. From 6cm to 7cm, I couldn't imagine how long and how much pain that cost. My hands got numbed and I hardly could hold the laughing gas myself. (Actually at this time of writing, I couldn't remember exactly when my hands started to get numb). I had to scream for hubby to put it on my nose for me when I could feel the next contraction coming. Before that, hubby's rub on my back was soothing and could help ease the pain, but by then it's not effective anymore. The gas didn't help as well. I was holding the railing at the side of the bed to withstand the pain, but my fingers couldn't open anymore because it's too numb. I was worried I couldn't push as well when it's time to do so as I felt numb all over. When I was 8cm dilated, I felt like I won't be able to make it anymore. I was screaming for them to give me epidural but they told me it's too late and it's not necessary. The nurses even jokingly said they helped me save $$ so I could treat them hokkien me (or was it char koay teow?) later. When I didn't think I could stand it anymore, I requested for c-section but again, my pleas were ignored. I think I was at Level 10 of the pain chart by then. I ignored hubby or the nurses when they asked me questions as the pain was getting more and more unbearable. This was more painful than when I had SJ, when I was expecting it to be the other way round. In the end, I learnt that deep breathing helped a lot. It was after I heard the nurses mentioned that I didn't know how to relax and they could see my veins as I fought thru each contraction. 

It felt like a lifetime for me to dilate from 8cm to 10cm finally. I think it was close to 2pm then. I thought I could never make it. However when I finally did, I was ecstatic and couldn't wait to push, even though my gynae hadn't arrive yet. I tried to push regardless but they were still waiting for her so they didn't give me any guidance. When she finally came, I was frantically pushing as the urge came, and my gynae had to raise her voice to me so that I would listen to her instruction instead. I couldn't remember how long or how many times I pushed, but I could hear hubby's encouragement when I felt like giving up. In the end, we made it. But what a nightmare... I didn't think I could survive another of this ordeal again.

I panicked when I didn't hear any sound after they told me that she's out, so I kept asking why she didn't cry. Only then did I learnt that her nose and mouth need to be suctioned to clear all secretions before she could breathe and cry. Haha, looks like my memory failed me after 5 years. Hubby was again given the honour to cut the baby's umbilical cord. Right after that, baby was placed on my body for awhile before they took her away for cleaning. She was placed on the warmer unit during the cleaning process.

It's not over for me yet, for I had to push again to get the placenta out. Even though I still used the laughing gas when the contraction pain came, it's over before I knew it. My gynae sucked out all the dirty blood from me. I could feel her stitching me up and it's painful even though she had given me a jab at my tigh. It looked like I had a 2nd degree tear which was considered not serious. After all that, my gynae carried the baby for me again. I just realised that we didn't manage to take a family photo this time... but me and baby managed to have one with our gynae.

After everything was done, the nurses helped me change into my own clothes and then carried the baby for me to breastfeed. I was so tired, thirsty and hungry then (I didn't eat anything except for half a glass of milo at ~5am) so when they carried the baby to me, I was all drained up and just felt like sleeping. I still haven't recovered from the nightmare until the following day itself. At that time, I didn't feel like doing anything, including breastfeeding the baby, entertaining the 2 girls who had come visiting or even my hubby, MIL, his brother, etc. whatsmore to inform my friends that I've delivered. I just wanted to sleep :)

Yes, that's how I ended up with My Charlie's Angels :) Well, it's not over yet, as the journey is just going to begin again... after 5 years of break. And I couldn't help marveling at God's beautiful miracles and feel how blessed I am.