Baby No. 3 : The Birth Story of Brie – In Pictures
Gee. Baby Brie is ONE month old in THREE days and I still have yet to find the time to blog about her birth story! (sigh, … hopefully soon)
For now, as a ‘prelude’ to the FULL story, here’re some photos taken by Wilson (using his Iphone) and an overall ‘summary’ of what happened that day yeah …
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Both Wilson and I arrived at Thomson Medical Centre just before 2 AM on Saturday, 21 May 2011.
[Wilson’s parents were scheduled to arrive at 10am THAT same day!]
We went to the hospital because I had a ‘pinkish discharge’ some two hours earlier (when I was squatting down and brushing the bathroom tiles, heh).
I casually called the hospital to find out if I needed to do anything (since there’re no strong contractions, etc), and the nurse advised me to come over to get myself examined as it’s my THIRD baby (read: delivery can happen real fast!)
After I got changed and wore this purple hospital robe, the nurse monitored the contractions and the baby’s heartbeat by placing these two straps around my belly. It’s commonly known as Cardiotocography (CTG).
They did a check too, and guess what … I was only STARTING to dilate (read: I was NOT in labour yet)
So I was asked to get some sleep in the ward.
My Doc came to check in the morning and I was only about 2cm dilated!
In the end, we decided to get my labour ‘induced’ since I was already in my 38th week of pregnancy and I was already in the hospital!
A pill (that’s supposed to ‘ripen the cervix’) was inserted at about 11.45am.
Nothing much happened after that, so I happily ate my lunch and updated my Facebook status =)
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At about 4pm, my Doc did an internal check and ‘manually’ helped to stretch the dilation to 3cm!
Since then, contractions were STRONG and only got increasingly intense!
I decided to not go for epidural again this time round, and asked for ‘gas’ to help and relieve the labour pain.
I think I started using my mask at around 5pm.
There were moments when I could still bear the contractions with the help of the gas, so I still shared real-time ‘labour updates’ on Facebook! =)
[I must say, updating my Facebook did help ‘distract’ me a bit, hehe]
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Contractions got stronger by the minute and my waterbag was manually burst at 9pm.
After THAT, my contractions were even stronger and more frequent (at least I knew it meant the whole episode would end real soon).
I didn’t get to eat dinner (contractions were too strong and close, I couldn’t sit upright by then). My whole body was fighting real hard to bear the pain too.
I know it was the THIRD time round, but for my case, it was totally NOT easier than the first two!
It was … indescribable.
Brie was FINALLY born (all natural) at about 9.38pm.
And this was how I looked, minutes AFTER Brie was born.
Super exhausted and my whole body felt like splitting apart.
And this was when I was being wheeled back to my ward, some 40 minutes AFTER Brie was born.
It’s the photo I posted on Facebook, and it was probably the ‘best’ one taken by Wilson where I didn’t look like I was going to faint from exhaustion, haha.
ANYWAY.
I am SO glad that it was all over, and that I managed to ‘survive’ such an intensive labour. It was totally God’s grace and I thank God for the strength and health given to me and baby.
I’m SO grateful for the many well wishes we received, and for the many prayers too.
Thank you all.
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I promise I’ll share more photos of that day real soon.
For now, here’s me wishing you all a GREAT weekend (and Father’s Day!!)
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@Ailina:
hehe… waktu di hari2 terakhir itu memang gosok2 kamar mandi, dapur dan ruang tamu punya lantai terus hehe … Pengennya biar cepet ngelahirin (kali2 ngebantu gitu loh dengan byk jongkok2 … )
soalnya mertua datengnya kan sabtu 21 May itu, dan sebelum itu belon ada tanda2 mau melahirkan. Eh ternyata memang proven once again kalau God’s timing is the best … Beneran ngelahirin on the same day as their arrival in Singapore! (mom in law disini for 10 days … so her help was ‘maximised’ deh before going through the usual days alone lagi =)
Hi Jen!
Looking back, I don’t know if labour was more intense the 3rd time round due to me being induced, or simply because it was more intense for my personal case (coz when I gave birth to Vai, that second time round also was more painful than the first)
But, definitely for my case, it’s never like yours =) Wow … ‘no pushing’ and it sounds so easy and pain-free =) I know of some people who really have it all easy … Somehow it’s never the case for me, all three pregnancies. Always exhausted (whether I was induced or not induced)
But anyway, glad it’s all over and everything is good.
Thanks for reading up my blog yeah! =)
Have a great week!
ci Leon. so amazing. ure still brushing the bathroom tiles while ure about to deliver. haha. keren ci ! heheh. same as above. love reading ur blog too ! hehehehe…
Moot point, but they shld hv just sent you back and not induced you at all. Save you all the labour agony and brie high jaundice level. Reading this reminds me of my 1st birth which was so so similar in all aspect from the pinkish discharge at 38 weeks to the so so tiring labour. After that, I vowed never to be induced but do it naturally drug free and got it with no 2. So so different and then I really know what giving birth was like, from the time the water bag burst naturally to the crowning and when she slip out, no pushing at all. It was a joy and celebration instead of tiredness and exhaustion.
Anyway, enjoy your motherhood journey again. Love reading your blog!
Hi Meru!
Thank you … =)
As far as I can remember, I tried to breastfeed Brie immediately, ie. as soon as I reached my ward. I remember letting the nurses there know about my request for ‘total breastfeeding’.
The only thing is, when I delivered my first two (Anya and Vai) at TMC years ago, they’re brought to me when they cried and asked for milk (which could be 2-3 hours after their last feed ended). But when I had Brie, I remember she only was bought to me every 4 hours. I did wonder if Brie really did sleep all the way for 4 hours, or they went by ‘schedule’ instead of ‘demand’…
Hi Leonny,
Congrats! I would like to check with you. How long after the delivery did you get to breastfeed your baby? I was quite upset about TMC because I only get to see and breastfeed after 4hrs of delivery.