Woke up on the morning of 22nd March feeling wet & slightly cold.. not sure if I leaked urine or waterbag burst and ran to toilet. But no more flow or gushing.. I even tried to urine on a clean pantyliner to compare but couldn’t tell if the leak that wet my pants is amniotic fluid. Decided to take the day off to rest at home and wait for gynae clinic to open and call to ask at 8+am. They asked me to come in, since they would not be able to tell unless I came in and did CTG monitoring/ cervix examination.
CTG monitoring only monitored one contraction in the entire hour. Upon cervix examination, Gynae said she could feel the front of my waterbag so it is still intact but I do have quite a bit of yellowish discharge and sometimes slight leak could be from the hind of the waterbag which she is not able to tell. But ultrasound showed amniotic fluid inside still looks good and a lot. Was asked me to go home and monitor for 3 days.
After that, I still went shopping around at Taka etc. went for pedicure since I didn’t think I would be so soon at all. Finally I got home in the evening and started unpacking this portable drawers that I wanted to use for baby’s clothings.. when i sat down on the floor, I felt some discharge leak so I went to toilet. To my alarm, there was some blood… (don’t know is it bloody show, slight brownish colour but not mucus-like). I called up my gynae after-office hours no. and the hospital helped me connect through to her. She said, she can’t tell anything unless I go to hospital to monitor. So I decided upon her advice to go back to the hospital and do monitoring again but don’t admit first.
I didn’t eat dinner before going as I totally did not expect myself to be in labour. I was just worried if my baby is fine and wanted to check and make sure. So I rushed straight down to the hospital where they would monitor my contractions for an hour. My gynae said on the phone that the hospital will send her the monitoring results as it comes in so if nothing she will advise them to let me go home. There I lay on the labour ward bed for monitoring, totally no expectation that I am in labour.. midwife came in, checked me and said I don’t have dilation/ about 1 cm only, just slight irregular contractions ask me if I feel them. To me, they just feel like normal menstrual cramps and I said I dont’t feel any contractions. She said I do have some brownish discharge.
Until my gynae stepped in and I was shocked, afraid something is wrong.. why she suddenly appear when I wasn’t expecting her to. She said actually I have contractions and if I feel them..Again I said I don’t. She did another cervix check and said actually I am already 3cm dilated and my contractions are getting quite regular. In fact, most people’s ones are 3-5mins apart, mine are already 1min apart!! She said am I sure I dont’t feel them? I said I still feel like just a case of bad menstrual cramps, not that painful.. they are surprised of my pain tolerance and that I dilated so fast, suddenly 3cm already.
She said I do have some bleeding and for such close contractions with bleeding, I might have placenta previa or that I have sensitive uterine. She said she will have to burst my waterbag to see if there is blood in it. As she said that, she was already bursting my waterbag at the same time. I was in utter shock! Next thing I knew I saw her hand full of fresh red blood and my water keep gushing out non-stop. There was so much!!
She said the water got some blood until more and more flow out and it’s clear. My tears were flowing non-stop and I was shivering and shaking very badly after all the water came out. Until she said, why am I crying I should be happy, I am already in labour! and baby is fine.. she said expect me to deliver the next morning, not so fast since first one. It took quite a while for me to compose myself.. I still keep shivering and feeling cold.
So the next thing was whether to take epidural. It was about 9+/ 10pm at night by then and before my gynae left.. she said if I want epidural to tell them, as later late at night it will take some time for it to come and they will need to check if I still can have it by then. I was in dilemma whether to take since I already 3cm.. then I still feel very much tolerable even as I begin to feel stronger contractions. But I scared later by the time I want and cannot have.. so I decided to order epidural. Before the anaesthetist came, midwife checked me again. She said actually I am only about 1 cm dilated, not 3cm as my gynae said.. so I was puzzled and thinking.. aiya, shouldn’t have ordered epidural so early. Though later on I did not regret as it is really comfy to be on epidural. I dont’t think I could have survived without it.
Morning came at 8+am, my gynae came and said I am ready to deliver in about an hour. 9+am, midwife came and checked, then started getting me to push.. I pushed hard with each contraction I felt until baby was very low down.
By an hour or less, baby was pushed out after a slight perineal tear and episiotomy. Baby came out so fast that hubby said it was like magic and she appeared out of nowhere.
Remember I said my baby was OP (occiput posterior) which will make pushing difficult and hard labour cos it’s the widest diameter of baby’s head? Luckily, as I pushed baby turned at the last moments to anterior. Baby Cherice very guai & cooperative~
So that is my labour story/ Baby Cherice’s birth story.. entire birth is natural! (no induction, not assisted.. but on epidural~) She is born as a full-term baby at 37 weeks on the morning of 23rd March weighing in at 3.190kg.
P.S. The pain is actually the aftermath when the epidural wears off & the milking process cos my engorgement was so bad yesterday. I never imagined my breasts can be so hard and painful. I think I pumped too long using breastpump for one of the sessions (up to 45mins in one session) maybe that’s why I got so bad engorgement).. Last night keep latching on for baby’s feeds through the night then felt better today – baby’s latch-on is the best!!
