boo was due on Monday 5 December. on the Saturday before his due date, i was craving Japanese ramen so we had planned to go out for lunch to enjoy our last weekend. we had to change our plans when the first contraction hit me around 6am Saturday morning. i had contractions on and off with no regular patterns. the contractions stopped after two hours. to be safe, we decided to stay at home in case my water broke or if the contractions came back.
we took it easy all day pottering around the house. the contractions started again around 4:30 in the afternoon and they were 7-8 minutes apart. they went on for another 4 hours and continued to be about 6-7 minutes apart. i remember we were having dinner at the dining table and i had to stand up and walk around the house to ease the pain whenever i had a contraction.
the contractions started to be closer together so i decided to call the hospital to see if i should go in. the nurse said we should stay at home till the contractions are 5 minutes apart and she said i should take some panadol and try to have some rest too. the pain was so strong that i could barely sleep. Jim moved the nursing chair into our room because every time the contractions hit me, i had to sit up and i decided to try and get some rest in the nursing chair instead. the contractions went on and i think i might have managed 2 hours of broken sleep.
by 6am, the contractions were closer and closer together and stronger so i decided it was time we get ready to go to the hospital. the traffic was a breeze and we arrived at north shore private around 7. the hospital was really quiet at that time of the day and we were given one of the bigger birthing suite.
the midwife on duty, her name is Quentin i think, strapped a baby monitor on my bump and informed me that the next midwife who does the morning shift would come and check on me. around 8, another midwife, Jo, came and introduced herself. she checked on me and said that i was 5cm dilated and we might have the baby around lunch time. she left to tend to other matters and when she came back to the room, she said Dr Ford has been contacted and he has instructed her to break my water for me so that i would go into labour sooner rather than later.
once the water was broken, the contractions were closer together. i had opted not to have any drugs or epidural so by this stage the pain was getting stronger and stronger. i was using the gas provided which didn't help much. around 10:30, Jo came back to check on me. i was in so much pain, i finally gave up and asked for an epidural. She inspected me and said it was too late because i'm almost ready to push.
Dr Ford arrived in his casual gear around 12:30. by that time, i had been pushing for close to two hours and i was exhausted. i was ready to give up. i remember saying to Jim that I can't do it anymore and i even asked Dr Ford if it was too late for a c-section. he evaluated the situation. turns out, boo's head was stuck and to help get him out, he would need to use a vacuum. by that time, i was happy for him to do anything just to get this baby out. Dr Ford got everything ready and at 1:05, he promised me the baby will be here with one last push. i gathered all my strength and at 1:07, boo was born. i remember he was quite a lively baby practicing his lungs as soon as he took his first breath.
we waited 40 weeks to meet him. he was perfect and healthy. i was overwhelmed with emotions the moment they put him in my arms. all the pain disappeared and were replaced with joy when i saw his little face. Jim and I could not take our eyes off him for the first 24 hours.
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| // boo's first cuddle with daddy // |
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| // boo's first cuddle with mummy // |
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