One year ago: The birth story

On this day, a year ago, a little angel was born....

*****

2 days prior to the birth, I had slept over at mom's place as Mr Judge was working the night shift.  I had stopped going to work for almost 2 weeks due to fatigue and laziness (hehehe...).  On Wednesday night (23rd Dec), I felt some hard contractions but didn't think much of it as I have had several false contractions before.  However, as I was falling asleep that night, I had a hunch that the next day will be THE day.  Somehow I just knew...

Woke up the next morning and found blood stains on the bed.  With a mixture of panic and excitement, I called Mr Judge, who was on his way back from work, to come to Mom's place, instead of going back to our place.  When he arrived, I asked him to get some sleep first while I went for my final schedule appointment with the gynea.

I waited patiently as I watched other expecting mothers around me went in to see the Doctor.  When it was my turn to see Dr. Idris, I knew that he was going to give me the good news.

"Congratulations!  You are already 3cm dialated.  Please bring this card and check yourself in to Pantai Hospital right after this.  Insyaallah, I shall see you in the delivery room this evening".

3cm dialated!

My baby was 7cm away from being born!

The next thing I did was to call mom and MIL and let them in on the news while driving myself to Restoran Ismail to get my last fix of their ever-delicious nasi beriyani ayam goreng and iced-cool mango juice.  Hey.. I needed to make sure that I won't have any kempunan (cravings) during my confinement period! :)

After feasting myself to the meal, I woke Mr Judge up and we took our time to pack and get ready to go to the hospital.  Somehow we were not in a rush as my contractions were only around 8-5 minutes apart.

We arrived at the hospital shortly after 4pm and was told to go straight to the delivery room.  I was only 5cm dialated by then.  The contractions was still mild and I can still joke around with Mr Judge.  Maybe the hypnobirthing technique did help with the pain management.  The breathing technique helped me to control the pain during each contractions.

By 7pm, I was still 5cm apart and the Dr said that the baby might not be coming out on that day.  I was really dissapointed by the doctor's remark as I was already imagining having a speedy delivery.  I managed to kill the time by playing Bejeweled 2 on the Ipod Touch.  By this time, all our family members had gathered in the hospital's waiting room, eagerly waiting for the arrival of the new family member.

Nurse:  Do you want anything for the pain?
Me:      No thanks...
Nurse:  Are you sure? You cannot request for epidural if it is too close to the delivery time...
Me:      Yes, I am sure.  I plan to have a natural delivery... drug free...
Nurse:  Wa... you so berani ka?  Are you sure?
Me:      Yes, I am sure.  If I can't stand it, I'll let you know...

By 11pm, the doctor decided to excelerate the process by breaking my water bag.  We were actually planning for a natural birth, a birth without any intervention.  However, the doctor and nurse had persuaded us to break the water bag as it had been more than 12 hours and I was still 5cm dialated.  The doctor also said that he was afraid that the baby might get distressed if we were to prolong the process.

We succumbed to the request and.....

"brrsssssstttt!"

1 minute later, I was really really in pain and it felt like the whole world was trying to squeeze through my vajayjay!  I was going back and forth and circling the room, bak kata orang Melayu, macam ayam cabut ekor.  Luckily Mr Judge kept on reminding me to breathe and relax. 

The next thing I knew, the nurse said that it was time to push....

The Doctor came in and put on his yellow boots (ala Phua Chu Kang) and positioned himself in front of me.  He was really in a grumpy mood (maybe because the delivery took longer than he had expected) and was not really accommodating.  Earlier on, we had gone through our birth plan with him and had told him what we wanted to happen during the actual birth.  He had agreed to our request at that point of time.  However, he chose to forget what we had discussed and put matters in his own hands that night.  Since it was already late, and I was about to squeeze out a baby, I didn't want to push the matter further.  We know at that point of time that we will not be using his service again for our next child (if any).

pusssssssssshhhhhhhhhhh!

pussssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

puuuuuussssssshhhhhhhhhh!

And the chubby little angel was born.....

Pain...?  What pain....?  I seriously can't remember the pain at that point of time.  All I remembered was the feeling of joy, looking at my baby for the first time!

I can remember the first word I utterred though....

"putihnya dia........ are you sure he is my son?"

*****

Me:   What time is it now?
Mom: It is 1:42 a.m. on Friday
Me:   What?!!! It took that long?  It felt like just a few minutes....
Mom: It always does...

*****

Happy 1st birthday, son!
All the labour pain was worth it, as I now have you to hug, kiss and love!
Thank you for the best year of my life... I am looking forward to many more wonderful years as your mummy... Love you!




binx: 1 year and still no teeth!