Documenting the arrival of our little pumpkin, Louise Chang Yunxi.
I was planning to work until I went into labour but eventually changed my mind after our gynae appointment on 24 June @ week 39 cause (1) she was back to breech position after gynae performed an external cephalic version (ECV) a week before that, (2) the ultrasound scan estimated her weight to be 3.9kg, (3) my cervix wasn't opened (no signs of labour anytime soon). When we realissed Louise went back to breech, he said we need to discuss our birth plan. He offered 3 options - hope her head is down when labour starts, natural breech delivery or c-sect, both sounded so scary to me though I was mentally prepared for natural breech delivery. I asked our gynae if it was possible to induce immediately after he performed a ECV, he said it's possible but only if my cervix was open. Our next appointment was scheduled 3 days later to see if Louise returns to breech position.
After some serious thoughts, I decided to rest at home from 29 June onwards cause I might choose to deliver on 27 June. Got the approval from my boss and sent the following image to my colleagues after office hours on my last working day so that it'd be easier to say goodbye for awhile.
No, I didn't give birth on 27 June. Louise's head was still down south and we decided to wait for labour to happen naturally. I was advised to sleep only on my right side with a pillow supporting my tummy to prevent this lady's head from coming back up. It was tough for me cause I usually sleep on my left.
Every night I went into bed hoping labour will happen like Colin's birth. Every morning I woke up without contractions. Haha. Let's just say, the wait... was indeed.. long, especially when I wasn't working. Is today the day? When will I go into labour? How will labour start? Why is my tummy so heavy? Are my feet getting more bloated? My questions were aplenty.
So here's what happened in the end.
Every night I went into bed hoping labour will happen like Colin's birth. Every morning I woke up without contractions. Haha. Let's just say, the wait... was indeed.. long, especially when I wasn't working. Is today the day? When will I go into labour? How will labour start? Why is my tummy so heavy? Are my feet getting more bloated? My questions were aplenty.
So here's what happened in the end.
5 July 2015, Sunday
Woke up feeling extremely tired, so tired I dozed off on the rocking chair. We were pretty convinced that Louise won't be making her appearance so soon so Daddy signed up for a weekend course. He was such a sweetie to keep asking me for my status.
1st Pregnant Women (PW) status check:
In fact the discharged started in the morning but I wanted to monitor before informing him.
2nd PW status check:
Woke up feeling extremely tired, so tired I dozed off on the rocking chair. We were pretty convinced that Louise won't be making her appearance so soon so Daddy signed up for a weekend course. He was such a sweetie to keep asking me for my status.
1st Pregnant Women (PW) status check:
In fact the discharged started in the morning but I wanted to monitor before informing him.
2nd PW status check:
The contractions started around 1pm but it was too random. I drove my mum to Toa Payoh, then to Loyang Way to look for something amidst that randomness and got home at 3plus. The contractions were too hard not to be noticed anymore so I finally started timing my contractions with an andriod app called "Full Term". It's easy to operate, just tap the app during the start and end of contractions. The app will calculate duration and frequency of all my contractions.
3rd PW status check from hubs came in..
I'm pretty much sure I was in early stage of labour. Just thinking when's the best time to head to hospital. Ideally in active labour but before the pain gets unbearable, and must be in time to take epidural.
Here's my consolidated list of contractions before I headed to hospital. It started off with low intensity pain level (1 green cube) for 30 seconds every 10 to 20 minutes. I kept quiet about my contractions until after dinner. I broke the news to hubs by telling him I had 4 contractions during dinner and nobody noticed. :D
Things sped up after dinner. I stood most of the time to aid Louise's descend. I kept drinking water and visiting the loo. The contractions were getting more painful (3 cubes) and frequent.. about 3-7 minutes apart. By then I had to stop whatever I was doing to ride through that minute.
At 10pm, I asked my mum if she could let Colin sleep that with them that night cause I had a feeling this could be it! Then told hubs to get some rest before we head to the hospital (no idea what time we would be leaving). Meanwhile I tried to rest too, tried. My mum sensed that something was amiss and popped by our room to check on me at midnight. She caught me looking at my phone (I was timing my contraction), I brushed her off saying I'm reading something and will sleep shortly. In reality, I was in too much pain to sleep.
6 July 2015, Monday
When the pain intensity hit 4 cubes at 1.32am, I decided it was time to head to the hospital. My very suspicious mum caught us leaving the house at 2am.
I was in Thomson Medical Centre's Labour Ward Room 5 by 2.25am. They got me to change into gown and did a vaginal examination (VE). "3cm, enfaced!". Proceed to inform our gynae, Dr. Paul Tseng, that I was in labour. I asked for epidural immediately. The anaesthetist, Dr. Phillip Tseng (gynae's brother), wasn't available and probably couldn't make it back in time for me so they recommended someone else. I was a little disappointed, but really, anything to ease the pain!
Life was back to comfort after the epidural took effect. VE was done at 7plus and I was 5cm dilated. While the nurse was poking around, my water bag burst and I heard the water gushing out! I let out a sigh of relief when she assured me that Louise's head was down.
At 9.45am, I was 8cm dilated. We were hoping for Louise to see the world before 11am so the nurse said it's possible, they'll do another VE at 10.15am to see how far along Louise was. The nurse told me to inform them when I felt the urge to poo which I didn't recall sensing it in my previous birth. It was too early to tell if it would be the same, so I waited..and waited, no urge to poo. When they came in to check on me again, I decided to inform the nurses that I've never felt it before. The nurses back then just asked me to push Colin out. Though surprised, they asked me to try pushing Louise out and she crowned! Everyone in the room was delighted. They proceeded to inform Dr. Paul to come down for delivery.
Time zoomed by after Dr Paul got into the labour ward. Put on his gown, gloves and the pushing started. Okay, deep breath in, push~ doing great! pushing very well. Rest. laughs at something the nurse said.. Another push! Wait wait, hold! Okay, push!! Push!! PUSH!! Out came our little girl.
"Wow! Big baby, maybe around 4.5kg", said Dr. Paul.
"4.535kg!", the nurse confirmed.
Welcome to our family, Louise Chang.
3rd PW status check from hubs came in..
I'm pretty much sure I was in early stage of labour. Just thinking when's the best time to head to hospital. Ideally in active labour but before the pain gets unbearable, and must be in time to take epidural.
Here's my consolidated list of contractions before I headed to hospital. It started off with low intensity pain level (1 green cube) for 30 seconds every 10 to 20 minutes. I kept quiet about my contractions until after dinner. I broke the news to hubs by telling him I had 4 contractions during dinner and nobody noticed. :D
Things sped up after dinner. I stood most of the time to aid Louise's descend. I kept drinking water and visiting the loo. The contractions were getting more painful (3 cubes) and frequent.. about 3-7 minutes apart. By then I had to stop whatever I was doing to ride through that minute.
At 10pm, I asked my mum if she could let Colin sleep that with them that night cause I had a feeling this could be it! Then told hubs to get some rest before we head to the hospital (no idea what time we would be leaving). Meanwhile I tried to rest too, tried. My mum sensed that something was amiss and popped by our room to check on me at midnight. She caught me looking at my phone (I was timing my contraction), I brushed her off saying I'm reading something and will sleep shortly. In reality, I was in too much pain to sleep.
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| Contraction Tracking by Full Term App |
When the pain intensity hit 4 cubes at 1.32am, I decided it was time to head to the hospital. My very suspicious mum caught us leaving the house at 2am.
I was in Thomson Medical Centre's Labour Ward Room 5 by 2.25am. They got me to change into gown and did a vaginal examination (VE). "3cm, enfaced!". Proceed to inform our gynae, Dr. Paul Tseng, that I was in labour. I asked for epidural immediately. The anaesthetist, Dr. Phillip Tseng (gynae's brother), wasn't available and probably couldn't make it back in time for me so they recommended someone else. I was a little disappointed, but really, anything to ease the pain!
Life was back to comfort after the epidural took effect. VE was done at 7plus and I was 5cm dilated. While the nurse was poking around, my water bag burst and I heard the water gushing out! I let out a sigh of relief when she assured me that Louise's head was down.
At 9.45am, I was 8cm dilated. We were hoping for Louise to see the world before 11am so the nurse said it's possible, they'll do another VE at 10.15am to see how far along Louise was. The nurse told me to inform them when I felt the urge to poo which I didn't recall sensing it in my previous birth. It was too early to tell if it would be the same, so I waited..and waited, no urge to poo. When they came in to check on me again, I decided to inform the nurses that I've never felt it before. The nurses back then just asked me to push Colin out. Though surprised, they asked me to try pushing Louise out and she crowned! Everyone in the room was delighted. They proceeded to inform Dr. Paul to come down for delivery.
Time zoomed by after Dr Paul got into the labour ward. Put on his gown, gloves and the pushing started. Okay, deep breath in, push~ doing great! pushing very well. Rest. laughs at something the nurse said.. Another push! Wait wait, hold! Okay, push!! Push!! PUSH!! Out came our little girl.
"Wow! Big baby, maybe around 4.5kg", said Dr. Paul.
"4.535kg!", the nurse confirmed.
Welcome to our family, Louise Chang.
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