Hey, I’m back! But first let me bombard everyone with this long winded story which I’ve already tried to summarize; unless you’ve got the time and would like to know how my labour went (which lasted for 3 full days, not a typical case as it won’t usually drag for more than a day), then read on…
 
Thursday, 25^th Jan 2007 8.45 am, I jumped out of my bed when I felt a light stream of water trickling. I headed straight to the bathroom as the first thing that came to mind was my water bag has broken. It was a consistent but slow leakage. I tried to stay calm, called the midwife and explained the situation to her. She advised me to check-in to the hospital to be examined. Subsequently, I called Eng and managed to get some breakfast before heading to the hospital. Unfortunately, we waited for nearly 2 hours before being called and Eng was apprehensive during the period, constantly pestered the medical staffs when I would have my turn. I was put on the monitor again, for 30 minutes to observe fetal heartbeat and uterus muscles tightening. Everything was fine and my body was already preparing for labour although I did not feel any contractions yet. The next thing that disappointed me was the midwife couldn’t confirm my amniotic fluid was leaking. I was almost ready for the whole labour thingy but had to be sent home to wait….Trying hard to stay upbeat, off we went home to have a good meal, duck rice! For dinner, Eng cooked chicken curry..yummy at least those food cheered me up again. Since then, I did not feel any more leakage and off I went to bed, waited patiently for the right time to arrive.
Friday, 26^th Jan 2007, 9.30 am, there was a first sign of labour..the show (bloody mucus discharge). I was calmer than the previous day, suspecting it was a false alarm again. I carried on with my normal routine until I felt a little more suspicious about the show and had to visit the hospital that very night to be monitored again. Midwife said it was normal to have such first sign and was being sent home for the second time. On the very same night, the contractions started while I was asleep. It started of pretty mild until it occurred every 8 minutes and lasted for 30 seconds until the next day. I just can’t elaborate what it felt like, but nothing like Braxton Hicks.
Saturday, 27^th Jan 2007, During the day, I was still able to concentrate on other activities and chores and only paused for deep breath when the contractions took place. It went on the whole day until it got worse at night when I was going through a minute of tightening in every 5 minutes. We thought this would be good enough to be admitted and was eagerly waiting for Cameron’s arrival. When I was admitted, I was informed that I was only 1 cm dilated. In clinical terms, it has to reach 4 cm before it could be classified as established labour. What the!!!! We stayed overnight at the hospital but I didn’t manage to get any sleep at all. We still had the wishful thinking that Cameron will be born the next day.
Sunday, 28^th Jan 2007, after the routine check by the midwife, I was so distressed that I hadn’t progressed. When the midwife mentioned that I should go home and wait, I burst into tears. I couldn’t bear the thought of how long more I had to suffer, whether in hours or days as the pain was getting intensed. At that stage, I wasn’t on any pain relief at all. It was against their believe to induce when both myself and the baby were doing fine. Destitute in options, we had to go home again! This whole checking in and out of the hospital was a tormenting saga. Although I was back to my comfort zone, I couldn’t relax nor sleep as the pain was consistent. We tried all sorts of ways to shift my attention of the pain but in vain. By evening, my contractions were already lasting a good 2 minutes in every 3 minutes. We prayed so hard for God’s mercy that some miracle will happen. Finally, Eng sent me to the hospital again. This time, I was 2 cm dilated…slow but at least there were some progress. Deprived of sleep for the past 2 days, I opted to use etonox (gas and air) as the pain relief. I still couldn’t sleep the whole night as it didn’t really suppress the pain but only gave a little comfort. Better than none though!
Monday, 29^th Jan 2007, My exhaustion and fatigueness drove me to express the need for epidural, the method which I least interested of. In total, I went through 42 hours of hard labour without it. However, I’m glad I went for that as it completely removed all the pain and I managed to catch some rest. I was also being monitored closely as I was losing more blood than normal. Besides, my water bag was invasively broken and I was given synto to speed up the dilation. By that time, my left arm was already full of needles. Then, out of the blue, the midwife did a check and instructed that I need to get ready to push. Oh I was so excited but scared at the same time. Eng played an active role throughout my delivery process and both of us were surprised on how relax and intimate the whole procedure was. I did lots of pushes but at the end, still need to be assisted via ventouse (suction) to deliver the baby. Whatever it was and despite the 3 days of agony that we both went through, we were so blissful and content that Cameron made it to this world at 5.20 pm. Just no words could really express how we felt when we first met him and God has not failed in answering all our prayers by giving such a beautiful child to us.