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.

I know there have been a lot of news going on in Malaysia… but nothing is more important than the birth of our son Cameron Wayern Sia!

YES he is with us, the whole labour thing was torturing but with God’s Grace, Mel went through perfectly fine.

Thank you guys for all the support and sorry for those who text me but I have yet to return text as it is currently midnight UK time, Mel will reply them tomorrow.

for the rest of the info, I will let Mel update this space while I will be busy with some serious work…

-eng, a proud father (don’t need to look, I have yet to put up pics as I am too too tired, desperately needing some sleep … but have to finish some boiling stuff for tmr’s hosp visit…. good night all)

First of all, I would like to thank all our dear friends who have been constantly messaging and inquiring about the state of my pregnancy. All your support and thoughts are really appreciated. We feel very blessed. Confinement is a familiar practice carried out by the Asian community and less common in the Western society. At the back of my mind, I always wonder why only we Asians develop all sorts of health problems after delivery, should we decide not to practice confinement and I was at the verge of disregarding the whole customary altogether and do it the Western way. You hardly hear a non-Asian developing problems like swelling or the need to expel wind from the body, etc. Is it due to the way we were brought up? Our foundation and the influence of weather? Whatever it is, I’m fortunate to have a friend, who used to have the same perception as I did. However, she didn’t observe the Chinese confinement post-delivery and it didn’t went that well. Luckily, she is fine now and coping well. Thanks Soo Wei for sharing your invaluable experiences and advice. Rest assured that I will heed your guidance. We’ve got most of the ingredients ready and when the time comes, we just need to get some fresh ginger from the nearby grocery store. Otherwise, we are pretty much prepared or at least Eng is quite geared up, as he would be doing the cooking…so do look forward to some confinement food recipes!

Since the GP mentioned that I could be a little anemic, Eng suggested that I consume red dates + "huang qi" extract everyday. We’ve got enormous supply of red dates from Malaysia - "imported" from our fellow friends whenever they pop by London. It helps improve blood circulation as well as overcome breathlessness. A tip for those who have similar problems too.

We finally joined a maternity unit tour at St Peter’s Hospital early this morning. The hospital is about 15 minutes drive from where we live and this should be the place where I would be delivering. Unless the hospital can’t take us due to unavailability of delivery rooms, we would be advised to admit into an alternative hospital within the vicinity. Well, it’s NHS (sponsored by the government), so can’t expect privatised service (now I miss SJMC but hey, this is free). At least they have a process in place and the staffs seem to be experienced and confident with what they are doing, so that pretty much put us at ease. It’s an old hospital but some wards had undergone refurbishment and they’ve got new medical technologies in place (that’s what matters most). Most bathrooms are equipped with bathing pool and they’ve got birthing pool available for mothers who wish to deliver in water. Too adventurous for me, I would rather stick with the old fashioned way. 3 more weeks to go…hmmm am I ready? In 3 weeks time, I would be but right now, I still need a bit of time and space for more preparations. Anyway, it’s beyond my control now and I guess progressing with the flow is best. If I’m missing out on blogging for some time, then you should know why yah

Paid a last visit to the GP today. As a primagravidae (first time preggie), will continue to visit the midwife weekly till I deliver. I was thrilled to learn that Cameron has grown, his head is pretty much engaged and I’ve put on a bit of weight. To further stimulate his growth, GP advised me to eat more more more! Managed to listen to his heartbeat as usual and GP says that my tummy is so slim that the shape of Cameron’s bum is so visible and apparent. On the downside, I’m slightly anemic but shouldn’t be much of a concern. I’m definitely a self-proclaimed foodaholic, so rest assured I will heed the GP’s advice to gobble more. So guess what I had for dinner? Home-made Nasi lemak with chicken curry…sungguh enak!

The day is drawing near. Not feeling as panicky as the previous month but Eng is unquestionably anxious. I often tone down after a while. Anyway, I checked with the midwife rgd the baby hiccups and she says it’s quite usual and that the baby might turn to be a gulper or even a gobbler haha. Alright for a boy but what if it turns out to be a girl….hmmm not so elegant. My bump is growing by the day and more colleagues are noticing it now *grin and some are pretty shocked to know that I’m in my 8^th month! I’m petite to them… it feels good to be petite (in their eyes) once in a while since I will never be classified in that category back in KL hehe. Size aside, I hope that Cameron will be born with a healthy weight. I’m not comparing him with the babies here because the average weight that I’ve gathered so far is between 8-11 pounds! For an Asian, 7ish should be healthy enough. So I’m currently in a food marathon to stimulate his growth and hopefully not the other way round by depositing the extra pounds onto myself instead. I’m even eating more than Eng, so just imagine what I look like. And Eng insists that I drink mineral water, so I’ve been gulping that throughout the pregnancy hehe being pampered to the max eh. I know I haven’t been posting any photos as I was just too occupied. We will be off for Christmas the whole of next week, so should have plenty of time to snap some shots.

My Cameron hiccups all the time! How do I know? Well, I always feel a series of rhythmic movements on one side of my tummy, usually once a day. It feels like heartbeat but at a slightly slower pace. I began to feel it in my mid second trimester but thought it was his heartbeat. Right now, the sensation has full-fledged. It seems normal and that the fetal is actually practicing swallowing. Not too sure how accurate the theory is but it is definitely soothing to know that it is a positive sign (I worry all the time!) My last scan reveals that Cameron’s head is already wedged down or at a cephalic presentation and that his spine is positioned on my left side. Apparently, that’s the ideal position for delivery. Again, not too sure why. Just pray that he will remain that way. But sometimes I wonder wouldn’t the baby feels uncomfortable lying upside down? God’s creation is amazing isn’t it? This morning, a member of the church who is also a GP mentioned that he would like to pray for those who would like to be healed as well as for expectants. He mentioned that he just had a sudden visualization of an unborn baby cramped in the womb and that he would like to pray for the well-being of both mother and child. As believers, Eng and I always do what we can and leave the rest to Him. But at hectic times, we tend to drift away from things that are far more important, so we construe this as a signal to recall our attention on the imminent greatest gift from God.

This post is so overdue. Just thought that I should take a break and share what we’ve been up to. Nothing much about the house yet. As I was a little under the weather for the past few weeks, especially with my consistent irritating cough, I thought I experienced a decrease in fetal movements. I consulted the midwife via phone and the GP and they advised me to drop by the hospital to undergo a non-stress test just to get some reassurance. So, off we went to the hospital and in no time, the midwife put some straps on my bump to detect the fetal heartbeat for 30 minutes. I was also given a device with a button and was instructed to trigger it whenever I sense any kicks or movements. The session was encouraging as I managed to experience more than 10 movements in that duration. As you can see from the graph, the mark circled in red indicates the movements, which is coherent with the rise in heartbeat. The health check definitely instill peace in our minds. Subsequent scan also showed signs of Cameron’s healthy growth. Unfortunately, he is already too big for the sonographer to capture a 4D image. Otherwise, I could have gotten a coloured pose of his features. Maybe he wants me to be patient and hang in there for just another 8 weeks.

Ideally a baby is normally born on the 40^th week but it’s never controllable. Estimation is +/- 2 weeks. What I understand from findings is that from the 36^th week onwards, the foetus will be fully developed and it will just grow in size and weight from then on, gaining 250 g every week. The ideal weight is 3.2 kg on the 40^th week (at least for Asian babies). So, if it’s born earlier, it might be lighter and smaller in size. Nothing harmful to the baby but just that smaller babies are more difficult to care for. I trust this finding is comprehensive and accurate as I’ve got live testimonies to support this. Babies born on the various gestation weeks ranging from 38^th-40^th week do vary about 250-300 g each. Of course it also depends on how much weight the mothers have gained. However, I believe there is a maximum weight gain of the baby vs the mother’s. It doesn’t mean that the more the mother weighs, the baby’s weight will follow in an ascending pattern. The maximum baby’s weight that I’ve ever heard of is about 4kg although the mum has put on more than 20kg. Logical huh? It also makes sense from a biological perspective. At least more logical than the myths of the size and shape of the bumps. I never believed in those although it’s commonly mentioned. The shape of the bumps largely depends on the position of the baby, nothing to do with gender determination. My bump could be round or protrude on different occasions depending on what position Cameron decides to be in. His favourite position is to stick his butt or back or head (don’t know which one it is coz it feels very hard) towards my upper right of my bump making it appear to be lopsided and unsymmetrical.

I’ve only put on about 6-7 kg, rather light. What makes it worse is my stubborn soar throat and cough still refused to disappear and that affects my volume of food intake. I was so worried that it will affect Cameron that I had to call the midwife for reassurance. I hope I will recover soon as I need to catch up with food and weight. Never thought eating for 2 could be a stressful challenge!

10 more weeks and the countdown begins. I’m still contemplating if I should go with or without pain relief during labour. Not that my pain threshold is sky high but I’m not very keen on the idea of having large needles and fine tubes inserted into my epidural space for hours. Even with epidural, it might not be effective as certain women might still feel the sensation. There are other types of pain relief like gas and air and TENS, which requires the mum to be in total control, but I’m afraid I can’t handle those in a state of anxiety. No doubt those will aid to divert the attention away from the pain but I don’t really want to handle too many things at the same time, for once! I acknowledge the fact that there is no such thing as a painless labour and delivery but I guess as a first timer, I just don’t know what to expect and what would be best for me. Being well-informed, prepared and relax are the best I can do as it is impossible to relate real-life experience with theories. Guess will just follow what my mind and heart says when the time is right and of course heed the midwives’ advice. All these are only applicable if I can go through a normal delivery and I really hope Cameron will not decide to stay breech or would there be any complications that I need to undergo a surgery. My previous experience with surgery was not very pleasant as it took a long time to heal. And not to forget, the catheter…uurrrghh I hate that! And epidural will most probably need that.

I braved myself to watch “the” video at the antenatal class on Tuesday and it wasn’t as bad as I expected. No bloody scenes like what you get in C-sections (caesarians). Whatever it is, I hope my body will release more endorphins to combat with the adrenaline that is slowly elevating. I guess it’s coping well as I managed to stay calm and recover from soar throat, cough, chillness and tiredness over the last 2-3 days without any medication. I believe it’s also due to the increased progesterone hormones in pregnancy that helps the body to stay calm (no wonder I’ve been more patient at work ever since :p). I only gurgled some nasty sea salt water and had plenty of honey + lemon drinks. Honey does really help to get you into a good night sleep. I practically slept like a baby last night. Although I’m not as energetic compared to my second trimester when I could still do lots of cooking and moving about, I just pray that I will continue to stay calm, healthy and strong for the coming weeks as the most important day approaches. With our upcoming busy schedule with house moving, shopping and Christmas gatherings, that should occupy my mind quite a bit.

I know I’ve not been blogging for a while. Eng has been very busy at work and at the same time, we have been busy packing our stuffs in preparation to move to another residence within the locality. However, I managed to take some time-off today to attend my first antenatal class. There were around 20 expectant mums, all due sometime in Dec/Jan and I’m one of the last few who will due in Feb. It was quite fun to be in a gathering of preggies, when you get to see bumps in all shapes and sizes There were so much information to be delivered in a 2 hour session. Today, we were educated about the stages of labour. I’ve read quite a lot about it from the net but sometimes the more you know and discuss (information overload), the more panicky you would become. I know it’s a little too early to start panicking but hey, I’m only 11 weeks away from D-Day!   Now that I’m in my final trimester, I think I did encounter Braxton-Hicks for the very first time yesterday. It’s a pre-labour, painless contraction that is preparing the body for delivery. You can call it a delivery trial-run. I’m also getting upper back pain and according to my friend, that’s because the baby is pressing against some of the organs (could be stomach) and that sets pressure on the back. Towards the end of the trimester, the pain should go off but will reside at the lower back instead…never ending pain! Nevertheless, worth it

I’m nearing the end of my second trimester as I’m in my 27^th week gestation and I’m pretty excited. Furthermore, my best friend, PeiChing back in KL has just delivered a baby girl and I’ve got another best friend of mine, SooWei (@ Canberra) who is on her way! Hopefully on the 3^rd of Dec yah. Even Keen has just delivered early this year, so that makes 4 of us expecting around the same time and that allows us to exchange experiences and information quite comfortably. Hopefully the 4 kids will grow up to be best of friends like their mothers

Cameron has been kicking quite regularly now. I need to ensure that he kicks at least 10 times a day. The feeling is just indescribable and I can never get enough of his kicks. It makes me giggle and blissful each time he moves. So apart from the common pregnancy sicknesses that I’ve been educated with, the process of pregnancy can be a wonderful experience. In fact, it’s really worth the journey. I hope this will give some sort of encouragement to those who are thinking twice to start a family.

I’m expecting to deliver on 1st February 2007 and that means I have to wrap up my work by end of this month as project winds down in December and I should be off on maternity leave from mid Jan onwards. Hopefully, I will feel alright and is able to cope till then as I realized I was gasping for breath during my telecon at work yesterday. Another point that I’m looking forward to is my 6 months maternity leave, so I should be off till July next year and intend to plan a visit back to KL during that period. The HR welfare in UK is pretty good to me but apparently it’s still one of the poorest in Europe. Germany and Sweden are still tops in terms of employment benefits.

Since many friends said I didn’t look any different from my original figure, here it is to satisfy their curiosity! A comparison of 4 weeks and my latest sexy look  And don’t freak out, those are maternity jeans.

My second scan went well but just that I had to return to the ultrasound department 3 times. That was because the sonographer couldn’t scan the baby’s spine as it was in a breech position; resting on its butt. I had to take a few walks and had something sweet to eat/drink in order to trigger the baby to change position. We were successful only on the third time when the sonographer managed to scan the spine. She commented that the baby was not very cooperative and we also thought that it was pretty mischievous. Fair enough as the sonographer says it looks like a boy! Wahahaha little rascal. If it was a girl, we would have named her Valerie (yes, after my middle name) but since it’s a boy, so Cameron he is! (That’s how we came up with the nick Camberley=Cameron+Valerie, although Valerie doesn’t really fit in but it was just a pet name). Only my friend, Rachel managed to guess the name right. A prize for you Rachel and welcome to the UK once again! As I’m sitting still right now, he seems to be kicking a lot. Eng could even feel the movements by just resting his hand on my bump. Pretty strong kicks I must say. Unfortunately, I’m down with running nose and a little cough. Hopefully would recover soon. Got to go for now…Mel and Cameron signing off…..