We packed and set off for hospital after finishing the silly cop show I was following. I was quite worried that Ming might be too anxious so I kept asking him to drive slowly. A steady car actually was better than speed and a bumpy ride in my condition then. It had been some time since Ming driven to Mt Alvernia and he took a wrong turn so we did a brief detour.
On arrival, the normal registration counter was closed so we had to be admitted through 24 hour A&E. I was put in the delivery ward while Ming handled administration. One of the senior nurses checked my dilation and it was at 2.5cm. It was damn bloody shockingly painful as it was the first time I had my cervix checked, and she didn't even bother to warn me about it. I bled quite a bit after that so I was busy cursing the nurse. I know she was rough because some time later, another nurse's check didn't hurt quite that much. After confirming I was actually in labour, I was given some laxative and strapped to CTG. After some time, the nurses came in to say my labour wasn't really progressing, so I should get some sleep. So I was taken off the CTG and tried to sleep through the cramps. Ming had a miserable chair in a corner to sleep too. Pain was bad and I asked for some form of relief. I was given the gas mask which in the end, I didn't take anyway.
At about 5+am, my dilation was only 3cm. So under doctor's orders I was placed on IV drip of Syntocinon to speed up dilation. Yes, at 0.5cm after 5 hours, I cannot imagine how long I would have had to wait otherwise. I also inquired about Epidural and I was told if I wanted it, I should tell them soon, because it happened one of the doctors was coming to administer it to a few other women. So I opted in. The epidural administraion was about 6am and was kind of annoying, as I expected (from stories). I was asked to curl into a tight ball which seemed impossible with my huge belly. But eventually it got done, and I cheered up quickly as the pain subsided. Fortunately too, as Ming reported later that the cramps were off the CTG charts.
At about 7.30am, Dr Wee walked cheerily in and checked my dilation. This time, it didn't hurt at all, thanks to the epidural. She was happy with my progress as dilation achieved about 7-8cm and at the peak of the contractions, almost 9+cm. Unfortunately, my baby's head was too high to start labour. So we had to wait for baby to descend and Dr Wee reduced my Epidural so I could assist in pushing. She and Ming went off to have a quick breakfast while I tried to coax baby to lower. Eventually when she came back, did some checks and decided to deliver the baby then. It was kinda scary coz the moment she announced start work, and the nurses started dressing up in their gloves and all and started to close in on me.
The pushing was really tough because I couldn't really feel the contractions. Before the delivery started, I could only vaguely feel the contractions at their most peak. But during delivery, cannot feel leh. So I had only their prompts to go by. Inistially, I tried to push hard as I breathed out slowly, but the nurses and doctor told me cannot, had to hold breath :( After about 3 pushes breathing out, I caved and pushed with my breath held. Think it took another 4 pushes? It was really hard to push not feeling anything, but doctor said nothing wrong with my pushing. Just that baby was facing skyward (they should face ground for easier delivery) so no choice I had to push with all my might. When finally the baby was out, I was more nauseous than anything. Doctor told me was normal due to some drug they administered (yes, I was a pin cushion of drugs, until I didn't even know what drugs I was on; my IV drip had multiple sources of fluids, while the epidural was still being administered to my back). As Ming and the nurses checked the baby etc, all I could do was try not to barf, and of course feel very relieved its all over. I reported that I'm stopping at one. Doctor laughed and assured Ming that all the mothers said that during labour :)I was allowed another hour to rest in the delivery ward before being pushed to my ward. We were told that they were full house, both the delivery wards and all the single wards were taken, so we had to be placed temporarily in a double ward. As I was being wheeled to my ward after being unglamourously hefted out of the delivery ward, one of the single rooms was made available so we managed to grab it. Ward 327, St John's Ward and Our Lady's. So we were pretty lucky to manage to grab it.
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