
It was either that night or the day after i wrote my previous blog that Amy decided to make her appearance.
During dinner i had been complaining of back pains which no one really took note of, and at 3am the next morning, I woke up with a start because i felt water gushing out of me. Hubs was initially quite panicky, but i was like, hey, lets see what Dr Miriam Stoppard has to say about that. After consulting her book, we called the hospital, and rather calmly collected my things to stuff into the car.
I didnt want to be dropped off at the hospital at such an ungodly hour, and so hubs parked the car and i waddled along with him all the way to the labour ward. It was 4am by the time i was admitted. I was made to change into the hospital clothes and waited for the mid-wife on duty to tell me what was going on.
She was a really nice n gentle lady, but i think one of the worst procedures in the delivery process is the doctor or mid-wife checking how far dilated you are. With her hand in me, she said that i had to lie in bed during the labour and wouldnt be able to get up because my baby no longer had the protection of amniotic fluid (i had lost 1/2 at home and the other 1/2 walking from the car). I was also told that i had to wait for Dr L at 8am to tell me how i was doing.
Between 4am to 9am I had contractions which were 5 to 7 minutes apart. They felt like really bad period cramps, but bearable with breathing techniques. Nurses kept asking me whether I wanted anything to help with the pain, but I was ok, as much as I hated having to have contractions. Hubs was reading the Miriam Stoppard book so that he could learn how to rub my back to relief some of the pain. Oh, and the annoying part was that on the way to the hospital there was a song on by god-knows-who, that goes something like, "i kissed a girl and i liked it...", and so that song was in my head throughout labour.
8am came and went. Dr L only showed up at 9.10am, where he told me that he was going to see how far along dilated I was. He stuck, what felt like his entire arm into me and felt around. What he did was worse than contractions cos I felt as if the entire baby was being pushed up to my chest! I thought that was bad, then suddenly I heard the midwife and the nurses shout, “PUSH, PUSH”!! I was like, huh??? But push I did for maybe 10 mins. Dr L must have given up on me cos he left me to the midwife and her team.
They encouraged me to push until 10am. At 10am, the mid-wife told me that she had to get the doctor in, and i said, "No! I dont want Dr. L!!" and so she gave me another half an hr, but even that wasnt long enough. Expelling the baby from one's body was really hard for me because my contractions werent strong enough, and i had no idea what "Bear down!" meant (thats wut the nurses kept shouting at me). At 10.30, the midwife said something in cantonese to the nurse, and lo and behold, Dr L (ergh) showed up fully kitted in an apron, visor, rubber boots etc. I was scared already, and knew that there was no way wutever he was going to do wasnt going to hurt. Basically i was going to have a ventouse delivery, where the baby would be sucked out of me. I wish the procedure was similar to unblocking a toilet, but during the procedure i underwent the most indescribable pain. I was pretty sure that my vjj was playing host to a 3kg baby and an old man's arm! Within 10 mins, little Amy was born. By that time i was too exhausted to really pay much attention to the baby, and i was hating on the doctor cos he had forgotten that the local anesthetic didnt cover the inside of my thigh where he was stitching me up!
Whilst pushing away so many thoughts flashed through my mind:
1) Im going to die. No you're not, dont say that!
2) Just cut me open and take the baby out!!
3) Can we consider adoption after this?
4) Dear God, whyyyy????