the labour

On 5th march, I had vaginal bleed upon waking up from sleep in the morning….aha! it’s almost time….but I couldn’t feel any contraction and the bleed just stop…so, I decided to go the hospital just to check my status and my baby’s status….As my husband had a course to attend, my parents drove me to the hospital….we reached there at around 10 am and luckily not many patients were there….i had my cardiotocograph (CTG) done to check on my baby’s well being….i still can’t feel any contraction, just a minor back pain…the CTG was reactive….and vaginal examination (VE ) done showed that my os was sill closed…..so I was sent home, waiting for regular contraction….if not I would be admitted the next day for the induction of labour anyway…..

At home, the vaginal bleed was only minimal, regular contraction has not set in yet…I had a good lunch and dinner that day….i slept early that night but woke up at around 1 am due to regular contraction of 1:5…it continued until I cannot stand it anymore….at around 4 am, I woke hubby up, feeling that the contraction was more regular at 3:10….

we got ready and drove to the hospital at around 5 am….had my CTG done and it was reactive…VE done and I was already 4cm dilated!!! It was quite similar to my first delivery experience 3 ½ years ago….artificial ruptured of membrane (ARM) done and the liquor was clear….i was sent up to the labour room at around 6.30am….The labour room was empty at that time…I was placed in LR 4, the same room where I delivered Jihan 3 ½ years ago….the midwife gave me ravin enema which made me poo-poo…

at that time, the contraction was already very strong and regular 4:10….i asked them to ring the anaesthetist for epidural….probably I have to bear the pain until 8am before the next shift doctor took over from the oncall doctor…in the meanwhile I was given enthonox, a mixture of oxygen and nitrus oxide for the pain relief but it made me dizzy..at that time, whenever I felt the contraction, hubby had to rub my back to ease the pain…and hubby who was supposed to have a mock exam, had to excuse himself from attending the exam…..

alhamdulillah, at around 7.30am, Prof Joanna came to give me the epidural…it was such a relief…I couldn’t feel the contraction at all….I was able to have a good rest for about 1 hour and 15 minutes before the sensation to bear down was felt at around 9am…

I was supposed to be reviewed at around 10 am, so I thought I could wait until then…but the sensation became greater and I felt like pushing…I knew that I was fully dilated by then….i told hubby to call the midwife and asked them to check my os….and true enough I was fully dilated…the contraction was unbearable, at that time was 6:10….i held myself from pushing while waiting for my obstetrician, Prof Jamil to come…

i started pushing at around 9.40am with all my heart…..i found it a bit difficult to push efficiently …the contraction was strong and frequent but short, and I was out of breath…maybe because I’m getting older (hahahah..)..i felt that I’ve been pushing for ages, but Prof and the midwives were cool and encouraged me to push hard….at one point, I really felt the head was halfway out of the perineum and it just stuck there…and I gave my best for the last push and the head was out…I was so relieved, alhamdulillah….then the body was out, and a loud cry was heard, time of birth 9.58am and it was a boy!….hubby was preparing to take my baby’s first photo but Prof asked him to wear gloves to cut the baby’s cord…! Although he had cut many cord before, cutting his on son’s cord was a memorable one….

he looked tiny compared to Jihan but the look was similar….i gave him my first kiss before he was taken to be weighed and cleaned…in the meanwhile, I was in the 3rd stage of labour, awaiting the placenta to be expelled….i had a 2nd degree tear and a few stitches need to be made….my baby weighed 2.96kg, a little bit smaller compared to his sister 3.18kg….but both of them were born on Friday and I was glad that both my labours were easy and I didn’t have to endure long hours of pain and fatigue…

I straight away gave my baby my breast for him to get the goodness of colostrum…we were brought up to the ward later, the same ward when I was warded with Jihan but a different room, Baldu 1…..

I roomed-in with my baby so that I can exclusively breastfeed him, which I gave every 2 hours….the boy sucked very hard to get the colostrum out….Jihan came with my parents at noon and she was happy to see her little brother was already out of my tummy and mama was no longer fat anymore…!!!We were both well and discharged the following day…..we decided to name him Ahmad Imtiaz Iman bin Asrul …a new journey has just begun for our little Imtiaz….