Back to my labor story, I have given birth to baby Calysta on 11th December 2014, evening time at exactly 40 weeks, yes her due date 11/12/14 ~ she came in time!
It was a natural birth with epidural but no induction at all. I thought I would be getting induction as I was reaching 40 weeks with no signs of labor but she gave me a big surprise on her due date!
A few days before I had her, I had mild period cramps that came to me irregularly and also pressure pains like needles poking sensation in my v area & also anal area.. Night time the needles poking sensation was stronger but there were no other signs, so I ignored it.. Baby was moving well, so I was happy!
Friday, 12th dec, I was supposed to come for my last appointment (past due date appointment) to plan for induction as this baby was kind of overcooked inside my womb but things happened differently!
One day before my planned induction, exactly I was 40 weeks & I was due that day, 11th December, I woke up with brown spotting.. It was the show, the same show I had when I was about to give birth to EJ
I ignored the spotting for a while and 1 hour later, the brown spotting becoming light period blood and so I knew it, it's baby time!! Big relief! Finally it happened after a long wait!
My husband & I went to Thomson Medical Centre at 11.30am & I got my self checked.. Small contractions detected but I wasn't dilated yet.. So I figured out I would be getting another induction (EJ was born naturally via induction) and I waited for my gynae to come to make his decision
Gynae came and decided to stretch my cervix to get me dilated, it's also another term for membrane sweep. He told me it can be very uncomfortable, so he asked me to take a deep breath & relax my muscle while he did the procedure.. I never knew it was so damn painful! He inserted his whole fist and an equipment (not sure what was that) inside me and I screamed like a mad woman in the observation room.. I guess other women in labor from other rooms must be terrified to hear such a loud scream from one mad lady hahaaa.. Seriously I never felt such a painful process in my life before.. I felt like my organ was being separated inside out and I just couldn't describe the pain level.. I kept on screaming and screaming until gynae finished the procedure.. My tears just streamed down, it was so embarrassing to cry like that in front of a nurse and a doctor.. And my husband wasn't around when Gynae did that.. He was having his lunch!
"Sorry for that.." Gynae patted me to calm me down (seriously, so embarrassing!) painful procedure to stretch cervix was finally done!
At 12pm plus, I was dilated to 3cm.. Labor started and so were contractions getting stronger & more painful
Nurse inserted something to help me to clear my bowel movement and within 10 minutes, I rushed to the toilet, did my business & suddenly a big gush of blood came out and flooded the whole hospital floor.. It was a big mess and super scary, just like a horror movie! Blood all over my thighs. I wasn't sure why I bled like that but in every child birth, bleeding is always my kind of thing!
1pm plus, contractions were painful but bearable, I told nurse I didn't need epidural yet
2pm plus, cervix checked again & dilated to 3.5cm.. Contractions were painful & I screamed a little and requested for epidural. My initial plan was not to use epidural, instead to try on laughing gas first, the reason was epidural gave me a chronic backache when I had EJ, so I hesitated this option. However, the cervix check traumatized me so much and so the contractions, it was already painful at 3.5 cm dilation and I couldn't imagine how painful would it be at 9 cm, so I chose epidural again!
3pm plus, epidural injected and this time, epidural experience was so pleasant.. The dose admitted on me wasn't high but it relieved my pain to a total zero, I could still feel my legs and move it!
I got really scared around this time because Calysta's heartbeat showed not a good sign, she was distressed, her heartbeat dropped from 150 to 70 then jumped up high again. I was really scared if something might have happened to her, so my gynae requested nurse to put oxygen on me and monitor for a little while and if things didn't improve immediately, he needed to perform emergency C-Section on me and it really scared me a lot but luckily after being put on oxygen for a while, Calysta's heartbeat was back to normal! Relief!
4.30pm, cervix was checked again and hooray, dilated to 5cm.. I asked my gynae how come my water bag hasn't broken or anything.. He told my water level was low and already broken without me knowing it.. It was perhaps a small gush I didn't even notice
After that, I was being transferred to a birthing room and waited there with my husband, no more cervix check until...
6pm plus, epidural was still good, I could still pretty much feel my legs and move both legs and I told my husband I felt something coming out, a pressure in my v and anal area.. I could feel baby's coming.. I called nurse to come immediately.. My cervix was checked and I was dilated to 9cm.. That was fast!
4.5 hours of labor only! Real fast!
Nurse told me not to push, but to wait for my gynae to come.. Pressure was getting stronger but there was still no pain due to the epidural admitted earlier
6.30pm, Gynae came and asked me to push, I pushed twice but gynae told me every time I pushed, baby's head was hitting my cervix wall, so he recommended assisted delivery via vacuum.. He inserted the vacuum and asked me to push.. I pushed hard twice and I felt a big painless pressure coming out from my belly.. The feeling was kind of funny, it felt like one of my internal organs was being pushed out literally
6.40pm Calysta Avalyn Lim was born! 49 cm & 3.2 kg. A healthy baby girl! I heard her loud cry and the feeling having her placed on my chest was just simply amazing.. It was like all kind of mixed feelings.. Relief, happy, contented and confused (I still can't believe how fast she was delivered)
After that placenta was being delivered naturally and at 7pm plus, I started nursing her for the first time.. She nursed like a pro!
Everything was well after that except I was having super painful sensation and pressure, like needles poking all over my v and anal area and I requested painkiller that night.
At about 4am next morning, I was shivering and down with fever.. Fever lasted until the next day which was so unpleasant.. I seriously hated the effect of epidural but luckily I was getting better the day I was discharged from the hospital
Calysta has been on total breastfeeding, direct latching since day 1 and she's fed on demand, no pumping at the moment.. She's really natural when it comes to nursing but of course breastfeeding isn't easy and it can be really tiring.. Anyway talk about it in my later post
Monitoring for contractions
At birthing room
Holding her for the first time, the feeling was just simply amazing!
I'm officially a mother of 2 now! 2 under 2!! Can't believe that!
Thank you everyone for your well wishes :) we are recovering very well!
P/S: Baby Calysta is 1 week old tomorrow ^^
~Netty~
Dr. Sushmita Mukherjee specialise in the field of women’s reproductive health. She has been termed as the Best lady gynecologist in Indore . Women visit the doctor to have their general check-up, to examine their genitalia, and to get fertility or pregnancy test results. As the best gynecologist in Indore, Dr. Sushmita Mukherjee also offers medical and reproductive healthcare services, which include pelvic exams, Pap tests, breast exams, cancer screening, and treatment of female reproductive system disorders including infertility.
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