[Baby] Chua Bee Bee’s birth story: Failed inducement and a c-section :)

Hello! I never thought I would get around to posting this. Being a new parent is exhausting. There’s so much to learn and my breast feeding experience hasn’t been all cotton candy and marshmallows, but more on that later. This post is all about CBB’s birth!

12 May midnight

We check in at Mount Alvernia’s delivery suite where I was to undergo inducement (I see the term ‘induction’ being used and accepted every where, but I refuse to use it LOL). There were 4-5 couples who arrived at about the same time. The nurse later told us that a total of 15 couples checked in that day to induce (not spontaneous) because the next day was FRIDAY THE 13TH can you believe that. I was strapped to a CTG machine to monitor baby’s heartbeat and movement, along with my contractions. Still in the mood for some selfies.

1am

The nurse inserts the first pill, hopefully to dilate my cervix, which was still a stubborn 0.5cm at 39+4 weeks. For the clueless, the cervix has to be opened to 10cm before we can start pushing the baby out. I spend the rest of the night watching breastfeeding videos on channel 17 and SBC’s 奇缘 re-run at 3am. Haha.

4am

I was taken off the CTG machine and told to sleep, and then put on it again around 6am.

7am

My doctor arrived to check on my dilation and contractions. He asked me how I felt, to which I answered, ok leh. He was quite disappointed and said he was hoping I would say I was in a lot of pain cos it would mean the contractions were starting. He then glanced at the CTG machine and was surprised that I was having strong contractions every 5 minutes. ‘You don’t feel anything?’ ‘Erm, just normal period cramps lor.’ He checked my dilation and it was still 0.5cm. He was supposed to insert a second pill, but because the cervical dilation and contractions didn’t happen concurrently (I only had contractions but no dilation), he was worried that doing so might place more stress on my baby. He wanted to monitor me for 3-4 hours to see if I would go into labour on my own. If that fails, we were given the option to wait till night to insert the second pill (which I didn’t want, as cbb’s water level was already low), or decide to go for c-section that afternoon.

11am

No luck! My cervix wouldn’t budge – it was still at 0.5cm. We decided to go for c-sect with epidural. We’ll see our princess soon!

12pm

Wheeled to the operating theatre where I was given epidural. The process was a pain but it wasn’t the needle that was painful. The anesthetist had me curl up and bend towards him so he could feel my spine, and that was the most painful part. After the injection, he immediately asked (shouted at) me, ‘Your left leg feels funny now right?’ ‘Err, no, it still feels the same.’ ‘It feels numb right!! Now, now!” ‘I can still move my toes…..’ Super buay tahan him. Overall epi pain scale: 2/10

12.40pm

My gynae begins preparing me for the c-sect. Before I knew it, like literally less than 2 minutes later, he popped his head over and said, ‘I’m done! Waiting for your hubby to come in only.’ ‘WHAT? That’s like 2 minutes! Or less!’ Super incredible! I didn’t feel anything, maybe a light tug. The hubby was ushered in. (p.s: husbands can only go into the OT if you opt for epi, not GA, and mine was only allowed in the moment baby is ready to be tugged out from the uterus. And the c-sect recovery was ONLY bad on the first and second day. I was already walking on the second day morning (although I was cursing and swearing), but by the third day, the pain is nothing.

12.50pm

CBB is here! HELLOOOOO!

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When Jason showed me the photos when I was lying there while my doc stitched me up in 5 minutes, my first thought, apart from being relieved that cbb is well, was OMG WHAT HAVE I GIVEN BIRTH TO?! SHE LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE HIM, RIGHT DOWN TO THE HAIRSTYLE WTF:

Luckily, in a matter of hours she has turned into a beautiful little baby GIRL who actually still morphs into Jasonette sometimes (my team mate gave her this incredible name):

We spent the next 4D3N in the hospital – we chose single ward as we didn’t want to disturb others, and so we could have more privacy. Best decision ever. Oh, and if you’re going to have your baby soon, treasure your hospital stay. I assure you, there’s not going to be days like these anymore, not till in the faraway future. And here I share two photos that I sneakily took of my husband admiring his baby girl :) The sweetest photos yet.

On 15 May, cbb’s actual estimated date of delivery, we were discharged and could go home! CBB’s first photo at home:

Thanks for being with me throughout my pregnancy journey. More posts to come soon, I hope! As soon as I try to figure out my way through this whole new mom business. And breast feeding, especially breast feeding! I update more often on my Facebook page, so like me there if you haven’t!