Below is my birth story, which I wrote more than a year ago after delivering the best gift that God has bestowed on my husband and me. It is a pretty long account as I chose to write it in a very detailed manner. I love going back through the events that transpired that memorable weekend, but am not just about ready yet to go through that all over again.
THE BIRTH OF ERIN CHLOE
16 March 2007At around 4:15 PM, J, my mom and I went to the hospital as instructed by the midwife I talked to on the phone earlier. We brought all the necessary things that we might need just in case the staff at the Delivery Suite decided to make us stay. We went to the DS on the third floor of the Maternity Building and was immediately entertained by one of the midwives there. She asked for my maternity record and for my Medicare card. After which, she led us to an examination room where we waited for a few minutes to be attended by another midwife named Sue.
Sue measured my vital signs first (temperature and BP) and then took a peek at the pad that I brought from home which had my ‘bloody show’ on it. She then asked me to lie down on the bed as she hooked me up to a fetal monitoring device, strapping an ultrasound transducer head to my lower abdomen to check on the baby’s heart rate and a pressure gauge monitor to the middle of my belly to time and check the intensity of my contractions. This was done for about an hour.
Sue came back with my maternity record to say that for now there is no cause for worry as the baby is fine and ‘happy.’ And since contractions were far and wide apart and there was no more bleeding, the attending doctor advised us to just go home in the mean time and to just call back if there are any changes. We left the hospital at around 6:15 and had dinner at Westfield Woden. After which, we drove home.
17 March 20071:30 AM & 3 AM: I woke up separately to one episode of painful contractions.
5:45 to 9 AM: I started having painful contractions at irregular intervals of 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 minutes.
9 AM - 8 PM: I’m feeling the contractions at 5, 7, and 10 minute intervals now. The contractions are definitely more painful and intense but still tolerable.
8 PM: Contractions are coming in regularly now at 10 to 15 minutes interval. I’m feeling more pain (menstrual cramp-like pains) in my lower abdomen and sometimes in my lower back. But pain is still tolerable and I can still manage to joke around with J.
10:30 PM: Regular contractions now at 7 to 10 minutes apart. I ring up the Delivery Suite because it was getting to be really painful and uncomfortable. The midwife who answered my call (Agnes) told me that it was still too early to come to the hospital and that I should try to get some rest/sleep. Duh! How can you get some shut-eye if the contractions are quite regular? Anyway, I put down the phone and head to bed. I asked J to put a hot water bottle on my lower back, hoping that it would somehow ease the pain. By this time, things were growing more intense by the minute and it was getting harder for me to move around.
11:30 PM: Contractions were now at 5 to 6 minutes interval. Oh the pain!!! I tried to huff and puff but believe me, it did not help me at all. The pain was excruciating that I had to hold on to J for support and squeeze his arm so hard to somehow relieve me. At this point, I was already cursing. So, with whatever strength I could muster, I rang up the Delivery Suite once again and Agnes was there at the receiving end. I told her the current situation and guess what she told me? “What do you want to do?” Duuuuhhh!!! I replied of course I already wanted to go to the hospital. And she replied, “Okay, we’ll check your condition but if all is okay, we might just send you back home.” What is wrong with this woman?!?
18 March 2007, Sunday12:30 AM: J, my mom and I leave for the hospital. On our way, I was heaving quite heavily as the pain was becoming very unbearable. There was a vehicular accident along Yamba Drive but J insistently drove through the accident site. He just shouted to the police officers that I was in labor and they easily let us through.
1 AM: We arrive at the Maternity Building of The Canberra Hospital. I sat in a wheelchair because I could hardly get up and walk. Delivery Suite was situated at the third floor. Agnes, the midwife who I talked to earlier, greeted us and even joked how I came in style (being in a wheelchair and all). We were led to a room where I was asked to lie in bed so that Agnes could monitor the baby’s heart rate and the regularity/intensity of the contractions. This went on for quite some time while I was trying to cope with all of the pain.
2:30 AM: Agnes gives me an internal examination. God, that hurt!!! She said that I was already 8 centimeters dilated. She asked me if I was ready to push. Duhhhh!!!
Kanina pa ‘no! She told me to get up and go to the toilet to pee. J had to help me to the loo but by the time I sat there, it felt like all hell was going to break loose! The pain was so intense it felt like the baby was going to drop any moment. So Agnes told me to just come back to bed so that we can now start pushing. I was in a semi-reclined position, with legs apart. J and my mom were holding one hand and leg each to support me, while Agnes stood at the sideline. Agnes just stood there giving me verbal instructions as to how to properly push the baby out. In a short while, my water broke and the pushing began.
This time, the pain was more bearable because the pushing part actually distracted me from feeling the pain. However, it can get really tiring because you have to hold your breath for long periods of time. To put it simply, it felt like being really constipated and you just want to push with all your might to relieve yourself. Anyway, I digress. After several long pushes, J and my mom could already see Erin’s thick black hair. Once her head was out, Agnes told me to give short pushes so that the rest of Erin could come out. At this point, I felt a burning sensation down there. This is probably the point where those tears came in. By the way, I did not take any pain relievers throughout labor and delivery nor an
episiotomy.
3:23 AM: Baby Erin is born into this world, weighing 2710 grams. In comes the night duty OB-GYN to sew my tears up. All were classified as
second-degree tears. I got 6 stitches all in all. Ouch! There was local anesthesia applied so that didn’t matter to me at that time. I was completely in awe as I saw our little bub being checked and measured. After all the fuss, Agnes told me to get up and to take a shower because I had to vacate the room by 6 AM and transfer to the postnatal ward, which was located at the second floor. Talk about speed!
6:10 AM: I was wheeled into room 13 of the postnatal ward. Erin stayed with me in the room the whole time we were admitted. And so the sleepless nights began…
