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SO! I finally have some time to sit down and update my blog. First week after I gave birth was an emotional roller coaster and this week I've just been enjoying spending time with Natalie that I haven't gotten around to sitting down and writing in gory detail about my labor and delivery experience but here it goes...:

At around 10pm Saturday night (May 18) I started getting cramps that felt like period cramps. From the start they were less than 10mins apart which made me believe (or want to believe) that they weren't contractions. Going to those maternity classes made me think that contractions started with them being wiiiddeee apart and they said to call the hospital when they started coming every 10mins, so the fact that mine were already less than 10mins or so apart from the get-go made me think that they weren't contractions. I should have called the hospital then but instead I messaged my sister and told her that my stomach was cramping up and that I would let her know if it became worse. Mum just happened to be away on a business trip for that ONE night. My sis decided she would stay with me for the night just in case it was the real thing. I tried to get some sleep and managed to squeeze in about an hour or so all in all, fading in and out of pain, and going back and forth from the bathroom.

Come 4am my sister woke up to me using the breathing technique I learned in the maternity class and said I should call the hospital. I didn't even realize I was breathing that loud but I guess I was. I called the hospital and told them my situation and the fact that I haven't had a "bloody show" (the release of the mucus plug that's supposed to happen up to a week before delivery where you get mucus-like excretions mixed with blood. It's supposed to be one of the signs that labor is going to happen within a week or so) and that my water hasn't broken yet but I was getting lower abdominal pain less than 10mins apart and wasn't quite sure whether they were contractions or not. The hospital told me to bring my hospital bag and make my way down so they can check and make sure.

515am
my sister and I got to the hospital and the head midwife was on duty so I was super lucky and she saw that I was about 3cm dilated. She told me all the hospital beds were taken so I was sent directly to the delivery room where I was to stay until a bed opened up in the morning. By this time my contractions were pretty strong and every time it came I couldn't move and my breathing would get all shallow. The midwife put on a belt around my belly to monitor Natalie's heart rate and my contractions.

At 546am my water broke. I was just lying on my side when all of a sudden a whole lot of warm liquid just spilled out onto my pants. I was like "omg omgomg my water just broke" to my sister. We pushed the nurse-call button and told the midwife who came in straight away. They changed me into a gown and by this time my contractions were coming every 2mins or so and they were extremely intense. The midwife would help me do my breathing technique while my sister rubbed my back every and boy did the contractions HURT!!!!! It's literally a "contracting" pain where the uterus is pushing the baby down and all the muscles in your abdomen also contract. Your lower back also starts to hurt as the baby moves further down and once your water breaks the contractions get even more intense. I couldn't even talk anymore at this stage and they put an oxygen mask on me. The midwife called the doctors (one male, one female) and they came in to check on Natalie's heart rate and on how much I was dilated. How do they check, you ask?? They put me on my back when I don't have contractions and stick their hand up there. But considering my contractions were coming less than 2mins at this point I sometimes started getting contractions while their hands were up there checking and not only did it hurt like a bitch but it was uncomfortable as hell!!!!

An hour or so after my water broke my uterus and muscles started pushing down on its own and there I was trying NOT to push because I wasn't fully dilated yet (I was about 8cm dilated) and the midwife was telling me I couldn't push just yet. So there I was trying to breathe all the pain out but then couldn't help but push on a few occasions which made me sound like a beast giving birth. This was truly the hardest part, not being able to push when every cell in my body was trying to!! And don't forget about the pain accompanying every contraction. All this time the docs were keeping an eye on Natalie and still sticking their hand inside to check whether I was finally 10cm dilated or not.

Natalie's heart rate seemed to drop quite a bit every time I got contractions which worried the doctors quite a bit. Even though I was trying to breathe in as much oxygen as I could and breathe slow, it didn't seem to be quite enough. At one point one of the docs said that they might have to give me emergency C-section depending on how I went. I kept asking the doctor after they would stick their hand in me whether I could start pushing yet and when they finally gave me the green light, BOY DID I PUSH LIKE A MANIAC!!! I felt like my head was going to explode and my surroundings became all blurry and splotchy because of how hard I was pushing. But let me tell you, the pain wasn't half as bad once I started pushing. In fact I was trying not to lose consciousness from pushing so hard that I barely felt the contraction pain and even when they snipped me down there. Yes, I was snipped...unfortunately.....

At 756am May 19, Sunday, at 38 weeks and 1 day, Natalie finally joined us in this world :D I was so relieved to hear her cry but they took her next door straight away and put her in an incubator. I only saw her for about 10sec before they took her down to pediatrics where they could keep an eye on her and make sure she was okay. She was so pale, not only because she's half white but I think also because she didn't get enough oxygen and looked so weak. It truly broke my heart but at that moment in time I was exhausted myself. My body couldn't keep up with the quick delivery (even though to me it felt like it lasted TOO long) from when my water broke until Natalie was born that my uterus didn't start shrinking back on its own so they had to give me drips for that..and my placenta didn't dislodge from my uterus either so the docs had to take turns shoving their fist up there and literally scoop it out with their hands while massaging stomach from the outside at the same time. I tell you now.. Afterbirth for me was NO easy task. It was so damn uncomfortable and painful at times. I lost over 1L of blood which is heaps and they also had to stitch me back up.

I stayed in the delivery room until after lunch and assumed my sister had gone home but when they finally took me to my hospital bed my sis came in and boy was I relieved to see her face. She truly made me feel at ease and I couldn't thank her enough for being by my side and showing me the ropes. I wish Oli could have been there to see just how much pain I was in and all the hard work I went through to give birth so that he doesn't just take it lightly when I tell him I don't want to have another baby for at least another 2 years. I know a lot of mothers say they forget the pain once they see their baby's face for the first time, but 2 weeks down the road I still remember everything!!! Maybe in 2 years time the memory would have faded and I will be ready to go through it again lol ;)


The photo here is of Natalie only a couple of hours after she was born when she was taken down to pediatrics. One of the doctors was kind enough to take a few photos of her. She's looking a bit pale but healthy otherwise, thank god :D



Kana
5/31/2013 01:55:43 pm

Wow u had a quick delivery! So u never had mucus plug then? And how come they had to put Natalie into an incubator ? They don't encourage skin to skin contact in Japan?? Anyway I'm happy that you and Natalie are doing well. Congrats again!

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Yoki
5/31/2013 06:51:32 pm

Thank you!!

Well I did get mucus-like discharge about 3 days before I started getting contractions, but I was expecting it to be BLOODY.... The book I have on pregnancy says it comes in all shades but blood is always involved so I just assumed it was extra thick discharge (yes it sounds pretty gross lol). So now I know that mucus plugs don't always involve blood. If only I had known that I would have been more mentally prepared and mum probably wouldn't have gone away on business that weekend. Thank god my sister was there :)

She had to be taken away straight away coz she didn't get enough oxygen and the docs were pretty worried about her. That's why I couldn't have skin to skin contact with her :( The whole process put a lot of stress on her because she couldn't get enough oxygen. All in all that was the only problem she had. Her doctor was overly cautious, which is a good thing, ans made sure she was 100% before releasing her :)

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5/31/2013 07:21:57 pm

Your doctor is so right to monitor her like that after birth. Madeleine almost suffocated the second day because she had left over amniotic fluid that turned into thick phlegm (dont know how to spell that word) and she couldnt get it out of her throat. They stuck tubes and all down her esophagus (um dont know that one either!! lol) to suck it out, it was horrible. And when we asked if it could happen again they were like oh yeah, it can happen again up to about a week, here have your baby back. I couldn't take my eyes off her after that so I didn't sleep at all...in the end my time in the maternity ward was not restful at all.
And I'm not buying another pregnancy book lol. My book didn't even mention freaking mucus plug and I lost it 2 hours before Madeleine arrived.

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5/31/2013 07:29:56 pm

You're right! Our birth stories are somewhat similar! I know that the bathroom was like my bestfriend during the labor process, I only felt good on the toilet seat (regardless if I peed/pooed) hahaha. I'm sure you did your best pushing her out because it is SOOO tiring. Nobody can imagine how tiring it is, it looks like some boring ass huffing and puffing in movies but when you get down to it it's more like you say, you feel like passing out from pushing. Remi tried to do it with me during the real thing and he said he was unable to hold his breath all the way.
I'm so sorry you had to go through that placenta ordeal :S...and that you lost 1L of blood. That must have been so horrible and not being able to hold your baby. But now you can!!! :DDDDD I'm sure you are on another planet as of last Friday. Wish I could come visit you and little Nattie.
YOU DID IT!!!!

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Yoki
6/4/2013 02:57:43 pm

I can't believe you only lost your mucus plug 2hrs before Madeleine popped out lol. That's crazy. Do you and Remy plan to have more babies??? Hehehe ;)

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Celine
6/4/2013 06:54:23 pm

oh yes ;-). but first we have to find a bigger place...it is such a big hassle in paris UGHHH!!! when i saw your birth baby pics i was like aaawwww i want another right now! lol

Celine
6/4/2013 06:54:48 pm

oh yes ;-). but first we have to find a bigger place...it is such a big hassle in paris UGHHH! when i saw your birth baby pics i was like aaawwww i want another right now! lol

Celine
6/4/2013 06:54:58 pm

oh yes ;-). but first we have to find a bigger place...it is such a big hassle in paris UGHHH! when i saw your birth baby pics i was like aw i want another right now! lol

Celine
6/4/2013 06:55:14 pm

oh yes! but first we have to find a bigger place...it is such a big hassle in paris UGHHH! when i saw your birth baby pics i was like aw i want another right now! lol

5/31/2013 07:30:09 pm

You're right! Our birth stories are somewhat similar! I know that the bathroom was like my bestfriend during the labor process, I only felt good on the toilet seat (regardless if I peed/pooed) hahaha. I'm sure you did your best pushing her out because it is SOOO tiring. Nobody can imagine how tiring it is, it looks like some boring ass huffing and puffing in movies but when you get down to it it's more like you say, you feel like passing out from pushing. Remi tried to do it with me during the real thing and he said he was unable to hold his breath all the way.
I'm so sorry you had to go through that placenta ordeal :S...and that you lost 1L of blood. That must have been so horrible and not being able to hold your baby. But now you can!!! :DDDDD I'm sure you are on another planet as of last Friday. Wish I could come visit you and little Nattie.
YOU DID IT!!!!

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Celine
6/4/2013 06:56:38 pm

sorry i keep posting like 50 gazillion comments that are the same -__-. it keeps telling me error and the other day i figured out it was because i did too many punctuation marks in a row or too many leeetttterrrsss like that lol...but that's not it today.

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Yoki
6/18/2013 12:19:54 pm

hahahahaah!!! No worries! Love getting comments and doesn't matter if I get a million of the same lol :P

Oli and I are definitely having more babies!! He wants one straight away but I warned him NO babies until Natalie's at least 2 years old (or so). I still remember the pain and not ready to go through it again.. Not so much the pain but all the difficulties that came with it in my case. I wouldn't mind so much if my delivery experience was an easy one where Natalie didn't have to get taken down to pediatrics for a week and I didn't have to get a million hands stuck inside me to get my placenta out, etc etc. Sigh.. But I'm so looking forward to what our baby will look like next. Aren't you??? It's soOO interesting how DNA mixes and even more interesting when the parents are of different races! They all make beautiful babies ;)

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Maigua
6/5/2013 04:38:57 am

OMG! Congratulations you did such a good job :).... Im very surprised that you had the baby within hours after you started having contractions!!! You are very brave to make it all the way without any pain medication!!!!!!! With Amberly it took me 22 hours of PAIN before she decided to come out. When you were explaning about how the doctors stick their hands in there while you are having contractions and it hurts like a mother!!! yes.....I KNOW!!! :)... Nattie is looking very strong and healthy and so is the mommy!!! Welcome to your new adventure of motherhood!!! Girls are so much fun you will LOVE IT!!!!!!!!

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Yoki
6/18/2013 12:23:01 pm

THANK YOU MAIGUA!! Wow 22 hrs?!??!! That is hell.. I can't imagine going through that pain for that long..!! But yes, I am very VERY happy that my first baby was a girl, and I hope I have another girl but if Oli and I decide we want 3 kids, then I want at least one of them to be a boy. I guess we'll see!
Natalie is doing super well and getting so fat lol.
Your girls are getting so big, I can't believe I've joined the "circle of mothers" hahaha!! I really hope we get to see each other in the near future and that our babies can all play together :)
Miss you and David xoxoxoxoxoxo

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