Hudaa-d1

2nd Pregnancy Labour Story

My due date was on May 13, 2018, which would fall on a Sunday, right before the start of Ramadhan. This meant that my last trimester pretty much coincided with the busiest work period of the year for us. There was a photoshoot with Farah Lee where I basically blacked out on her sofa, and a fashion show where I was again in charge of backstage and dressing the models, not to mention the work leading up to the event with all the planning and coordination. Oh, and the elections too! Interesting times.

I decided that Thursday the 10th would be my last day at work before the maternity leave. I wanted to have Friday off for last minute packing and cleaning the house, since Shafiq would be off at a photoshoot that day. Or so I thought anyway.

I woke up for subuh and noticed I had a bit of discharge, so I changed and prayed subuh. But after solat, I felt weird, like there was more discharge coming out. But I just dismissed it as my body reacting to being tired. But after a while it just felt even more weird so I went to the bathroom to check, and noticed the tiniest bit of blood. Waitaminute. Did my water just break??

Woke Shafiq up and told him..and for a while we were just blur. Shafiq called backup to cover his shoot, and we called Abah and asked if he could take care of Eesa for the day (Thankfully I think it was nearing the sem break) and then packed our stuff and drove to the hospital. We got there at around 8.30, and I was ushered into the examination area. They ruptured my membrane to make sure that there was no meconium aspiration. They also checked my dilation, which was just around 2cm.

The wards were all full so we had to just wait in the lobby. Asked the nurse if I was allowed to go out to eat or anything but she said since we already checked I couldn’t leave, as they would be monitoring me every couple of hours. Hmm. Thankfully I brought a book along, and had my phone. Shafiq went out to get some food for breakfast and lunch, even though the hospital provided plenty of meals and snacks throughout the day for patients. I remember it was Friday because shafiq went for Friday prayers.

At around 4.30, the nurse informed us that there was a bed available for me in the ward, so we moved there. I was still only a few cm dilated so it was mostly just waiting around. But in the late afternoon I started getting contractions – and this was the first time I was actually aware of the feeling. They were mild at first, and after the nurse came by and checked she said I was just at 5-6 cm. She also told me that if they got stronger she could give me painkillers.

Since it was a general ward, Shafiq could only stay until 7pm, so at around 7ish he left the ward. But by the time 7pm rolled around, the contractions were getting much much much stronger. I was alone and in a heck of a lot of pain. I remember making some monstrous sounds trying to call the nurses over without being able to get up as the contractions were now just minutes apart. My ward neighbours were kind enough to ask me if I was ok and i think I must’ve said no because they thankfully called the nurses over. The nurse checked me and I told them that I definitely wanted those painkillers but they said I was already 8cm dilated so it was too late, and promptly wheeled my bed out of the ward to the labour room. Tak sempat capai tudung pun. Managed to hold on to my phone and message Shafiq though, who Alhamdulillah was just at the hospital surau and he joined me in the labour room. The nurses kept telling me to ‘tahan, jangan teran dulu ye puan!’ all the way to the LR.

Got changed into labour room clothes (don’t know why I had to do this when I was already in hospital clothes anyway) and lay down while the nurses busied themselves with attaching me to the monitors. A few minutes later they finished and were basically just standing around talking, while I was deliriously in pain and feeling like I needed to push. So I asked them ‘dah boleh teran ke??’ to which they said, ‘eh, teran la puan! nak tunggu apa lagi?’ Haih.

I don’t remember how many times I pushed but I do remember yelling ‘Awak buat ape tu? Sakit tau tak!’ at one of the nurses who was pushing down on my tummy while it also felt like she was prying me open. Not my coolest moment but she really was causing me a lot of discomfort. I had mentioned to Shafiq to tell them ‘tak nak potong’ meaning I didn’t want an episiotomy but I guess he forgot to pass on the message because I did get snipped. It was kind of all a hurried shamble because I forgot all my breathing exercises and birth plan too. Alhamdulillah it didn’t last long though, the whole thing was over in about 10 minutes, and I got to hug my beautiful little girl for the first time.

Hudaa-d1

Hudaa Shafiq, born 11 May 2018, 2 days ahead of schedule, at 7.45pm

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My labour story

My EDD was 3rd of February, but because of my gestational diabetes, if I hadn’t given birth by the 2nd, I’d have to be admitted for induced labor on the 2nd of fib. So the days were going by and I didn’t feel any signs of giving birth. We decided to go to the bird park on the 1st to get a good walk in, which is supposed to help with labor. The day before I had attempted to do some squats, which weren’t that successful since I only managed a few before my knees started shaking lol.

The morning of the 1st I woke up feeling a bit sore in the pelvis. Must be those squats. Got ready and headed to the park.it was really nice! About halfway through though, I started feeling pan in y pelvis and it got harder and harder o walk. It got so bad that at one point I couldn’t move at all. Standing still was fine but any kind of pelvic movement was close to impossible. It felt like I had dislocated my whole groin/hip.  I was close to tears at that point, because I felt so helpless. Anyway, we had to get back to the car so I leaned on Shafiq and slowwwwly hobbled back through the park.

It was already lunchtime and we hadn’t really had anything to eat the whole day, so we decided to get lunch otw back. Grabbed Burger King at Masjid Jamek and then I felt like having some coffee, so we decided to drive to TTDI. On the way we stopped by a gas station to pray but I couldn’t make it out of the car! lol. So we just went home. Shafiq asked if I wanted to go to the hospital to check but I knew these weren’t contractions. First of all the pain was constant and not every few minutes, and second, it was all in my pelvis, not my uterus. I said I didn’t want to go to the hospital and just be told to go back home, so we headed straight home.

Later that night the pain was still unbearable, and Salman and Munira urged me to just go and check. So after dinner, Shafiq loaded our hospital bags and scooped me up, off to the delivery wing. After arriving in the wheelchair, the nurse told Shafiq to wait outside in the waiting area and told me to lie down on one of the beds. I almost broke down again because I really couldn’t walk without support. Somehow I managed though, groping at walls. It took me a good 15 minutes just to get on to the bed. They strapped me up with some monitoring devices, and the nurses weren’t too happy with my readings.i didn’t understand what they were sayig but basically they meant the graph seemed to be upside down? After half an hour they said I could get down from the bed and wait for the doctor. So another agonizing time getting down, only after to finally make it to the chair, the doctor came and asked me to get back into bed for more checks.

The doctor asked me some questions (are you sure you don’t feel any contractions? no.) and told me that my baby’s heartbeat was quite fast. She then ruptured by membrane to check if the baby had passed stool inside the womb, which he didn’t. Then the doctor asked the nurses if there were any beds available. At that time I thought to myself, ok well at least they’re not sending me home, at least masuk ward for one night. The nurse came back and said bed 2 was empty. Then the doctor told me I was actually already 2cm dilated and since the heartbeat was fast, they were putting me straight into the labor room.

WHAT.

I totally did not expect that. I was terrified! So not emotionally and mentally ready to give birth that night! They wheeled me out into the waiting room and I broke down in tears when Shafiq came to me. I was so so scared.

The labor room was right next door, and they told me to go to the bathroom, and change into the hospital gowns. I lay on the bed kind of in a daze, trying to remember everything I had read and prepared. I still felt no contractions at all, only pelvic pain. It was 11.30ish. I couldn’t see the clock but a few hours later the nurse came and checked me again, still only 2-3cm. so she said they would give me some medication to speed up the contractions. I don’t know what it was but it was administered via IV drip. (Dah Google. I think it was Pitocin)

Oh boy did that medicine work. I contractions came and went. In the beginning they were manageable-ish, I remember asking Shafiq if we should time them. But soon they started to get reaaaally strong. I tried breathing through them but I guess I failed. At one point I remember a nurse coming in and asking if I wanted pain medication, to which I said YESS and waited for her to come back, but when she did she said they couldn’t give me any because I was already 9cm open. Good news I guess, meaning I was able to go thru (relatively) drug free. The contractions felt like…bowling balls growing and rolling inside me. For some reason every contraction came and felt like different colors. I don’t know how to describe it. Overall the most colors were purple and orange. The last contraction was definitely yellowish orange, I remember thinking ‘mcm nangka’ and “shaped’ like an inflated rounded rectangle (kinda like durian crepe?) I guess mild synesthesia hit me or something.

The pushing part was kind of a chaotic blur. First only 2 nurses attended to me, but later I think there were 3 nurses pushing and prodding my belly, 2 more standing at the foot of the bed waiting to receive, and one more doctors looking on. Everyone was telling me to do different things, lift chin, push more, tahan nafas, lagi, lagi! I don’t remember actually feeling the “ring of fire” moment when the baby’s head emerged. They did pull my hand down to feel his head almost there. /I do remember feeling angry; I wished everyone would just shut up and let me focus lol! I definitely shushed Shafiq once when he was urging me to lift my chin.

Alhamdulillah after about half an hour, baby Eesa came into the world. They placed him on my chest and I couldn’t stop saying AllahuAkbar..This is my baby!

 

 

 

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