I delivered my own baby... part one!

Salam! i'm sorry it took me quite awhile to post this. but as new parents, there were a few things to settle and needed adjustments. plus my priority has now changed to that little bub whom i'm gonna talk to you about. So with bismillah, enjoy my birth story...

Alhamdulillah! The day has finally arrived! And it arrived at night! 11.15pm on a saturday night on the 18/2/2012 to be exact! No, no the birth of my baby, but a 'show' to kick start things! So happens, that my parents were around to bring us dinner and my mama cooked me curry mee. She insisted that i get to taste what i crave so that probably it will get the baby to come out! hehe! because i was already past my due date. and funnily, it had to happened after that lar kan! ;P

After they went back home, i told hubby about the 'sign'. Thinking not all show would result in delivery straight away, i decided to wait. My hubby works on weekends and we discussed that it would be better for him not to show up at work the next day. So with that decision, he had to run to the office to settle things. In that frame of time, i actually started to feel my surges (another delicate name to call contractions that was taught during my hypnobirthing class.). So i timed them using this babybump app on my iPhone. Strangely enough, it started to get constant and pretty strong than the usual braxton hicks. So i thought, oh wow! this could be it! i waited for the 411 sign to go the hospital (one surge every 4 minutes, lasting one minute, for one hour). i waited nearly 2 hours just to make sure! and as hubby arrived home, i said "it's time to go to the hospital sayang."


So to cut the story shorter, we arrived. and so did my parents and mum-in-law. But only i was allowed in at the pregnancy assessment unit for the initial assessment. This time it was about nearly 4am. I was given the privilege to call my consultant for he is the only one who approves our birth plan. Yes. we have birth a plan. and it went a little something like this:

• No scheduled vaginal examination unless really necessary.
• No pitocin or any drugs for induction.
• No painkillers (oh boy! was i in for this one!)
• No artificial rupture of membranes (for i wanted a spontaneous one)
• No episiotomy
• No syntometrine to expedite placenta delivery for i wanted it to spontaneously be delivered by itself.
• No 4-hourly/continuous tocography (CTG) monitoring unless really necessary.
• Allowed to birth in ANY position i feel comfortable other than the lithotomy position.
• Allowed to drink and eat to replace IV fluids.
• Immediate and long skin-to-skin contact of baby and me
• Delayed cord clamping
• No cleaning of vernix from baby.
• Allowed to listen to my iPod the whole time (mana lar tahu they tak kasi!)

Pretty interesting huh! haha! trust me! it got nearly the whole obstetric team oncall rummaging and have small meetings over this birth plan! Thus the earlier mentioned privilege of calling my specialist to deliver me for he is the one who allowed us this! Him and another medical officer, who by God's willing was oncall that Sunday! A blessing indeed!

And so it began. 12 hours and counting. they did the first VE and found out i was 5cm to start with. and my membrane still intact. they then moved me to a labour room and my husband was invited to join me. to see him was a big relief indeed. and he was definitely a big help. because i didnt want to be attached to any drip, he was there to feed me with smuggled dates and zamzam water which i had on and off. and because i wasnt comfortable lying on my backside during the surges, he was there to lift me and support my weight. imagine doing this for a good 10 hours plus together! i could see him in sweats at times! and both of us would fall into short snoozes in between the strong and consistent surges i had! i didn't even need the pitocin! my uterus was fantastic at her job! The nurse was also amazed at how quiet i was during the surges. Thanks to the hypnobirth class that taught me the breathing techniques, i was only moaning instead of screaming like other patients!

i was progressing, albeit rather slow. it took about more than 4 hours for me to progress from 6cm to 9cm. and somehow i stalled at 9cm for quite awhile. and my waterbag wasn't broken yet! the doctor was getting pretty anxious and was giving me another half an hour or else she would rupture the membranes to get things going. Hubby started talking to baby and requesting him to help me. and miraculously, it broke within 10 mins! Subhanallah! and i was in an all fours position this time! i told the doctor that i want to deliver in all fours position as i feel a lot more comfortable. she wasn't very keen but try to accomodate at my request. and she also gave me another framed time of 2 hours. that if by that time its still 9cm, she would consider c-section or instrumental delivery.

upon hearing such threat, i decided to do something about it. With just me and hubby in the room alone, i tried waiting for a few more surges. I even tried standing on my knees at the edge of the bed while hugging my hubby who was standing and calming me down. seeing it's still not satisfying, i decided i'm gonna squat down to do this. i told my husband to get the blanket and lay it down on the floor and have him sit on the chair next to the bed. then i got down the bed (trust me. i was amazed how i could do this thinking back about it!) and squatted in front of him, while his hands support my arms and weight.

And then i felt it! the surge and position pushed my baby downwards! and soon i felt my vagina opening wider! i felt the head about halfway out with my own hands and told my hubby that he's coming! because i was pretty anxious and not to mention impatient, i gave a hard push. and the head was out! i then felt the sudden urge to push again but resisted, and my uterus just gave one last surge on her own to push out the rest of the body! and i caught him!!! ohmygod!! the relief! and all the pain gone!! and there i was sitting on the floor holding him with my hands and in rushed the nurse and doctor! u should see the look on their faces! priceless!! i recalled the doctor saying "why is my patient not on the bed?!" and she told me she was just next door youtubing how to deliver a baby in an all fours position! and there i was with the baby! on the floor! haha!

everyone was excited! 2 housemans came in and suddenly everybody wants to be a part of this.... historical event!! haha! they admit they've never had anything like this happening in a hospital setting before! so technically, with God's help and grace, my prayers came true! i get to deliver my own baby! regardless where the setting was! Alhamdulillah! they then complied with the rest of the birth plan. and our baby was calm, pink and didn't even cry when he came out! His eyes were wide open and he was looking at me as he latched on my breast immediately!! and sucked pretty hard! syukur!! and he pooed on me minutes later too!! the doctor, still ecstatic, gave my hubby the honour to cut his cord! so time of delivery recorded was 3.40pm, birth weight was 3.5kg and length was 51cm!  the warmer was in the same room so as i moved back onto the bed and proceeded at delivering the placenta, hubby "tahnik" kan the baby with some dates. hubby said he could really suck! he had also azankan the baby earlier.

so thats all for episode one peeps! coz Yusuf (his name given on his 7th day of life!) is kinda hogging me for more milk. and i pulak love to write lonnnggg essays kan! heheh. but i'm enjoying every minute of hogging him too! So stay tuned for the next episode! coz remember, i'm yet to be discharged from the labour room ok! ;P