Soooo in case you guys didn't know yet,
I gave birth to a human being (How I found out I was pregnant *here*)
Actually I gave birth 2 months ago but didn't have the time to draft out this post. It really isn't easy being a new mom. I don't know how those mums with many children do it. I only have one baby and I wanna pengsan d 😓I'll save more stories about this in another post la.
For now, let's dive into the story...
I need to go back a little to a few weeks before my labor day. On 20 March which was when I was in my 36th week, SR and I went for our regular checkup at the obgyn. As usual, he put me on the ultrasound machine and we would take a peek at our baby on the screen. The obgyn updated us on his weight and size. During week 34, Baby Z was underweight. The obgyn was worried that he might be coming out earlier than expected coz I was having Braxton Hicks too frequently. Being underweight might not be good for him if he comes out earlier. He might need to be in the incubator and be treated as a premie. Thank God on this checkup, he has hit more than the minimal weight (2.5kg). Other than that, the heartbeat, amniotic fluid and umbilical cord were looking. Unfortunately we couldn't see Baby Z coz his head had already moved downwards to the birthing canal. Plus he had also turned his face inwards to face the uterus wall. Don't know what's so interesting about the wall 😅
Then when it was time to check the placenta, the obgyn zoomed in and paused for quite some time.
This is the scan of my placenta
At the area circled in red, there were a lot of white spots. These spots were signs that my placenta has calcified...or in simpler words, my placenta has aged 👵. When placenta starts to calcified or aged, it will stop functioning well. A placenta that doesn't function well is dangerous for the baby coz the baby relies on the placenta for "food" and oxygen. At this "age", Baby Z can "drink"/"eat" the amniotic fluid around him. What the obgyn is worried about is the lack of oxygen. We all know how important oxygen is.
Usually placenta calcifies when the baby is overdue. I'm one of the rare cases where it happens before baby is due 😭 Like I've said earlier, Baby Z's heartbeat looked healthy during the scan. It was beating but my obgyn wasn't sure if it was beating strong enough. Lack of oxygen might cause his heart to beat at an unusual rate. So he gave me a form to fill so that I could check into the maternity ward to run some non stress test (NST) on Baby Z.
For those who doesn't know what NST is, I've made it easier for you
It is a test to measure Baby Z's heart rate, oxygen level, movements and also contractions without having stress being placed on him. If the test results are positive looking, we could wait for Baby Z to come on the estimated due date (which is supposed to be 14 April) or anytime he decides to kick up the contractions. If the test results are not so good, I might need to be induced to go into labor on that day itself.
I was brought into a room at the maternity ward by a nurse. The nurse told me that the test will run for about 30-45 minutes. If results were not clear, might even take up to 1 hour. She suggested that I go and take a pee before getting strap on to the machine. She also asked if I had breakfast. Coz if Baby Z is hungry, the test might not be accurate. After making sure all that, I was asked to lie on the bed and was strapped on to the machine.
This is a very blurry photo of the NST machine that I've found on Google. So basically it looks like this la for those who had never seen it.
I was strapped to it for about an hour with SR by my side. So glad that he was allowed in with me coz I don't know what to do in that hour without him and my phone.
The results were okay. Baby Z's heart was strong and there were no contractions yet. So I don't have to go into labor or get induced. But my obgyn's advice was to get induced ASAP. He said not to risk Baby Z's life by delaying labor. I told him that I'll go back and discuss with SR first before deciding.
After discussing with SR, our final decision was to get induced on 30 March coz it's safer to give birth when Baby Z hits week 38. Plus SR will have some time to apply leave while my mother in law and mum will have time to prepare stuff for my confinement.
So this was how I look like the night before I went to get myself admitted to be induced
I always thought that my bump was kinda small. But now looking back at this pic, how did I carry that thing around at that time lol
So on 30 March morning at around 7am, together with SR and my mum, I got admitted to the maternity ward at Mahkota Medical Center.
The moment I got admitted, I was strapped onto the NST machine again
They had to monitor to make sure that Baby Z was in good condition before starting the inducing process. If he is not, my obgyn will have to perform an emergency c-section immediately. Again the test took about an hour. By the time the test ended, my obgyn had came and ready to get me induced.
Everything was looking fine and the inducing process started. For those who had never gone through inducing, my advice is to NEVER GET INDUCED!!! Maybe my pain resistance level is damn low la. But that shit hurts af. This was already so painful. I told SR that I don't think I can go through labor la like this 😭
After inducing, my obgyn told me not to come down from the bed for about an hour. Hopefully the contractions will start kicking in after that and I could go into labor. The nurse and my obgyn had forgotten to tell me to empty my bladder before the inducing process. A few minutes after being induced, I wanted to pee so badly. But I obviously couldn't. All I could think of was going to the toilet. Can't even concentrate on anything else lol. So I ended up sleeping the whole hour until I was allowed to pee lol.
Then my friends came over and got me some flowers and balloons
And omg I looked so damn fat 😭😭😭
There were no contractions at all and Liz, who is a "senior" at giving birth, told me that I should move around more. Do some squats and exercise to speed up the process. Someone (for the life of me I can't remember who) told me to go climb lots of stairs coz it'll help as well. I spent the whole afternoon doing just that. I did some squats in the room while watching the tv. Then I went to climb the stairs up to the third floor (I was at the second floor) to ask my obgyn some questions. I also climbed downstairs to ground floor to buy some food to eat.
There were some minor contractions but Liz told me that I'm still far from it. It felt very much like period cramps. Liz said when the real contractions come, it will feel like your body is trying to kill you from inside wtf.
By 7pm my obgyn came and checked on me and my down under wtf. I had not dilated at all 😓 My obgyn said he is going to put in another inducing pill after another round of NST. He was hoping that dilation and contractions will finally begin after the second inducing. But he also asked SR and I to think about what do we wanna do when nothing happens till the next day. It's either we gonna do the inducing process again or we will go straight into the OT (operation theater) for c-section. This time round I got smart and went to pee first lolol. Inducing was still a bitch but I knew how to handle it better la.
At around 10 something, a nurse came in to do another round of NST 😅. She told me that I'll need to fast from 12am onward just in case I need to go for c-section. So I quickly asked hubby to go to D'Tandoor (which was near the hospital) to get me some Cheese naan and palak paneer 😂. That was some memorable last meal hahaha.
When I woke up the next morning, mummy made me do squats and climb the stairs again. We met my obgyn while we were out "working out". The first thing he said when he saw me was: "你看起来不像ready要生咧" (You don't look like you're ready to go into labor) lolol. Then we went back into my room to check if I've dilated or not.
Unfortunately after inducing twice, I had only dilated 0.5cm 😓 If you guys didn't know, for me to go into labor, I must be at least 10cm dilated. 0.5 is too far away from 10cm lah. My obgyn said his suggestion is not to do another round of inducing. But go straight into surgery. SR and I both agreed with him and set time for the surgery straight away.
Before I go into the OT, a nurse came and shaved me lolol. There were a lot of TMI stuff after that but I think I'll spare you guys all that hahahahaha. Then I changed into my operation gown and was asked to lie down to wait for the OT nurse to come and get me.
I was pushed by the OT nurses to the registration counter with SR by my side. One of the nurses made me drink something that I have no idea what. I think it's glucose or something la. Then they pushed me down to the OT to get me prep further for the C-section.
Once arriving at the OT, SR and I were separated 😿 He was brought to the waiting room to get changed so that he can get into the OT with me.
The situation at the OT area was exactly like in the movies...well, almost la. The nurses moved me to another bed and another group of nurses came to handle me. I was pushed to the final check up room and met my anesthesiologist. I can't remember his name even though he told me his name (of course forgotten la...two months d lol). He was damn hilarious la. He ran some tests, put a drip on my left hand and along with the new group of nurses, he brought me into the OT where I'll be having my C-section.
I was put on the operating table (? I think that's what it's called right?) The anesthesiologist gave me a pillow and asked me to sit up. Then he asked me to bend down as low as I can. Thank God I had been doing lots of stretching exercise before this. I could bend down quite low but still it was kinda difficult with my bump. At this point I know what is going on coz I've heard about a lot of c-section stories from my friends. The anesthesiologist was going to give me the local anesthesia. He was wiping my back with some disinfectant liquid. Then he kept poking the area that he will be injecting the local anesthesia and telling me that he is going to inject soon. I was kinda irritated coz he was poking damn hard and I was in a very uncomfortable position (I was asked to bend down remember?). As I was still being irritated by the anesthesiologist, he injected the local anesthesia in. It was slightly painful. Nothing I was expecting coz all my friends told me that it was damn painful la. I guess I was more resistant to needles than anything else 💪 lol.
I was asked to lie down again. After a few minutes the anesthesiologist was pinching my legs or something and asked if I could feel it. I didn't feel anything except the super cold OT. I was shaking like a leaf. The lack of clothing didn't help at all. Thank God the nurses asked if I was cold. They got some pipes with warm air blowing and surrounded me with it.
My obgyn came in and talked to me about the whole C-section process. SR was brought in soon after and sat down beside me. Then the C-section began.
I obviously didn't feel anything (coz of anesthesia) except for pressure on my skin and pushes on my lower body every now and then. SR didn't see the whole cutting up and all that coz he has blood phobia 😂 The only thing he told me was: "哇！很多水流出来啊。应该是你的water bag破了" (Wah! There are so much water flowing out. Must be your water bag is broken).
My obgyn told me he will be using quite a lot of pressure on me coz Baby Z is coming out real soon. I felt a very strong but painless pressure on my tummy and a few seconds later I heard a soft "Ehhhh~" and followed by a series of "Ehh ehh ehh" and then a long stretch of loud cries. He is out.
Then I was introduced to the paed who is gonna be in-charge of Baby Z, Dr. Yip. He brought Baby Z over and asked SR and I to each give him a peck on the cheek...which we did. I was still shivering like mad. I took look at my baby and gosh he is so small. How can that small thing make my belly look so big? Anyways, Dr. Yip took Baby Z out after that to clean him up and bring him up to the nursery. SR was also asked to leave while my obgyn will be stitching me up.
I think I fell asleep during the stitching process coz when I woke up, I'm out of the OT but still in OT area for some monitoring. After that the nurses pushed me back to my room so that I could meet Baby Z and the rest of my family.
So that's the birth story of my beautiful little baby
This was taken after he was cleaned and wrapped nicely in his comfy swaddle. SR went to the nursery to bring him out to meet mummy and the rest of the family.
You could see some reddish marks on his cheek coz my obgyn had some difficulties to pull him out during the C-section. So he had to use the forceps to help pull him out. The marks disappeared after a few days.
I look like shit but whatevs, it's our first mother and son pic
Ahhhh... so darn cute!!! He looks like he's smiling here 😻😻😻
First family photo
I hope we can take one soon coz this one, I really look like shitzzzzz 💩 lolol
Anyways, now I would like to "officially" introduce my dear son to all of you here even though he is now 2 months d haha. But like I always say better late than never haha.
Zyon is pronounced as Zee-On. Initially we wanted to put the Zion but we wanted to be fancy so we changed the "i" to "y" lol. Zyon/Zion in the bible is a sacred place for the Israelites where they gather to meet God. As a name, it means raised or of high grounds. We hope with this name he'll be reminded of God in everywhere he goes and everything he does since Zyon/Zion is a place to meet God. As for the Chinese characters for Ji Yong are 智(zhī)勇(yòng). 智 means wisdom while 勇 means courage...both values that we hope he will have and we would instill in him.
I went into the OT at around 1pm and after only 10 minutes my obgyn has pulled him out. To me it felt like a thousand years lol. His weight and height is pretty average but he was super scrawny limbs and a longish head. Not exactly a very attractive baby at birth lol.
Well, I think that's about all the things that I wanna talk about for this post. It's like super long already so I'll spare other grandmother stories.
Anyways, I've decided to post up monthly updates on Zyon on the blog but as always, it'll be kinda slow la. Like now that he's 2 months, I can only start posting up about his 1st month. All this delay due to the delay of this story. I'm a terrible blogger hehehe. But at least I've been active over here la kan?
If you guys wanna stalk me or Zyon on a daily basis, you guys can check us out on Dayre *here* or follow me on IG: dookikiekookie. I put on quite a lot of videos nowadays. Mostly of Zyon. Leave us a comment to say hi 👋
Alright la. I'll see you guys in the next post then.
Bubbye~
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