Saturday, November 28, 2009
So, every labour story is unique and different. And every first labour experience is usually a very long lasting memory, remembering the pain, the agony, the joy, the elation, the relief and all the mixed emotions within. So, here goes my story.
1.30am Mild contractions are felt. But I continued watching jw play the mahjong game on my laptop, thinking that it's probably just Braxton Hicks since I'm still 2 weeks away from my due date.
4.45am Can't zzzz the whole night. Tossed and turned in bed, feeling the contractions time and again but still wondering if they are the real thing or just false contractions. I have no idea! Tried various positions to zzz on the bed, but in the end decided to wake up and google the difference btw real contractions and Braxton Hicks. Finally, my hubby woke up a teeny bit and realised something was not right with me. Haha. I decided to take a hot bath, and felt three contractions within a short 15min bath. Ate some bread and cheese after the bath and hung around the house.
6.30am Jw timed the contractions for me and realised they are on average 5-6mins apart, lasting for roughly 45sec-1min each. He said "You have all the symptoms, call the hospital k?" I felt excited but apprenhensive, and kept delaying before I finally rang the number. Nurse told me to hang around at home longer if I could take it. So I laid on the bed while still feeling the contractions.
7.45am Called hospital again. I guess nurse was doubtful cos' she saw my edd was 6 Dec in their records. So she asked if I had taken painkillers, taken a hot bath blah blah. In the end she said I could go to the hospital, but if I was still in the early stage they would ask me to return home again. Well well. We decided to make the trip down. By then, we have packed all the stuff and were ready to go! I can feel jw's excitement too as we drove our way to the hospital.
8.20am We arrived at the hospital and the nurse was ready for us. I could still walk, esp in between contractions. The nurse brought us to a room, measured my blood pressure and it wasn't accurate becos' so qiao I had a contraction then and I realised it made my blood pressure shoot up! Haha. After that, the midwife came in and placed some monitors around my tummy to measure the baby's heartbeat as well as the contractions. Interesting! I could still pose for the camera, as well as helped my hubby to take some pics because he was behaving wacky then, faking he had contractions too. Keke.
9.40am The 'tick' appeared on the screen and we called the midwife in as instructed. She examined my cervix and informed us that I had dilated 2cm. Hmmm. I would have thought it'll be more cos the contractions were less than 5mins apart. 2cm sounded little, but well, at least she said we did not need to go home and could stay in the hospital to wait. Yay. We got a ward of our own as we waited.
10.15am Midwife decided it was time to burst my waterbag to see if it sped up the contractions. It was quite an experience too and the string that she inserted to stick on baby's head really made me feel ticklish. Keke. Jw was abit overwhelmed as he witnessed the whole thing and he took a video! waha. I wonder if he could tahan seeing the birth experience then later.
11.15am Dilation increased slightly to 3cm. Midwife decided to use oxytocin on me to help accelerate the contractins. Well well. I could still watch TV initially without much problem, slowly as the contractions got strong and more often, I had to squeeze a pillow or jw's fingers whenever there was a contraction.
12.00noon At around noon, we shifted to the delivery room. The pain was quite intense already at this point in time. The midwife encouraged me to go to toilet and I had to do so with jw's help, pushing the oxytocin stand with me and enduring a contraction as I was in the loo. I was glad when the midwife brought the gymball, just like the one we have at home. I was also given the option of a standing support with two bars at the front for you to hold on to. The midwife asked, again, if I needed anything to help cope with the pain. I was unsure of how long the labour will be, and told myself to hold on longer before I took any pain reliever.
1.00pm After around one hour, the nurse taught me how to use the laughing gas. I was told by many that it will make me dizzy and even puke. But to admit, I didn't feel dizzy at all. I thought I would feel high and ecstatic, like after drinking alcohol, keke, but neh, it wasn't what I expected, but it did help to make me feel better (perhaps psychologically). So I tried swaying on the gymball side to side and tried standing using the support. Everytime a contraction came, I would grab jw's fingers hard and asked him to breathe with me. Deep breathing. I could hear him chanting "In, Out, In, Out" and it did help to keep my breathing in check.
1.40pm We pushed the button for the midwife to attend to us, because she said we should do so if I felt an urge to push. And gosh at the last contraction I really did! Like there was something pushing down and wanting to come out. An unique first time feeling. Hee. I was thinking, well, seemed like baby was going to come out soon! BUTTTT, guess what, the midwife did a check and I was only dilated 5cm. You can imagine the demoralization jw and I felt. Externally I acted brave, internally I was like "what??? only 5cm?? How long more will it take then??"
2.00pm The midwives changed shift and soon the new midwife and her assistant came in to check on us. I was much in pain then, and honestly at a point in time I wanted to give up. Even jw could tell the intensity of the contractions on the screen and he could see the pain on my face, and for once, he asked if I wanted epidural. HAHA. The hubby who was so against the idea of epidural, actually asked! I guess it made his heart ache to see me in so much agony, and he was also wondering how long more it would take to fully dilate and if I could endure it. I asked the first midwife if I could now take her suggestion of increasing the laughing gas to a higher dosage, but guess what, the new midwife said she thought I shouldn't do so and told me to take a bigger breath instead. She asked if I wanted the next step of pain relief, I asked her what and she said epidural. I was like, sigh, I wanna try again since I'm already halfway there!
3.00pm The next hour was one of the worst I ever had. The pain was intense, the contractions so strong and frequent. The one big motivation that kept me going was the thought of my mum. Whenever I felt the pain setting in, the picture that I took with her in my graduation gown would float across my mind. I wanted to do it for her, for jw, for myself. If mum could do it, so could I! The worst feeling I had was the urge to push in this hour but yet not allowed to because the cervix was not fully open. It's like trying to stop your poo from coming out or trying to swallow your puke in. Haha. Eeeewww. I could feel baby's head already but yet I had to stop it from coming down! It was good I had the gymball, I sat on it for the whole hour, and rocked left and right in btw the contractions. Jw was beside me the whole time and I believed I must have hurt his fingers with my squeezing. Haha. But well, I asked him to punch and push my lower back whenever the contraction came to distract me and I kept asking him to use more strength, thus I think I hurt my back too. HAHA. Anyway at one contraction I really felt like I pushed more than I was allowed to and it set me in panic, and as I breathed in the laughing gas, the tube came out and I still kept breathing into an empty mask, at the same time signalling jw to call for the midwife. She came in, did a check, and she was also surprised to announce that within a short time, I was fully open and could start to push!
3.47pm Everything happened fast after that as the midwife and her assistant prepared the necessities. I was told to lie on the bed sideways to deliver and I held both of jw's hands tightly as I started to push. With every push, I felt abit of baby's head coming out and jw said he could see it! But everytime I stopped pushing as the contaction died, the baby's head went in again. Arrghhhh. At around the 5th contraction, I gathered all my might and pushed hard and I even shouted and screamed because it made me feel better. Wahaha. I was told the baby's head was 3/4 out already and jw told me to jia you and give one final push and she will be out. So I did try but alas the contraction died and as I started to push, the midwife grabbed my hand and told me to stop. Boohoo. Gotta wait for the next one then. Luckily, with the next push, Angel came out head and all. She was born!!!! Yippie yay!!!
Now that Angel is home, we are trying to get used to her and get her used to us and her surroundings. She's a sweet little darling most of the time, and I'm really looking forward to spending every single day with her. I'm starting to miss her if I don't see her for a few hours! Hee. And daddy loves to carry her and kiss her and sayang her and I'm sure he will dote on her lots like how he dotes on me! 
So, here's my first post on Angel and my journey so far. Thanks to all friends and relatives for your well wishes! Will post more updates on our family next time! Don't be surprised if I don't blog as often as I did last time! You know what's keeping me busy. *winks* Tata!!!
~Summer~ 7:52 PM
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
So, now that I'm entering my 39th week of pregnancy, it's just a matter of time as we wait for our BB to arrive. =) Wondering when the real contractions will start, wondering when we will see our little darling, wondering how she will look like, wondering how the whole process will be like. With no doubt, it ain't gonna be easy and it ain't gonna be relaxing. But well, I sure hope we can survive it well. Shuang Shuang jia you!!~
Oh yeah, we bought a white baby carrier for Angel. Keke. White is suitable for both girls and boys! Well well, it was actually chosen by jw, who only wanted white and no other colour. Haha. Despite knowing that it will get dirty much more easily. But well, he wants it, he gets it. Keke. It is a very nice colour lar, I admit. Less seen on the roads too (well, I bet other parents also think it gets dirty easily ;p).
We also washed and tidied all the clothes we bought for Angel as well as all the clothes given to her by the nice aunties and uncles. She sure has mountains of clothes already!!~ I am so looking forward to dressing her everyday. Keke.
And I also wonder what will happen to the girl girl clothes if our baby ends up not a girl girl, but boy boy. Waha. Then muz say very sorry to all the friends who gave us nice girl girl clothes. =) Luckily we still have quite many neutral colour clothes for baby. =p
Someone was telling us, when bb is in your tummy, you'd wish that he/she will come out sooner so that you can hold him/her in your arms and finally be able to hold and see your little darling. But when the baby really comes out, and you realise you are stuck in nights of endless crying and endless feeding, you'd instead wish that you could put the baby back in the tummy longer. Wahaha.
BUT, I still think jw and I are very excited and looking forward to finally seeing baby lying there in the nice colourful playpen. To finally be able to hold baby in our arms, look into her eyes, feel her tiny hands and legs, tell her I love you and give her a big hug and a big kiss. =) So yeah, counting down day by day!!~ Be back with updates soon!!
~Summer~ 9:33 PM
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
So I finally learnt how to take lian pais with my canon camera. Wahahaha. Thanks to the girls!~ Keke. I love lian pais! They are so spontaneous and needs you to be forever creative with your poses. Wahaha. My lian pais can go up to 10 at one shot. Which is kinda challenging already! Keke. But I love lian pais. Lalalala. Check out the first two lian pais I did with my cam. Hee.
Occasion: Gals' Lunchie at Bistro Buffet followed by La Kopi at Wayne's Coffee
Attendees: Cindy, Seline, Sherin, Priyah, Me
Take 1
Take 2
Take 3
Take 4
Take 5
Take 6
Ocassion: Ladies' Nite Out at Nivö
Attendees: Karen, Serene, Jenny, Kimberley, Claudine, Me
Probably my final nite out since I'm in my 37th week already! How boring to watch the rest down tequila shots and cosmos and sex on the beach while I had craneberry juice. Haha. Grrrrrr.
Take 1
Take 2
Take 3 There you go. My eventful day last week. Hee. And well, it's also byebye to loneliness cos' jw's mum has arrived in our house! Welcomez!!~ And before long, we'll see BABY!!~ Keke. Counting down to that BIG day. Woohoo!!~
~Summer~ 9:02 PM
Thursday, November 05, 2009
It was once my dream to be able to dance like that. Yeah, you got it right. A dream. And it still is a dream. I envy those dancers who can strut their stuff on the dance floor like that. And I think that dancers have a unique 'seh', a style of their own. They are more confident in all they do and this makes them look good somehow.
So, not wanting to be the all talk but no action type, I managed to get jw to take up salsa classes with me when I was still in uni! Yoohoo! I remember those weekly nights where we would have dinner or supper at Tanjong Pagar Market, have our salsa class, then walk over with some classmates to Union Square at Amara Hotel for more dancing and small drinks. That was fun! We even had the chance to go to salsa parties!
But well, jw's work got busier and it became hard for him to keep up with the classes. So although we made it to Intermediate Course II, both of us probably forgot clean about all the choreos we learnt, leaving at most only memories of the basic steps. Haha. And without the guy to lead, the girl is unlikely to make it on her own. Booooo. But anyway, I wouldn't wanna continue the classes without my deardear with me. That's boring!! Despite even if we attend together, they always rotate partners and I only get to dance with him for less than 10mins!! Grrrr. Of cos to me, he's the most charming partner out of so many of them. Hee. But well. Soon, the lack of time made our passion die down and we did not progress to advanced level. Bleh.
I will always love dancing though. Salsa, girls' hip hop and MTV dance are strong favourites! I was actually searching for dance classes in Karlskrona for us to sign up for some weekend or weekday night classes. I don't even mind what kind of dance, so long as we could pick up dancing again!! (I mean, except the clubbing dance kind). But well, that was probably just one week before we realised we had Angel in my tummy. Again, another sacrifice to make! And probably tonnes and tonnes more sacrifices we have to forsake for the good of our family and baby.
I guess, everything will just be worth it when we look at our baby in future, and then think back on the things we've missed, but yet treasuring the most amazing gift we've gained. =) Nothing beats a happy family. But well, daddy mummy shall always love dancing till we are old and frail!! =p Like my mum! She's still learning dance now every week! I shall strive to do that too next time. Hehe. Dancing, to me, is the best way to enjoy, sweat it out and keep fit!! =p
Dear, hope we'll always remain the best dance partners yeahh!! JS rox!!
~Summer~ 7:12 AM
Monday, November 02, 2009
This was my witch's hat, the very first prop I did. It took me days because I had to figure out how to secure the cardboard into a nice, pointed hat shape and then fix the shape together using stapler, scotch tape and double sided tape. And then attach on the black cloth using thread and needle to sew. And then finally do up my 'pink hair' using ribbons and paste a cute bat with pink outline on the front. Boy, I was glad when I finished this! =) Jw's hat was so much more easier and the stitches so much neater after I got the hang of it. Keke.
Here's jw's shiny blue wizard hat. I love the colour and the texture!! Guess where I got the cloth from? Haha. It was used during our ROM and I kept it and brought it here. I was initially afraid the hat was too small for his head cos' it fitted me just nice. But well, it must be that his head is about the same size as me, because it fitted him well too! Waha. Check out his logo for the night. The flaming blue skull!
Here was my bat necklace. Made simply from print outs of bats and ribbon. The bats kept sticking to my hair though, because I pasted double sided tape behind each of them to secure to the ribbon, but somehow they prefered my hair more.
Ta-dah, my witch wand! Hehe. Yeah a fairy witch. =) Didn't know how to do a scary wand so just did a normal star wand. =p I reckon we shouldn't dress up as tooooooo scary in case angel got scared. Haha.
Whoooosh!! Finally we are all set in our costumes!! Hee. Jw wanted a weapon, but well, in the end we decided he could use the 'horse' instead. He must be the first wizard who rides a horse. Haha. And guess what, the horse could make galloping and neighing noises!!
Introducing the gals for the night! Sherin as girl Robinhood, Seline as Pippi, Priyah as the vamp and Cindy as the she-devil! Hehe. Hmmm. We don't look very scary, do we? Priyah most qualified as the traditional Halloween character. She had on fangs and blood!! =) But well, kudos to all the efforts made by everyone in dressing up themselves (and their hubbies)!! I especially love the haunted mansion decor in Cindy's house. The pumpkins, the spiders, the bats, tombstones for every guest with their names, the friendly looking white ghosts and even the cute vampire in the toilet. Haha. Effort sia!! =) Thanks wor!!
Next up, we went for our rounds in Polhems, knocking on the doors of people we knew. Keke. Very sadly, we only got sweets and not ang paos, wahaha, but it was cool to see the reactions of the people and esp their kids when they opened the door. I also finally did some walking exercise by going around and also going up and down the stairs. Cool!! We found alot of banana on the floor and steps though, probably a prank played by some other Halloween-ers.
Anyway, it was a cold night that night but we finished our rounds pretty soon!! Guess everyone must be hungry too! Hee. Pity some people were not at home that night though. Anyway, much thanks to Cindy and Sherin for helping to take group pictures for us and the residents using their pro SLR cams. Arigatoo ne!!
Oh and guess who was always sent as the first to go and greet the residents? Haha. Yeah yeah you got it. I myself probably won't dare to open the door if I saw this guy through the peephole. SCARY!!
After that, it was time for dinner!!! Jw and I were starving because we had an early lunch. Keke. But blame ourselves for taking long to cook his braised duck and getting ready and ended up being late in arriving. Sorry people! We had a yummy dinner along with this nice Halloween dessert Seline made. Eh, not the spiders, but the RIP ice creams. Keke. =) It tasted good!!
After dinner, we watched some TV and then decided to play some games. Started off with Hit the Tin Man game!! Using Robinhood's bow and arrow. Pity there's no prize for winning! But thanks much to the guys for being the live targets. Keke. Then we moved on to Taboo and Pictionary. What do people usually do on Halloween anyway? Watch horror movies? Play scary games? Chit chat? I have absolutely no idea. =) Still, it was always fun to play the games that we did when there's a big group of people. The girls won Taboo as usual and the guys had to dance to the MTV of Ban Dian Xin (the song by Grasshoppers) as a forfeit. Keke. That's jw lifting Naga for one of the poses, glad last time he often lifted me up so he probably got alot of practice already. Wahaha.
So there you go. Our very first Halloween party. Quite glad it managed to take place before Angel pops out. Keke. Another wonderful memory added to our precious moments collection. I love happy memories!! Thanks again to the organisers, hope you all had as much fun as we did!! HAPPY HALLOWEEN to all!!!
May there be more parties to come!!
~Summer~ 4:51 AM