My Birth Story

Monday, December 11, 2017


It has been almost a year since I last touched this space. In case you have not known, Oppa and I welcomed our little not so little now bundle of joy this September. My pregnancy was one of the reasons why I was not able to update as I intended. I had extremely bad morning sickness which stuck to me all the way through my first and second trimester. It was so bad I lost 6kg as at 25th week into my pregnancy.

So what happened was, my EDD (estimated date of delivery) was 09/09/2017. I had an appointment with Dr ST Beh on the 30/08/2017 and I was supposed to see him again in few days' time for my CTG scan. On that very night, we were watching The Legend of the Condor Heroes and headed for bed at around 2am. As usual, I played with my phone and was about to sleep at 3/4 am. It was then I felt like I needed to shit. So I went to the toilet but after a long 'squeezing' session, I was unable to poop. I also started to feel a little discomfort, like constipating gastric pain. I headed to bed without thinking much but the pain just kept recurring. I started to wonder if it is contractions that I am experiencing. I started timing them. Dr ST Beh advised that once contractions are at 5 minutes interval, head for the hospital straight. Mine was 1.5 to 2 minutes interval. We were still unsure if it is true contractions and we stayed in bed till 545am, when we decided to head for the hospital.



Upon arrival at Thomson Medical (6am), I entered the observation ward and the nurse checked me. I was already 5cm dilated and was brought to the birthing room. The midwife said I was dilating fast and I needed to let her know if I wanted epidural. There was not much pain yet then. But I was afraid that as time goes, it is going to get more painful and the distress my body experienced will slow down my dilation so I told the midwife to go ahead with the admission of the epidural. I was told the anesthetist was coming from another hospital and he would be slightly late. He came about 2 hours later and I was 7cm dilated by then at 8am. By 10am, I was almost fully dilated.




It was Hari Raya that day and the hospital was obviously understaffed. There were only 3 midwives and there were shuffling around 12 birthing rooms. My gynae alone had 3 mummies that very morning. When my gynae checked me at 7am, it was estimated that I would deliver at around 1pm. I did it by 11am, with just 3 pushes. I do not know if it is the dates that I have been eating religiously, or it is that old wives' tale we heard and followed - to open all the drawers before you leave for the hospital.

To be honest, the transition from 5th cm to 7th cm, was bearable. I did not scream or shed a single tear throughout the entire birthing process. So expecting mummies, do not be afraid. It is nothing. Labour pain is not as scary or painful as we imagined it to be. It is the repeated tensing of your lower back that is tiring. So my advise to all, just take epidural, have a quick labour, and rest peacefully in your ward.


My baby was a little tiny at birth, weighing at only 2.74kg. I only gained 8 over kilos in my entire pregnancy so I guess that is why Janis was born little.


I guess that is all I have to say for my birth story. It is short and quick, just like my birthing process, haha. If you have any questions or would like me to cover any specific area, do let me know in the comment box below !!

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