It was Monday morning (21 Nov 2005). We were indecisive about whether I should still go to work. But having decided the night before that we will go for a checkup at the hospital and see what the doctor says, we made our way to the delivery suite in KK hospital early in the morning at 8am.
The nurses strapped me to the CTG machine again to monitor my contractions and the fetal heartbeat. There was still NO PAIN at the moment. After half an hour, one of the on-duty doc came and told me that my contractions were every 5 min apart and I was 3.5cm dilated. The doc told me that they will break my water bag to hasten the labour, and the baby would be out in 7-10 hours!
I was at first hesitant about the breaking of waterbag as we had heard that the contractions would be rather "unbearable" thereafter, and many of our friends who had opted not to have an epidural had succumbed to the pain-relief after having their waterbag artificially burst. But, since we didn't want to play the "waiting game" any longer, we thought we will just go ahead with the doc's suggestion and pray for courage. :)
9am: This houseman came by to administer the drip. He wasn't very good at it and only got the procedure right after the 3rd attempt, having burst two of my blood vessals on the veins of my hands in the first 2! YL was eyeing him angrily and wanted to "box the doc" for hurting his wife! I was ok, given my high threshold of pain...
9.30am : My gyne Dr Ben Tham came to the delivery room and broke the waterbag.
10am: The contractions came stronger and were approx 1-2 min apart, and i finally felt "pain" but they were still bearable...
10:30am: I now felt REAL PAIN and was coping via "will power" and lots of prayer.
11am: I was (only) about 4cm-ish dilated. The nurse (Sister Seet) gave me the "laughing gas". We forgot to ask for it earlier!! At this time, I could still administer the "laughing gas" by myself, but I was certainly NOT laughing!
12pm: Two nurses took turns to come in to encourage me...YL was cheering me throughout. With one eye on me and the other on the CTG monitor, he was telling me when to expect the big contractions and when they were "fading off". By this time, he was also administering the laughing gas to me, by bringing the mask over as and when he sees the contractions coming. I was in too much pain and too "weak" to do it by myself.
1pm: "Breathe hard and fast" YL would instruct, whenever he saw the "pain index" on the CTG monitor peaked. I was in a state of delirium and couldn't think straight....all i could do was to obey the instructions, putting all my trust in my man.
2pm: "Dear, you are really doing very well...I love you" YL whispered..... And I could only moan in response.
3pm: The nurse came in and got me to start "pushing"...Dr Tham soon joined her too and gently but firmly instructed me on "how to push and breathe". In between repeating the breathing instructions, YL was giving me a running commentary on the progress that he was witnessing.
3:30pm: I was soooo tired, that deep inside, i wanted to ask for the epidural. I didn't, for i don't want to give in and also know that it is way too late. I gave the additional push where I felt I could. And when I felt I couldn't push, I just ignored the instructions from my cheering team.
3:45pm: Nurse Seet told me, "We're not lying to you!...you've come very far, even though you may not feel it". YL added excitedly "I can see the head crowning!! So much hair!" Deep inside, I was going, "hah? crowning? So? Is it going to be over soon??"
4:09pm: Nurse Seet, Dr Tham and YL in unison, "He's out!!" and I hear the cry of our child for the first time! I couldn't respond in words, and just collapsed back on the labour bed, totally drained... YL gave me a big kiss, went over to stare at our son and then came back and whispered to me, "He's a handsome chap". He then took out the camera and started to snap numerous photos of our son, Isaac Lim.
The Lims welcome our new addition after 7 hours of hard labour.
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