It was close to 3 am, on April 29th when I first experienced contractions. I woke up wondering if this could be a false labour as I've read it somewhere though I was already 39 weeks and 4 days into pregnancy. Being uncertain, I took out my phone and surf the net to look for the answer. At the same time, my hubby got up (I was surprised as I didn't wake him nor was I screaming in pain) and told me to dial the hotline given by the hospital to check with the nurses. The nurse told me to keep monitoring till I experience regular contractions at 5 minutes interval.
Being a first-time mummy-to-be, I wasn't prepared for labour yet! I was still very chilled about it (as I've enjoyed my pregnancy) and even wanted to go back to bed assuring my hubby it's not time yet. However, he wasn't convinced. Instead, he got me out of the bed and told me to get ready to go to the hospital. Feeling hungry, I had a ham and cheese sandwich before we set off to the hospital at 5 am.
At 5:30 am, I was admitted to the delivery ward. At that time, my contractions were still irregular with an interval of 6-7 minutes and the pain level was minimal. I was then put on a drip and something to monitor my contraction's frequency and intensity as well as baby's heartbeat.
Midwife and nurses were with me until my gynae came by around 8 am. And that was when he decided to burst my water bag. Not long after, my contractions happened more frequently and the pain felt was more intense. I did not opt for epidural and said no to laughing gas despite being offered several times as the pain level was still bearable. You must be wondering how did I do it. This can be achieved with regular deep breathing when the contraction is felt. Do not worry as the midwife will tell you when to breathe in deeply and when to breathe out.
It was until about 10 am when I could not stand the pain with just the breathing exercise. So I told the nurse that I wanted the laughing gas for pain relief. Laughing gas did help me with some pain relief, do note that it will only work well when breathing in and out in a timely manner when contractions happen. There were times when I forgot to breathe out as I was trying to bear the pain but thankfully my hubby was with me all the while and constantly reminding me to breathe.
Then comes a time when the midwife told me to push, that was when I was about 9 cm dilated. Sometime later, all I could remember was hearing everyone telling me to push and how to push. When I heard "I can see the baby's head", I became more awake (from the effects of laughing gas) and pushhhh. With 3 proper pushes (maybe more), the baby's head is out. Before baby's shoulder could come out, my gynae performed episiotomy on me. And at 12:40 pm, my little one popped!
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