Just as each pregnancy is different, the birth story of each child can be as vastly different as can be.
Our little bun (or more affectionately referred to as B2, since we chose not to know the gender this time round), made a grand entrance on the first day of the Lunar New Year – 大年初一, no less!
This Teh Tarik baby (I had mad cravings of Aik Cheong Teh Tarik on a daily basis!) jumpstarted our engines with a false labour just two Sundays prior to the bub’s actual arrival. Now that B2 is officially in our arms, here’s sharing the birth story of our second child!
That fateful night before the EDD
It was the eve of the Lunar New Year, and we decided to go ahead with reunion dinner at my MIL’s place together with his siblings and their families.
During dinner, jokes were being shared like what happens if the baby decides to be prompt and we had to head to hospital after our meal.
We laughed and well, I was sort of nervous about it, to say the least. I had every reason to be, because the next day was the EDD, and based on previous experience, Vera was right on the dot! Speculations about the second child arriving way earlier and all just didn’t prove to be true for me since the bun was still baking at that point!
So I decided to play it safe and made sure I was clean and all ready before bedtime, just so I wouldn’t be caught unprepared should the “alerts” come my way. Hit the sack wih Vera and drifted off to dreamland, while the hubs stayed up as it’s a belief that doing so would keep his parents healthy and be blessed with longevity.
At around 350am, I felt the call of nature and waddled my way to the loo. Must be that cup of Redoxon that K made me down just before bedtime since I was nursing a bad throat and stuffy nose. Right after I was done, I felt some cramping and was getting a little worried. I headed back to lay down and to monitor the duration and frequency. Turned out, it was happening every ten minutes, and the pain lasted about a minute each time.
Alarm bells started ringing in my head. Was this IT!?
I called out to K who had barely fallen asleep, and told him about my observation. After monitoring for another twenty minutes, I decided the pain was too much to bear. I was worried too, as I’ve been at 2cm dilation for three weeks now.
What if the baby decides to slip out on our way to the hospital?! I know, dramatic thoughts, but these stories were real! I was worried about not being able to get my shot of happy-pidural too – so K quickly stepped out of the bedroom to prepare his things, grabbed a bottle of chicken essence for me, my toiletries, changed his clothes, called my mum that we’d be sending Vera over, before returning to the room to inform me that he’d be driving the car over.
While he was getting ready, I took the chance in between those contraction pains to get up and started to pack Vera’s new clothes for the next day (which was the first day of CNY). We had plans to go visiting so the visitation would be done without us and her new clothes had to be brought over to my mum’s too.
I quickly got changed, grab my mobile and waited for him to carry Vera out of bed and we made our way to the car.
Without much words, we quickly handed Vera over to my parents. By now, another episode of pain hit me and I couldn’t quite speak to them except my face probably said it all.
Making our way to Mt. Alvernia Hospital
We drove to Mt. Alvernia pronto! What K said next made me laugh despite the pain.
“You’re not usually an on-time person but our babies are very prompt, eh?”
He couldn’t be further than the truth! Ha! Daddy was surprisingly zen (he’s usually the gan cheong one whereas I’m the calmer one), but the pain was messing up my mind and making me nervous.
We arrived at Mt. Alvernia hospital and I alighted first and made my way to the delivery ward on level 3. Since I had a rehearsal the previous round, I knew where to go and what to expect. Talk about a dry run before the big show!
And, I was the third to check into the delivery ward that morning! Was led to room 3A just 5 minutes to 4am, and basically that was the beginning of things!
The nurses asked for my situation, if I had any drug allergies etc and the CTG was strapped onto my bump. I heard another mum scream and several minutes later, a baby’s cry.
Oh, those contractions and my happy-dural!
Contractions continued and it was getting quite intense and I suspected that my dilation would already have progressed further. Was given the laughing gas (how do mum’s survive delivery with just this!?) to send some relief during those painful moments, and the nurses did a dilation check, confirming that I was at 4-5cm! I INSTANTANEOUSLY asked for the anaesthetist to be called – progressing to 6cm would meant that it would be too late for my happy-dural! Oh the horrors!
Shortly, the enema was inserted to help clear bowels. Tried so hard to hold it in for 5minutes before scampering to the loo; letting it all out plus the oncoming contractions were quite a lot to bear! I was squashing K’s hands and perspiring!
The contractions came and the laughing gas was my temporary best friend until my real best friend came. It didn’t completely take away the pain, merely leaving me giddy-headed and after one very deep breath, the ceiling was practically spinning. No fun at all!
Hubs went down to see to the check-in arrangements, while I laid in bed and waited anxiously for the anaesthetist. Before long, this fresh-faced pretty lady came and introduced herself as Dr. Yvonne Lim. I was so happy, I could have given her a hug!
She was chatty, and explained the procedure. Her swift actions made it a quick administration, and within a few minutes, the contractions seemed to have disappeared! That’s like the bestest invention ever! I thanked her profusely and wished her Happy Chinese New Year, and apologetically told her sorry for calling upon her at that hour. Well, she responded that she had already been disturbed all night! LOL!
Counting down…
Thereafter, I was left with the midwives and I was hoping to catch some sleep before the real deal. The midwives checked on my condition regularly and so far, we’ve been very impressed with their care, mannerisms, and how they would try to put me at ease by chatting with me.
The clock was ticking away. And the next time the midwife came to check on me, she said my water bag had already burst! Just before she did the dilation check, I heard a “pop” like a balloon had burst, and more water started flowing. That meant B2 was coming really soon! So glad my gynae, Dr Eunice Chua, came right after and it’s always such a relief to see her! She jokingly mentioned that baby was so prompt, just like Vera! :p Looks like this is going to make a special story when the kids are older!
She checked on dilation again, and this time I was around 8-9cm. It was progressing well, and she was certain the delivery would take half the time it did with my firstborn. And in another couple of hours, baby would arrive. That was how confident Dr Chua was!
The nurses asked whom we had in mind to do the gender announcement and well, we weren’t prepared for that question!
The next dilation check revealed that I was at 10cm, and that meant it was time to get busy!
Time to get pushing!
Midwives came in to get me pushing, and, gosh! My nose was stuffed and I could barely hold my breath and push for 10 seconds. After pushing for over an hour, my head was light from all that huffing and puffing. Not to mention, the queasiness (effects of happy-dural) made me throw up a few times! However, the midwife said that the puking helped to push baby down towards the birth canal too, so that’s actually a good sign!
I was pretty hopeful of pushing B2 out unassisted but after all that loss of energy, I was half-heartedly waving the white flag and tempted to get assistance from the gynae.
Fortunately, Dr Chua stepped in just in time (I like how she’s been so spot on with timings – gives me so much more confidence), and exuded a new wave of positive energy. She was encouraging and also confident that I could “do it on my own this time”, something she has always mentioned during this pregnancy.
Dr Chua then casually mentioned that she would not be announcing the gender. “I’ll put the baby on you and you see for yourself!”, she joked!
Hello our little surprise!
So after two sets of three huffs and puffs, I felt something swimming/wriggle out of me and Dr Chua’s voice called out to me to “open your eyes!” and there he was, all grey, wet and squirmy lying on my body… It was such a surreal moment, I could feel tears welling up. There he was, our much-anticipated B2; our gender-surprise baby :)
It must have been a mix of everything at that point – the fatigue from all that pushing (although I pushed for over 2hrs with Vera!), my stuffed nose causing breathing difficulties, my #achievementunlocked moment to deliver without assistance and just a single shot of happy-dural (I used 3 shots with Vera!) this time and finally holding our healthy baby who arrived at 10ish in the morning.
Little Leroy was a tad heavier and bigger than Vera, and I was faced with a rude shock during my challenging post-partum recovery. Fingers crossed that things will be back to normal soon.
In the meantime, Happy Birthday, Leroy! Mummy, Daddy and Vera 姐姐 welcome you to our humble family! Love you to the moon and back <3
P/S: The next day, we found out that we were neighbours with mummy Justina, who welcomed her princess to add to her brood of three lads! What a lovely surprise to meet this friendly mama at a time and place like this! LOL!
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Congrats! And you are so fortunate. I didn’t check the gender of my 2nd and 3rd child during both pregnancy, so when the mid-wifes at Mt A know, they were like so excited they announced the gender to me before the baby were placed on me. Such an anti-climate in finding out my baby gender. Lol.
Anyway, take care and congrats again.
Thank you for your kind wishes! Haha it was fun with people around you trying to predict their genders right? Haha! Sounds like you’re having fun with 3! Do share some tips on how to cope please :)
Yes indeed it was quite funny how some were very determined they were right about their gender guessing.
Ah about coping with 3, nothing really to share as I am very bless to have a very good helper and a mother in law that helps me out. :P but I think it’s really important that don’t feel bad about asking for help. It’s important that you keep yourself happy rather than trying to do everything by yourself. You end up being grouchy and it spoils the relationship you have with everyone.
Such a cutie! Congrats :) You just reminded me of my 2nd baby as well. She was born just last year, February 12, so they’re both born in February. :)
Thank you dear! :) Awww, that’s nice! She just turned one then! Happy belated birthday!
Hi, I came across your blog while I was researching on the Hospitals to give birth at. I am choosing between Thomson and Mt A, more concerned about the experience of the Nurses and the services there, could you share with me your experience for both places? Thank you!
Hello Vivien! Congratulations on your new addition! My first was delivered at Thomson Medical Center (TMC) while the second was at Mount Alvernia. Between both, we had a better experience at Mt A. However, TMC was experiencing a peak on the day of birth as we found out that there were many scheduled C-sects (ours was natural, so Baby chose the date haha!). But their senior midwife was really good and professional so that helped with labour experience too. Does your gynae have a preference for the hospital? We heard positive reviews from friends who delivered at Mt A too. My gynae delivers at both places and Mt Elizabeth Novena too, so we picked TMC then Mt A to compare :p Is there anything in particular that you’re looking out for? :)
Hi, thanks for your reply! I don’t really have a Gynae in mind so I’m choosing still! The thing is all my friends delivered at Thomson and none at Mt A, and at Thomson I heard mixed reviews about their Nurses and service, although my Friends recommended their Gynae there. How about the cost? I read online reviews saying Thomson has many hidden charges and the package only covers 8 hours use of delivery Ward use and anything extra will charge etc etc, while Mt A seems more comprehensive in this.
Hello Vivien, sorry for the late reply!
It might be good to select a gynae whom you’re comfortable with then decide on the hospital? Most gynae a in private practice deliver at a couple of hospitals. Hmmm as for the actual costs, I might have to check with my Husband on that haha! Costs also varies due to what’s used during the delivery, delivery method or any change in delivery method at the last minute, complications etc. To get the most accurate information, it might be wise to contact the respective Hospitals because their rates and packages may change. They do hospital tours too so you can compare the rooms as well. It’s the same for gynaecologists too because their rates adjust from time to time.
My experience at Mount A was good and it was the people who made that difference :) If you’re looking for a female gynaecologist, I have good experience with mine as she’s really experienced and puts me at ease when I’m a bunch of nerves! Haha.
Hope you manage to go with a gynaecologist who gives you confidence too! Enjoy your pregnancy! :)