My Second Labour and Delivery ☺️

I am currently 12 days postpartum and you might be wondering, how am I doing so far? 

Honestly, I think I am so much more rested compared to my first pregnancy, despite having a toddler at home. I think it is because my mum and the confinement lady really help out a lot and give me time to rest. I am still waking up in the midnight for pumping duty and feeling tired about it but I think this is something that I have to slowly get used to. 

Sleeping like a baby you say? Please don't be cheated by the sound baby asleep picture above haha. Baby literally wakes up every two or three hours throughout the night and it's definitely not the sleep I want haha. But this time round, since the newborn is sleeping with the confinement lady and the little baby seems to be sleeping relatively longer hours (2 or 3 hours in each stretch is considered a win), thank God I finally have the rest that I need😏

So, thanks for all the prayers and support so far ☺️ We are very thankful that things seem to tracking along well and the two boys at home seem to enjoy each other company!

 

My Labour

I am going to share my labour process, but in case it's too long, here's a movie summary of how my pregnancy and labour process go! I was moved to tears when my husband edited this video and shared it with me. There were a lot of emotions going on but rightly so, since pregnancy and labour was hard work itself. But ultimately, we are just very thankful that both baby and I are safe and we have had a smooth delivery and recovery so far ☺️

 

Morning

Just like any other Sunday, we started this day just as normal as it sounds. We prepared to go to church, and while I was in the toilet, I immediately screamed:

Blood! There's blood! 

All along this pregnancy I have not had any blood discharge so I called the hospital immediately and was told to monitor the blood flow for another half an hour, and after half an hour, the blood discharge was increasing, and we were told to check in to hospital. 

I was a little excited but it didn't cross my mind that labour will happen, because it's still a long way ahead. (My due was 14 July and it's only 30 June). We had consulted Dr Google and found out that even with blood show, the labour can start even days or weeks after, so we were pretty chilled when we checked in to hospital. 

In Hospital for the check

The doctor performed various checks to make sure that the blood show was normal, rather than coming from baby or infection which might pose as a concern. After the checks, he was certain that the blood was an early sign of labour and told me to further monitor the baby's movement and any contraction, and came into the hospital when that happened. We were discharged by 1pm then. 

Afternoon

After we were home, I was still pretty chilled and can still walk around, but I can slowly feel the downward pressure on my belly. I have yet to feel many contraction, and to my embarrassment, I still cannot fully differentiate between contraction or just pressure, but definitely something was going on as I can feel my belly squeezing very tightly. I still have mood to have lunch first though haha.

I think by then, it kinda hit us that the baby might be coming soon, and we do need some arrangement in place, so that if we were to go to hospital at night, then someone was able to take care of Joel. It was on a Sunday so it didn't help that he did not have childcare. And my mum wasn't here until 2 days after because none of us expected the baby to come so soon! I remembered making calls to my confinement lady to ask her the possibility to come in earlier and thank God she had just finished her last confinement job and would make it. My other friend already texted and called me and said that she can come over to look after Joel (So touched 😳). And I also called another friend that I knew who so happened to be in town (she usually wasn't due to work), and asked whether she might be able to stay overnight at our place to look after Joel. She immediately agreed to come over to stay overnight despite her busy schedule!😯 When I looked back, I felt it was God's timing that He has arranged so many angels around us to help us out just when we were in need, and we were so so thankful.

 

By 5pm, I started to record in my phone whenever I felt the squeeze, and it was about 15 minutes apart. And by 630pm, the contraction was 10 minutes apart that I was constantly walking to distract myself from the pain. I can clearly feel that it was a contraction, and not something else. At 7pm, I had to text my friend to come earlier so we can prepare to go to hospital. 

Evening

The hospital was just 5 minutes drive from our place so it was very convenient. We checked in to the birth suite, and this time round I was allowed to be mobile, be it standing or bouncing on a yoga ball. I had to lie on bed the entire time for my first pregnancy so I was really happy to be able to exercise some mobility to manage my pain. The contraction was increasing in intensity, and I certainly needed some pain relief. So I opted for gas first to see how I could go.

Using gas for pain relief. I find this helpful for me to manage the contraction pain.

But well, I certainly overestimated my pain threshold because contraction came in waves and with increasing intensity, I felt the pain was unbearable after just an hour. I asked for epidural and midwife checked my cervix opening and I was already 7cm dilated! While I was a little tempted to go without epidural for the remaining labour, I immediately pushed the thought out because I just couldn't take the pain anymore. And my poor husband, who was my punching bag the whole time lol.

So epidural was administered at around 9pm and man, what a difference it made! I was literally smiling and having an enjoyable time playing my phone haha. 

Before the epidural, I was using gas for pain relief and I was just so tired haha

Playing phone after epidural

Got mood to even laugh and smile for the picture haha

Night 

I think it was roughly around 930pm that I heard a pop sound down there. My husband called in the midwife and yes, the water had broke spontaneously so the next stage of labour was coming soon! The midwife confirmed that I was 10cm dilated and then it was just waiting game. 

Honestly second stage of labour which involved pushing was certainly harder for me. We waited an hour from 1030 to 1130pm for the baby to come down for ease of delivery, but nonetheless it's still hard work. The pushing urge was so intense that the epidural cannot take away that sensation and I was really uncomfortable and I literally cried to my husband saying ahh I really have enough. With every contraction, the midwife asked me to push, push and push and God knows I tried my hardest to push. It feels like an urge to poo but so much more, that I have to push the right spot so that baby can be delivered. 

In the end, the doctor came in and said that if I can't push the baby out, she will be ready with assisted intervention with either forceps or vacuum. I honestly don't mind both options but also would want to avoid them if possible, so again more pushing. I said many prayers that time as I asked God for strength, to help me to push the baby out, that I really can't wait for this to be over because I was really exhausted. And while it was hard work, I also feel His presence. 

And finally with one last push, 

He is out!

Needless to say, I was so so exhausted, but at the same time, amazed at this process that I have given birth to a baby. It was hard work of course, but one that I could look back and just pat on my shoulder and say 'well done, mama, well done!' 

 

 

I was then admitted to the postnatal maternity ward and since I had no other complication, I was discharged just two days after. Meanwhile, I have friends who came over to visit and brought me bubble tea and helped us to take this precious video of Joel meeting his baby brother the first time!

 

Instead of a trilogy like my first labour process, this labour seems to process rather smoothly and quickly too, since it only takes a day. Looking back, it was still hard work but one that has plenty to give thanks for - the timing, the help, and ultimately the safe delivery of both bub and I. And here we are, a family of four, ready to tackle on the challenges ahead. 

 

Here is an ending letter to my little baby:

Dear Joven,

Yay you are out! Mummy was really looking forward to your arrival, but for once I did not imagine that you would come two weeks earlier! You can't wait to be earth side aren't you? 😝

It was hard work delivering you, but one that mummy can look back fondly and just be so proud that we both had done so well to tackle on the challenge. Thank you for working alongside with me and made this happened! 😊

The moment when you arrived, I was moved to tears. Thank you for coming into our family and our prayer is that we will laugh and love life together, with the hope that you will come to know and love our Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart, mind and soul. 

May we continue to grow and learn from each other as we journey along! Daddy and mummy and gor gor love you very very much 💓

Loves,

Mummy and Daddy