Well, my gynae gave me the option, as I went for my last checkup on a week earlier (on 17 Jan) and asked if I wanted to WAIT (i.e. just go about my normal everyday life till my water bag bursts and the contractions really start) or INDUCE. Well, with hardly any hesitation, I chose to go for an induced birth - cos the thought of just WAITING & WAITING... and more importantly, NOT KNOWING WHEN would gnaw at me more than just doing it! So we decided to admit me into KKH on 23 Jan (which was the date of my expected delivery anyhow, a full 40 weeks!)
I had my last cell group meeting on the 19th, and I still remember before the meeting closed, Wenling led the members and prayed for me & the baby... And I recall telling her, after she finished praying... that the words "labour pains" almost brought tears to my eyes! The worst part about it was the anticipation of the pain that was to come. Have you seen those drama serials of how labouring women were SCREAMING as they rushed to the hospital in cabs? Gosh - I was seriously freaking out as I thought about the pain to come. And so it shouldn't come as a surprise, I chose to go for an epidural. And even then, the pain of administering the epidural was horrifying in itself! (I told you I had a LOW threshold of pain ... and an over-active imagination! Haha...)
The morning itself, we had to reach KKH between 6 to 7am. My dad offered to drive us there, and we stopped by Kallang MacDonald's... my last breakfast: Sausage MacMuffin with Egg Meal!
Then we reached KKH, and went directly to the Delivery Suite to be admitted. The mid-wife assigned to care for me (I forgot her name, unfortunately! But she was real sweet and made my time there very comfy) helped me to settle in and I waited for the anesthesiologist to come to administer my epidural.
All this while? No pain.
My gynae also came to examine me and told me for first-time mothers, labour would generally be 12-18 hours long. So she predicted I'd give birth by dinner time, or if all was smooth, by an early dinner.
When the anesthesiologist came in, I braced myself for the PAIN to come. I half-thought I had to be pinned to the bed to prevent me from moving or squirming during the administering, so imagine my surprise when the doctor just told me to sit up on side of the bed, hug a pillow and bend forward. I thought... "What? No one to help me? Restrain me? What if I squirm???" And then my mid-wife came over and gently laid her hand on my wrist. So it was just all up to me to not move! Where was Nic all through this? The doctor dismissed him! Till now, we're not too sure why he couldn't see this part, cos he stayed throughout the delivery but I suspect... the doctor did it to minimize my whining! (I mean, I don't know the doctor that well to be all whiney, so I had to keep SOME semblance of bravery) Haha!!!
Anyhow by about 930am, I was nicely settled in and the inducement began... I was watching ChannelNewsAsia (saw the news of Heath Ledger's sudden passing) and dozing off and chatting with Nic all throughout.
At about 3pm, my mid-wife taught me how to push and they found that my epidural was "too good"... that is, I really felt zero pain though my contractions were getting nearer and nearer, and the doctor had to reduce my dosage by half - cos they told me that I had to "feel the pain" in order to know when to push. So every 15 minutes, the mid-wife would ask me, "Got pain?" Pain, to me, was that kind of gut-wrenching, scream-out-loud kind of PAIN. All I had was stomach cramps and I could feel my stomach clenching but it was not painful at all, hardly what anyone would describe as pain. But at about 4 pm, as I learnt how to push, the top of my baby's head could be seen and so the gynae was called in.
All it took was THREE PUSHES after that, and at 4.23 pm, I saw my little prince for the very first time. I never expected my labour to be so quick - cos *ahem* we didn't take the time to attend any prenatal classes whatsoever...So it is really grace, grace.
Which coincidentally is the meaning of Jayvon's name: Grace of God. :)
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