Charlotte Was Born on 30 August 2008

Soon I was pushed to the delivery theatre accompany by my hubby. There's a tv for you and hubby to watch, relax and enjoy the whole process of delivery.The contraction is getting nearer and very painful each time. The painkiller which need four hours to take full effect does not work for me. And the only way to release my pain is to push the baby out as soon as possible. Therefore, each contraction I felt ... i push a little lor with my hubby help since no midwife was there .... due to short handed. Besides, we found out that there's 2 urgent case in other theatre. A little dramatic right,..... but it's true!

Midwife can around 3.15pm to check the opening and found that it have already reached 10 cm. Ready to give birth so they summoned Dr Wong immediately. He was shocked too when he saw my opening. He told me that from his past experiences, it usually tooks 5-6 hours to have 6 cm. But mine only on 1 hr.

The whole process is only breathing in and push until I no strength. Futhermore, the unbearable pain. It was very very painful even the senior midwife offered me with the mask (not too sure the actual name but it was meant to release the painfulness) I finally give up on the push and breathless........... Dr Wong finally decided to vacumm my child...... and it's 1603pm. By the way, my BP was 190 during the delivery ..........

Indeed, the whole delivery took only2.5 hrs and ended before dinner... Told by my hubby, I was the last to enter the theatre and first to come out.

Welcome , my little angel .......

29 August 2008

That day, I went for my regular checkup at Dr Wong with my mum. I was shocked when he advised my mum to get me hospitalised that day and prepared for the birth of my child due to my medical condition. My proteins level is high as well as my blood pressure, 140.

I wasn't prepared at all furthermore, my hubby wa' s not around with me. He's at work. Dr Wong talked until "like giving birth is like going for dating. No need to prepare one." So i requested him to give me another 2 days which is Sept 1 to prepare for the birth of my sweetie. He, of course, rejected but finally nodded his head with my mum because I begged them.

However, I finally give up of that idea of giving birth on Teacher Days. Thanks to my mum's nagging and aunties' peruasions. So my sixth aunt accompany me home to get myself washed up as I knew that confinement cannot bathe.

I got hospitalised at 11.00 pm with hubby accompany and inserted with 1 tablet for the induction. Normally it was to be 2 but Dr Wong said mine has already opened to 3cm. Throughout the whole night, I could not sleep well mainly because of my socks. I needed to put on sock to sleep as I can't sleep with cold feet since young. Used to it already. I do feel pain but it was not as pain as the false alarm. Dr Wong came to visit me on 30 August 208's morning and said everything is doing just fine. Good Good!

Not long, the nurse told me to go for a walk cos I been lying on my bed quite a long time. I said ok and who know the walk mean walk to the delivery room. I was shocked and scared because hubby not here yet. He went home to sleep after a long day a work. My water bag did not burst so Dr Wong tried to burst it. Very Very Very Very Very Painful until I cry.......... for help. I was injected with Enbidural (painkiller for labour use) It did help me well in bursting the water bag but not for my delivery. Some old saying from him again, " you are doing fine and now prepared for the contraction and hope everything shall end before dinner at 7pm.

Last Trimester - 7 - 10 months

Time flied very fast, soon I have reached my last trimester which meant any mis-action of mine can cause my baby to come out prematurely. Initally, I do not care about this because I can still go shopping with huge water tummy until the quarrel with my admin executive during my year end closing period. Lucky he have left the company during my confinement. Otherwise, I will blame him if anything happened to my bb.

My baby nearly came out premature. Lucky with Doris and Chong who sent me to Thomson Medical Centre and my gynae came on time to give 2 shots to control the contractions and strengthen baby lungs respectively. (to ensure that bb could breathe better if she was o be born now). Can't imagine !!! My gynae blamed me for not taking great care of my baby and myself and always use working as an excuse. At first, I do not know why my Gynae get so worked up until he told me that BB will be AT RISK and also it may cost a BOMB for me if he confirmed that the baby has to stay in the incubator. Checked already, the hospitalisation expenses for both mum and bb may rise to 20,000k (even in KK) if such case happened. Wow, !

Thanks to Dr Wong, I was discharged a day later with baby staying well in her bungalow built in mummy's womb. Why do I said that ? This was because the nurse took half a hour to detect my baby heartbeat. She kept moving around. She said that "other babies stay in HDB which she was able to detect their heartbeat very fast but mine was bungalow. Hao Ming Oh !"

Soon, the visit to Dr Wong was getting closer and closer from used to be 3 weeks once to every weeks. My heart was getting more and more anxious already.

2nd Trimester - 3 to 6 mths

Everything remains the same except my look.

I getting rounder and rounder with oily expanded face and almost whole head of white hairs.Yup, you cannot do for any chemical dyes once you found that you are pregnant as it will harm your baby in all ways.

My colleagues and friends told me that the whole idea weight gain throughout the whole 9 - 10 months of pregnancy was only 15 kgs. But then, I already hit 16kgs and I still have another 3 - 4 mths to go. I could imagine how I do like... like a big fat water balloon.

My skin became very oily and broke out easily. The most significant changes on my face was the nose. My colleague always say " from far, I knew it's you" and vof course, I asked why she knew. The only reason she gave was " because of your nose - look like Cheng Long one"

When I saw myself in the mirror I also sian ah ... Imagine I worn "XS" size before expecting and now to "XL" for certain clothing.... Hai ~ how depressed and disappointing ....

First Trimester - 0 to 3 Months

Everything changed when I knew I was pregnant.

I ate more and more with sumptuous meal from breakfast to supper and also always needed longer sleeping time even if I went to bed as early as 8pm. This meant that I went straight to sleep after my wash up and dinner. At that time, we still own a car and my workplace was quite near from my in law house. Therefore, travelling time needed is shorter compared to bus. (off work at 5.45pm sharp and reached home at 6.15pm)

I had vomiting and a little dehydrated during these weeks. No appetite and kept throwing out what I have ate even if it was merely plain porridge. During my next visit, my ultrascan showed that there was too little water in my foetus for bb to grow. Soon I realised from my TMC that insufficient water level in my foetus can cause miscarriage. Therefore, I drank a lot of plain water even during my bedtime and midnight toilet breaks.

I was very thrilled when my appetite came back after long drinking of red dates longan tea with wolfberry and american ginseng tea to control the nauseous. I ate everything that I could eat including junk foods , tibits, cold drinks before it lost control again. My TMC knew that I was born with a weak backbone and insuficient "qi" so he advised my mum and me to made these teas and deep fried small Ikan Bilis (no seasoning one-just plain & natural taste) for me to eat like junk food. This was my all time favourites.

Why Ikan Bilis ?

• Helps in developing Baby strong bones with its high calcium level
• I do not like to drink milk or eat fish
• Soya bean may cause baby to have slight jaundice

First Visit To The Gynae

The next day, Nick and I went to the Gynae located at my mum's place. Yes, I have chosen Thomas Women Clinic located opposite Bukit Gombak Mrt.

Took the pregancy test again and that time was the third. Hahaa , one pregnancy .. three time confirmation.... "hai zhen xiao hua" . Nick and I saw a miracle in my womb using the ultra scan ... it's our baby ... growing slowly .....

Initally , we thought of changing to another gynae when we found him not attentive enough to our questions and needs. Lucky we did not because we found he was really a good gynae after my second visit to him. Even until I had given birth to Charlotte for 3 months already, he will still call to ask about my recovery and conditon. By the way, mine is natural birth.

Breaking News

15 Jan 2008, I was so shocked when my company doctor told me that I was pregnant. I thought I was merely down with a stomach flu again. However, Nick do not feel like this way.

Also not sure why I took his idea to go for the pregancy test. While waiting for the result, I told myself it wasn't me... I'm not prepare although I always told Nick that I'm ready for motherhood. Laughing all the way when I heard the result even when I broke the news to Nick and then seriousness came when told of my medication for the foetus.

Nick was so anxious to know my result on that day. The more he asked, the more reluctant for me to tell him that he is soon to be a father. Therefore, each time he asked I only laugh to change the subject until the Miss C summoned me to collect the medication.

Still can't believe what the doctor said, I secretly went to Guardian to buy the pregnant kit and test again. Same result.

This time I confirmed that I finally striked the biggest first prize of my life!