Sunday, September 26, 2010

Lil' Marcus Lifts Up His Head & the Labour

Marcus Lifts Up His Head
We know, we know...
He's not supposed to be doing this yet, he was only 10 days old that day...

SC put him on his chest to rest...and he suddenly did this!
Marcus Lifts Up His Head
Hang on, son...you're supposed to do this when you're 3 months old...
We were worried if this was dangerous for him.

After a while, he rested...
Big SC & Little SC
It looks like he loves the camera, doesn't he?

I might be totally biased...
Big SC & Little SC
...but I think he's pretty cute.
Heheh.

Big SC & Little SC
Some of you may wonder about my labour.
It is certainly not a pretty story, but I'll write about it anyway.
After this, I'll try to keep the baby posting minimum. Trying is the operative word ;P

So, here we go~

I started to feel some contractions on Sep 11th late evening...it felt like period cramps but a bit more intense. Sep 12th early morning, the contractions were about 15 minutes apart, and it stopped for a few hours later in the afternoon. I thought about calling my doctor, but thinking that he might ask me to go to the hospital too early, I didn't call, anyway the contractions had stopped. I thought it could've been a false labour.

Later in the afternoon the contractions started again, they're about 20 minutes apart, we decided to call the doc. The doc told me to have a nice dinner and call him again by 9pm, and I did. Based on my contractions, he told me that I was in early stage of labour, he asked me to check into the hospital, so I did.

Oh, I planned to deliver my baby normally, c-section should be the last resort.

My doc visited my around 11pm, and the contractions were still around every 15 minutes apart, and the pain was gradually increasing, but so far, they were manageable. I asked my doc about epidural, and he told me that he could administer the epidural then and there...but he & the nurses thought I wouldn't need it, since I was not in that much pain. He did warn me that if I wanted epidural at 3 am...no anesthetist might be there to give me the drug. Oh, and the epidural would cost me an extra HK$20,000 (whew!).

I was confused, but based on the recommendations of my doctor and the nurses, who told me that they do have other ways to help me manage the pain (painkiller injection & gas), so, it is not necessary for me to ask for epidural at that moment. I trusted them.

I shouldn't have. HAHAHA :D

I checked into my room and rested, they asked SC and my sis to go home and get some rest. We will call them when I'm nearer to delivery. I was wondering if I could stand the pain alone without SC by my side...but I thought I was strong and him getting more rest would serve everyone better.

So...the pain gradually intensified, and around 3 am, the pain became so intense, it woke me up every 6-8 minutes and made me sweat bullets. Even though I closed my eyes, I could see "light" every time the contractions came. I called the nurse asking for painkiller injection, and I was told to ask again when my contractions were 5 minutes apart.

Around 4 am, the contractions were still not 5 minutes apart, but the pain became less and less manageable for me. Before I called the nurse again, she came to check on me, and told my that I was doing very well and my progress was great. I was pretty happy with myself...and they wheeled me to the delivery room. Woohooo! How exciting!

In the delivery room, they gave me an IV drip to speed up the labour.

...OMG...

After they induction started, the pain intensified immediately...if there's a scale of 1-10...the pain quickly turned from scale 8 to...1,000,000!!! They told me to call SC, and by the time SC arrived, they've given me painkiller injection, and punctured my inside to break my water. The painkiller injection didn't freaking help at all...it only made me sleepy and unable to scream. I tried to tolerate the pain by squeezing the sides of my bed and SC's hand...I couldn't say a word and I was too "drugged" to scream. When I told them that the pain was so great, they gave me the gas...which has similar effect to the injection...the pain remains super strong, and I just became too "drunk" to scream or manage myself.

My doctor came at around 6am, Sep 13th...after two hours of induction, super intense pain, and listening to a woman giving birth next door. Two hours felt like eternity.

My doctor said that my dilation has only reached 7 after all we've been through (we were aiming for 10), and he told me that it was still a long way from delivery.

I thought. WTF.

I heard what's going on next door, and there would still be around 3 hours before I could be in so much more pain? I wasn't sure if I could handle it.

I asked the doctor for epidural. 20k, 30k, 100k...I don't freaking care, give it to me NOW! Doc told me that he could give me epidural, but...there's still a chance that I won't be able to deliver my baby normally, and I might have to opt for c-section after all...he asked me if I wanted an emergency c-section right that moment.

I thought...anything but the pain. I asked SC and he agreed. The doctor and nurses arranged for an emergency c-section, which, again, felt like eternity...and they wheeled me to the operating room. On the way to the operating room, I started to scream a bit, tears were rolling down my face non stop, although I wasn't exactly crying. Once I was in the operating room, I saw the anesthetist...he looked like an angel to me :D

After a couple of more super duper crazy painful contractions, they put me under...and the next time I woke up...I was in the recovery room and I heard SC's voice telling me how handsome our baby is.

I never felt happier in my entire life.

I might have experienced double pain...from trying to deliver normally and the pain of recovering from the c-section (it was painful the moment I tried to get off the bed the next day, but trust me, ain't nothing compared to normal labour pain ^_^), but...this may sound like a cliche (it is a cliche), but it's all so worth it.

Look at lil' Marcus :)

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Marcus is so sweet and tiny! And your labour story sounds exactly like mine, except I had the epidural before the IV drip and was conscious for the emergency c-section. I only got to 4cm dilated as baby's head was too big!

Donna.

GracieMei said...

You are not biased Rita. Lil' Marcus is absolutely adorable, so very very adorable!

Unknown said...

Oh your lil' Marcus is soooo adorable...and showing signs of geniosity! :P I'm attaching to the labour ward these 2 weeks, so I've heard many stories similar to yours. I've even had a mother tell me to choose C-sec when I have a baby no matter what, because she was in sooo much pain at that moment! LOL

Obviously normal delivery/C-sec both have their pros/cons. Hope you recover from your C-sec soon :) thank god for analgesia eh?

T. said...

*melts* Marcus is sooooooooooo adorable! SERIOUSLY, he's so SUPER DUPER FRICKIN' CUTE!

lubna said...

Congratulations Rita!! Marcus is sooooo adorable and cute!!

Jackie said...

Oh Reets! That's intense! But y'know what, sooo totally worth it because Marcus is adorable!

Also, about him lifting his head up? My mom saw this photo and said that you have to keep an eye on him, he's going to be a stubborn one ;) There was some Chinese saying behind it, haha! You'll have to ask SC!

But my friend Ariana was doing exactly the same thing at Marcus' age - he's going to be just fine!

Jax x

Unknown said...

@connie c-section ftw! lols

Shirley said...

You are right... it's all so worth it. :) lil Marcus is sooo cute!!! Bravo mommy Rita!

Anonymous said...

Marcus is so adorable. Pour lots of kisses and sniff on my behalf. hahahaha...
I think the doc just wanna get over and c-section is pretty quick money to earn! ;)
Dont you get the epidural for c-section too, rite ;P
All and all, baby and mommy are doing great :)

-ly

michelle said...

I've been meaning to tell you CONGRATULATIONS! Marcus is adorable and I'm so happy for you & SC!

I loved your labor story...it was so very Rita :)

rubinaastari said...

Hi! Greetings! Must say, I love love your blog. This one as well as the food blog you have. It's been an inspiration for a newbie like me. Hehe.

Wow, I haven't had the chance to enjoy your writing in a while, and suddenly... a baby!!?? He is uber cute. Congratulations!!And have a blast with him! I know I did with mine.

Permission to put link of LIVING LA VIDA RITA on my blog??

again, congraaatttsss!!

Unknown said...

Hi Rubina, glad you enjoy my blog and our family's antics :)
Feel free to link ;)