"Zut alors! He has emerged!"

I feel like I should write about the birthing experience. I remember the last couple of weeks leading to labor I was reading anything I could about labor at Prince Court Medical Centre (PCMC) and particularly with Dr Aziz-- and I think it was good mental preparation for what was to come. (Ironically, the doc was away on leave when I delivered so someone else did the deed. Oh well. "Why hello strange new doctor, nice to meet you. These are my privates.")

To a first time mother/mother-to-be like meself, the days and weeks leading up to the birth was filled with ketakkeruan tak terhingga. I was reading forums about early labor signs, when to go to the hospital, what to fill my hospital bag, what to ask the doctor, other women's experiences, pain management options etc etc etc. Some of them downright freaked me out, others sounded amazing. A painless birth-- forreals?! What is that and where can I get me some. Conflicting advice was abound. Take epidural, don't take epidural!

Approaching my due date of 29th August, I was convinced I would be overdue by at least a week. My mother and mother in law both said they typically were overdue (I was born 12 days late), and my mother in law has been induced once or twice. Leading up to the birth, two words scared me the most: Induced labor. Firstly, it has been purported to be very painful, secondly, it makes you more likely to have fetal distress and undergo c-section, and thirdly, it's also been recently linked with developmental problems. So my daily prayers consisted of XYZ and also, "please don't let me get induced, quick easy painless natural labor please"

In efforts to avoid being overdue, I started drinking raspberry leaf tea at week 38 after Lili introduced it to me (she was 4 weeks early) at her open house. First it was 2 cups a day, then 3 cups a day. Then I went back to 2 cups because it started grossing me out. I also tried to fit in a walk every few days, because in my vanity I really wanted to go into labor having gained no more than 25 pounds (like my mother). Truthfully I gained closer to 27pounds, but people apparently lose a pound or two right before delivery so I wrote that I gained 25 pounds in my baby journal.

A few days before my due date, I went to go stay at my in laws, and my sister was like "What if you give birth?" and I was like "Enh, I doubt it. Don't feel anything yet."

Two days before my due date, my in laws kept commenting how I looked like I was gonna go into labor soon. And I was like "Enh, I doubt it. My stomach is a bit hard more often now, but that's just false labor"

The day before my due date, on the 27th of August, my stomach hardened frequently and then I also started feeling some back pain. Jeng jeng jeng!-- an hour of reading forums later, I was convinced it was not contractions or labor pain. Because apparently, once you're having contractions you will know it. But I felt a bit restless around noon, so I said to Ikram, I want to go walk in the mall (remembering Myra's sister telling me "Pegi jalan2 kat mall" when I asked for labor tips).

Suami tersayang suggested going to GIANT instead. Oklah, Giant pun jadi lah and so we went. I started walking around the aisles and he kept following behind me with a cart. At one point he took a shortcut and met me on the other end of the aisle and he asked, slightly irritated, "You cari apa ni?" and I, starting to feel more discomfort in my walk snapped back, "Tak cari pape I dah cakap I nak jalan je!" and I continued walking down each aisle like a loon.

Luckily that Giant was actually quite big, by the time I covered all the aisles and met products I never knew Giant sold, I had walked for 35 minutes and logged in over 3000 steps. By then, my back pain had gotten a bit worse. But that didn't stop me from noting that there was a McDonald's next door. So we had McLunch drive thru. I ate fries, sundae cone and half an apple pie-- which I instantly regretted because it occurred to me I hadn't had any greens all day.

So, balik rumah, it was around 3pm, I boiled some bendi and terung that I found in the fridge (sorry Mama, it was me. I stole them.) and ate it with some budu and cili padi. Then I went number two. :D

Then the back pain with the stomach hardening got a bit more painful. But I kept thinking, "Is this painful enough?! I don't know!!!" Around 4pm, I decided to use the contraction timer app on my phone. But it started getting difficult hitting the start button in time, because by the time I felt the 'contraction' (still wasn't convinced yet) it was a pain to get to the phone (which coincidentally was critically low on battery and had to be at the wall charging). So I enlisted Ikram to hit start and stop. By the time we finished timing the 'contractions' for an hour, it was 530pm, and I had roughly hit the 5-1-1 pattern (5 minutes or less apart/ 1 minute long/ for 1 hour). But I had already convinced myself I would be overdue, and I HATED the thought of going to the hospital and being sent back home. The rejection would be a bruise to the ego. But it was getting really painful, like on-all-fours-can't-talk-everyone-shush- painful, and so I called the hospital and they told me to come and off into the traffic we went, in a flurry sans hospital bag (which was left in Bangi).

When we arrived at the hospital around 6.15pm, the gate to the emergency entrance was closed and locked (!!) which got Ikram cursing and Mama ran out of the car to get the guard to open the door. First they were all lackadaisical but after she told them "Dah nak beranak ni!" they all kowtowed and panicked along with her. In my head I was thinking, Oh dear this better not be false labor!

We got in and they pushed me on the wheelchair into the labor room. I had been there before on a tour with a nice midwife Reza, and there she was again-- and it was a similar room but everything looked different and hazy because of the pain By then the 'contractions' were probably a couple of minutes apart, and super painful, and I was really scared that it WAS labor. The midwife hooked me up to the CTG and confirmed that I was in labor, and when Reza examined me around 7pm I was 6cm dilated! If it wasn't for the pain I would've whooped at the validation, but at that point in time, all I was focusing on was breathing in and out when the pain came. But it was getting so bad, the breathing was not really helping. Also they had me lie down and the breathing only helped when I was on all fours. The midwives asked if I wanted the epidural (something I decided I wanted if I was in pain and less than 5cm dilated. but 6cm?! just missed the cutoff!), and they said it seems a bit late to give the pethidine (which I didn't want anyway because it can cross the placenta) so I went with the happy gas.

Boy, it was not very happy gas at all. The pain was so intense and frequent by then, my head felt like exploding each time I was at the height of a contraction. But something the gas did help with was rhythm. The godsent of a midwife, Reza, coached me through the gas and told me how to use it right. So I started inhaling slowly when I felt the next contraction creep up, and steadily increased the speed and amount I inhaled as the pain escalated. By the time it hit the dreaded peak, I had inhaled so much gas that my cheeks were numb and I started getting memories of a night with friends long ago and far away....I almost wanted to chuckle, but then the next wave of pain would creep up again. This continued for about an hour. Around 8pm, Reza checked me again and I saw her eyes widen, she was muttering, "10cm" and the doctor who was to replace my doctor had not arrived yet. So she told me not to push when I felt like nak terberak. Luckily the doctor came in a few minutes later and it was go time. They took me off the gas, strapped my legs up in stirrups and I felt like a donkey or some animal for slaughter. Ikram had finally reappeared to hold my hand after being whisked away for paper work, and then the pushing began! I think after labor, there is a whole new meaning to the words 'pushing', 'meneran', 'sembelit' and etc. 20 minutes later, after I thought I could not push any more, the doctor snips me down there (!!!) the baby's head comes out, and the rest as they say, from 8.33pm, is history.

All in all, alhamdulillah my labor was what people would call 'quick easy natural birth'-- exactly what I had been praying for (asking for painless was perhaps pushing it.). I suppose it was natural in the sense that it happened on it's own accord, through the regular channel (heh), but as 'easy' as it was, it was certainly the toughest thing I have physically done. And although I'm no athlete, I have climbed up Mount Kinabalu, and done a few 10km runs, I have had a miscarriage, and I thought those were hard-- they now pale in comparison. I certainly thought at some point I might die. But after I heard the baobei squeal, and they cleaned me up and wheeled me to the room, I saw the fluorescent lights blink past up above me, I suddenly had an image of Hannibal from the A-team biting a cigar and smiling with satisfaction saying, "I love it when a plan comes together." -- Of course by then I had inhaled a tank of nitrous oxide.

Do I have any advice for a new mother who stumbles upon this post? Not much, but I don't think the raspberry leaf tea hurt, I am certainly glad I walked a lot and kept my weight reasonable, and the breathing and mantras (wa iza maridtu fahuwayashfeen-He will relieve me of this pain) helped me cope. As many people told me before the deed, women's bodies are made to handle the pain and intensity of labor, but mentally and physically preparing doesn't hurt.

Also, if anyone is considering giving birth at Prince Court, I will say Ikram and I were not as impressed by the 'hotel' part of the hospital as we were impressed by the skill, generosity, and kindness of the midwives and nurses. There's a good prenatal class (which we only went to day 2 postpartum hehe) that teaches you the basics of newborn care (something we are now learning about on the job), they are very breastfeeding friendly and all in all part of a good birth experience for me.

Finally, such a post would not be complete without a snap of le petit prince, our bundle of joy! literally~ what a bundle of joy.

Omar-bei, may your life be filled with joy sayang, and may you bring joy to everyone you meet!

Baobei Omar (day 2)