Hello readers! By the time i am writing this post, it's already in November but i back dated this date of this post as i give birth to my baby on this date.
Before i continue, this is purely my sharing on my own experience and every women's birth experience might be different. As much as i like to keep this precious memories on my blog, i would also like to share my experience with other first time mum-to-be that wanted to know how it is like during the actual day of delivery. Especially if you opt to have a planned c section delivery like me.
My EDD was 1 Oct 2020, however i decided to deliver one week early since my husband, Jeremy is going to start his course on 29 Sep 2020 so by delivering 25 Sep he will be able to accompany me throughout my stay at Thomson Medical centre. If i choose to deliver on 25 Sep, i will be 39 week day 1, however some of my friends told me there is also chances baby will be arriving on week 38, so everyday i would be talking to my baby, bribing him to come out only on 25 Sep because as long as he is in my tummy, he will get to eat all sort of foods/drinks, but once he is out, he is going to drink milk for a very long time. Boring. Hahahaha, maybe he is a glutton because he really didnt come out early but on my planned date. hee.
Anyway so my last gynae review was on 18 Sep 2020, on this same day, we went to the hospital counter to do a pre-admission too. The nurse has informed me if i have spotting or any signs of labor, i will have to come to the hospital and to the labour ward immediately. During the pre-admission, the staff will settle all the paperworks, providing us an overview of the estimated hospital bill, confirming the ward that i am booking and we can choose to make partial payment of the additional deposit require or to pay full so we decided to pay in full. The staff told us that we can come in anytime after 12am, so eventually we decided to come in after 12.30am on the actual day. They will also ask if we are opting for express checkout upon discharge, for express checkout they will send the bill to your designated email within 3 days after your discharge so if there is no discrepancies, they will charge to your creditcard directly.
This was pretty straightforward. After we were done, the staff give me my pre-admission card that i only need to scan during my admission day. A day before my operation day, i am thankful to receive many messages from my friends for their well wishes and smooth delivery. At this stage, i am ready to unload the baby off my body because i am getting heavier and it was harder for me to turn around during my sleep.
We choose a one bedded ward in Thomson medical centre for privacy purposes. The operation will start early morning so we decided to check in early since we need to reach the hospital latest by 530am if we are not staying over. This was the lobby area and we was waiting for our number to be called, my tummy is too big by now so Jeremy told me to sit down while he will go to the counter when they called.
For planned c section, I will have to fast after 12am, we waited pretty long because there were like 2 person in front of us, we reached about 12.30am but all the waiting, by the time they was ready to bring us up to my ward, it was already 1am. I was feeling very sleepy by then. Jeremy then told me they told us the one bedder ward was not available so they put me in 2 bedder ward first, will try to change our ward once the one bedded ward is available.
This is how a 2 bedder ward looks like for Thomson medical centre in the photo below you can refer to their website for the different type of wards available. Usually they do conduct the room tours, however due to covid, they couldn't conduct the tours of the different wards so i decided based on the picture on their website. As long as i have my own space, i am perfectly fine even if they gave us a 2 bedder ward temporarily.
At that moment, i was just wondering how Jeremy is going to sleep because for 1 bedder ward, they have at least a couch but for this 2 bedder ward, except the other bed that is empty, there is no suitable place for him to rest. Thankfully, the nurse told him that he can use the bed beside mine to rest for the night. Lucky!
Basically, the hospital do provide the maternity pads so you only need to bring some extra, i thought the hospital won't provide so i actually brought lots of maternity pads. They told me to change into the gown after i remove all the bra & panties. Initially i thought we could rest for the night but Jeremy told me the nurse said she will be coming back to do a briefing.
During the start of the briefing, she will verify my identification by asking me my IC number and name, getting information such as my height and weight and the other required information.
For eg, asking if i have any drug allergy, existing health conditions, there is a checklist which they need to ask me before they put a tick, whether i am breastfeeding or not, since i am not breastfeeding, they ask me my preferred choice of milk formula for the baby, there were so many brands so mummy do not need to worry if you are choosing formula milk for your baby. They also asked if there is any reason for c-section but i answered "Personal choice" They will also ask if i would like to give my baby the BCG vaccine while handing me the brochure because apparently some parents do not want to give their baby. I think if this is something that doesn't harm my baby but providing more protection for him, why not? Anyway the vaccine is free, if i didn't remember wrongly.
During the briefing, they will also ask if i have shaved on the vagina area, anyway they will checked, if not, shaving is required before the operation, for me i have the habit of shaving so there wasn't any issue with that. I think shaving is required to prevent any infection after the operation, despite not delivering via vagina.
After the briefing, the nurse ask when was my last bowel movement before telling me she will be inserting a medicine, which is the fleet enama inside my ass so i can clear my bowel before the op as she said sometimes during op might have uncontrollable bowel movement, i was kinda shocked when she insert because i could feel the discomfort and pain.
Thank god i only need to do 1 time.
After that, i began to pass out gas and was having a stomachache so i went to the toilet to clear. The nurse came back shortly and use a machine to check for baby heartbeat before i can finally rest.
The night was long and i knew i have to be awake by 6am since the op was 7plus in the morning so i set alarm clock so that i can wake up at least to brush my teeth, face before the nurse will come for me to send me to the operating theatre. However i realise i do not need the alarm clock because it was so hard for me to fall asleep!
I am not sure if my baby know he is going to arrive to this world in the morning but that night, i could feel my stomach tightening and i was told to inform the nurse by pressing a button in the toilet after i have urinate inside a cup they gave me for some test. In total i probably have 3 hour of sleep only. I remember Jeremy was still sleeping soundly but i manage to get up before my alarm clock ring, wash my face, brush my teeth and the timing was just right before the nurse came in and told me she is going to push me to the holding area.
It was getting so real by then, so i lie on the bed they push in, and it was the first time i experienced lying down on a bed while taking the lift, haha. Jeremy can only send me off until the lift area as he can't enter the lift since i will be shifted to the holding area. He will have to go down to the lobby before entering the delivery suite.
As the nurse push me to the holding area, she asked if this is my first time, i say yes, so she explained to me that she will be pushing me to the waiting area first and explained during the operation, the nurse will give me two injection, one on my hand, and one more on my spine which is the epidural jab, so this provide me some idea on what to expect during the operation.
It was early morning, i think it was only 6.30am by then so there was no other patient except me in the holding area, after settling me down, the nurse told me to wait awhile as the doctor will come later. So during this waiting period, i was really nervous but i couldn't do anything, i have so many questions on my mind that i want to ask when i see my doctor or even my anesthesiologist.
When my doctor arrived, i feel relieved to see at least a familiar face since i can't see anyone as they closed the curtain arounds me. He started by asking me how am i, before looking at me and ask if i didnt sleep well last night which i say "yes" and he ask "why". When i say stressed. And he could still joke w me by answering me, "stressed uh? Ok lets cancel this op and go natural!!" With my immediate reply, "no! I get even more stressed if i go natural". And he was chuckling loudly before telling me ok he shall see me later.
Not long after, the nurse came and they didn't really tell me the operation is starting, i only remember them asking me several times if i have any specific timing for the bb to be born and i say no. So the next moment i know, they started to push me to another area, and when they told me to move over to transfer to another bed, that's when i realise the operation is starting!
But everything happens so quickly, the moment i shifted myself to the operation bed, they ask me to lie sideways, curled up, one of the nurse started the injection on my left hand, while another one asking me to curl as much as i can with my knee trying to touch my stomach as the anesthesiologist is going to inject the epidural jab on my spine. I didn't even have the chance to speak, i was only able to follow the instructions given, at the same time, another nurse was holding the laughing gas and ask me to inhale deeply as much as possible. This all happen almost the same time so when the epidural jab on my spine is completed, i could experienced instant numbness on my lower part of body so they quickly shifted me back lying flat on the bed, i could still feel my legs being laid in a position for them to insert the catheter, that is when i started experiencing discomfort on my shoulders, It just feel like sudden soreness on my shoulders and i couldn't really concentrate by then, even though the dr ask if im ok, but i really couldn't even speak a single word because i am feeling so uncomfortable, i am not even sure if i was shivering, i have to wear the mask due to covid so at one point i told the nurse i can't breathe so they try to lower down my mask for me.
Then i saw the nurse laying the cover so i cant see anything from my eye level. I was conscious throughout the whole op just that i couldn't feel anything during the op. So i could hear the conversation between the doctor and the anesthesiologist. The sound wasnt that scary, i could smell the burning smell which i think is still acceptable to me because i used to assist doctor doing laser procedure when i work in a clinic so this smell is not unfamiliar to me. I only remember closing my eyes tightly because i was so scared and nervous!
After awhile i heard my gynae told the nurse to call the daddy to come in as the baby is coming out. At that time even when jeremy is beside me holding my hands, but i am too scared to even talk to him, i was just praying it to be over soon.
The nurse told me that i would experience some heavy tugging as they are going to take out the baby, indeed i could feel the pressure they apply but its not painful at all. Within few seconds, our baby is out! I was really relieved when i heard our baby making his first loud cry to this world. They started cleaning him before passing it to me by placing my baby near my chest. I remember the doctor saying that he need to change his machine because the weight of the baby is different from the estimate weight that he said during our scan. Hahaha, during the last scan, he told me my baby should be around 3.1kg, can try natural, luckily i didnt because my baby came out weighing at 3.54kg! Haha
Aftertat, i think the anesthesiologist was very enthusiastic and suggest to take photo, so here a photo of us when the baby is out!
The feeling is just so surreal when they cleaned my baby and place him on my chest. This is the first time i get to see him in real after carrying him for the past 10months. Look at that chubby cheeks! Haha
After that they pass the baby for the pediatrician to check while my gynae stitched up my wound and the whole operation has ended! I was feeling groggy as they shift me to the waiting area for observation. I think i manage to sleep awhile before a nurse came in and help me to put on my binder as well as the compression socks.
After the observation has ended, they move me back to my ward. I was feeling very sleepy and i remember looking at the clock, it was about 9plus in the morning. Not long after, there was a nurse that push my baby in expecting me to breastfeeding but i was still feeling very drowsy. I manage to tell her that i am not breastfeeding. I have requested the medicine to stop breast milk production so when they ask me why i am not breastfeeding, i will tell them i took the medicine so i can't breastfeed anymore. In fact i think I repeat myself lots of time since my admission that i am not breastfeeding, the nurse was understanding so she say ok she will go feed the baby before passing the baby back to me later.
Initially Jeremy went to ask the nurse when they will be shifting me to my 1 bedder ward but the ward was still not available after my op, the nurse explained that the 1 bedder ward bed is different from the bed that i am resting so when they are going to change my ward, they will have to change my bed too, taking into consideration of my wound, Jeremy ask if we can remain in this 2 bedder ward but it will be just us and no other patient as we will be still paying for the 1 bedder ward price, the nurse went to check and say it can be done so we decided not to change. Since this 2 bedder ward come with 2 bed so Jeremy could sleep on another bed too while accompanying me throughout the whole stay. To me i think it was a pretty good deal since if i shift to 1 bedder ward, Jeremy won't even have a proper bed for him to rest. By staying in this ward save the hassle to change me and he get to rest properly too.
I was sleeping most of the times and while i don't get it why there was a white bowl on the table, but i knew the purpose after that when i couldn't help but to vomit several time which is probably the side effect after the op and i had to call the nurse to come and change my pillow and bedsheet.
By the time i was awake it was already afternoon so the nurse pass me a cup of milo and they told me to drink and if i don't vomit then they will be able to serve me my lunch. Eventually i was only able to eat a few mouthful of porridge when my mum and sis came to visit me.
The amount of medications i have to take because i request for painkiller to ensure i have a painless experience. Haha
Due to the covid, there were restrictions to visitor limit so each time there can only be 2 visitors, i can only pre-register up to 4 visitors and they cannot be changed during my stay. By late afternoon, 3plus i was feeling ok, the drowsy effect gone off and i was able to reply to messages etc. My mum and sis wanted to look at the baby so we went to call to get the nurse to push the baby in.
This pretty up summarise my entire birth experience via c secton at Thomson Medical Centre.
I shall write in my next post about the hospital bag checklist! Till then!
