Hello readers! I am writing this post for sharing as well as to document my first pregnancy experience for this past 10 months. As of to-date, i am in my 3rd trimester, week 38 day 6, my original EDD is on 1 Oct 2020, however my birth plan is via elective c section so i decided to have my c section date on 25 Sep 2020 which is only 2 days more to go!
Do take note my sharing is based on my own, every women's pregnancy is unique and different so do not be afraid if you do have fears towards childbirth like i do! For my case, i think it is only tough during the first trimester for me.
As i am nearing the end of my pregnancy, i am just amazed how times really flies, in this year 2020, as much as covid has affected everyone's life and everyone is confined in Singapore without being able to travel, i think this is a timely period for me to be pregnant and giving birth to my baby. Haha, mainly because for the first trimester, i still goes to work, but the rest of the second and third trimester, i have been working from home due to covid and i think this is a privilege that i really cherished because pregnancy is tough but because i was working from home, i have enough rest since i don't have to wake up early to travel to my workplace and because i moved back to my mum house, my meals are also well taken care of, and as my stomach get bigger and bigger i do not need to buy more maternity dress since i am usually in my home wear while working from home. :)
During my 1st trimester, when i found out i am pregnant, my morning sickness has been very consistent and it is a terrible feeling for me waking up every morning gagging but still having to prepare to go for work. My morning sickness lasted until the start of my second trimester, but luckily i was working from home by then so it's still ok because nobody will see me gagging most of the time. I was feeling very tired most of the time and i remember there were days my morning sickness got so bad that i vomitted when i haven't even had any breakfast and this was twice during public places! Once in the train and worse when i didn't even prepare any vomit bag because i thought i wouldn't really vomit anything since most of the times it's just nauseous and gagging. Second time i prepare a vomit bag but it's overflow and i feel so bad for making a mess of the place. At times i vomit but there was nothing and this feeling sucks too.
My 2nd trimester was by far the best part of the pregnancy that i enjoyed throughout the entire pregnancy as my morning sickness went off, i become more energetic and i feel normal like pre-pregnancy, no mood swings, stomach was not too big so i was able to sleep well, rest well. So far i didn't have any headache, water retention, cramps during this pregnancy. I didn't have any strong cravings too but i do eat alot until the doctor is asking me to stop eating so much. I love sweet stuffs and bubble tea, i think i drink bubble tea alot during this pregnancy. Hahaha.
I had heartburn for few times as i feel the burning pain at my lower chest, initially i didn't even know it was heartburn until i google it. Most terrible feeling ever. Beside heartburn, there was another incident i feel it was gastric pain but the doctor told me it's probably something that i eat wrong, the kind of pain that stirred up every few sec is really no joke, it hurt so bad i was just rolling on my bed, even if i don't move, the pain persist, and i ended up crying so hard and telling myself i am definitely not opting for natural birth since i can't even tolerate such pain. This pain lasted for several hours and i only become better after i vomit, and this happen in the middle of the night zz.
Throughout the whole pregnancy, i don't think i have a sensitive smell too which some women might have which i think i am still lucky so i won't feel nauseous if i happen to smell anything that is smell bad to me. Everything was pretty normal.
But after i am nearing the end of my 2nd trimester and reaching the 3rd trimester, this is the anxiety period when i started to think of the actual day and i couldn't really sleep well. I was growing bigger, it was getting difficult for me to move and turn when i am sleeping, i can't get up immediately whenever i am getting up from my bed every morning due to the big tummy.
There were many thoughts, even though each gynae reviews shows baby are healthy, so i didn't have to think so much on his health but there were other concerns which scan might not shows, for eg, birthmark, what if the baby has birthmark on his face? what if he is not cute at all? This might sound silly but this was my exact feeling all the way to the actual day of birth. I am also worried on the actual day how it is going to be like, whether there might be complications during the operation, and what if the anesthesiologist didn't inject enough dosage of the anesthesia and i feel the pain during the operation? or what if the doctor didn't manage to reach on time and the anesthesia wears off? Death is my biggest fear so i really hope everything can goes well smoothly but it's hard not to think about it despite assurance from many of my friends. Haha
I didn't went to watch the natural birth or c sec videos to avoid having fear on the actual birth day, but i do lots of research and checked with some of my friends that had delivered via c section of how it is like, for eg. many say the operation is super fast, it takes only about 30min for the operation to end, they also told me i will feel tugging on my tummy when the doctor is getting the baby out as well as because i am conscious since they will only numb my lower part of the body, so i will be able to hear all the sounds going on in the operation. By understanding all this makes me less scared of the actual day and have some rough idea of how it is going to be like.
But for me, i do know that natural birth delivery is definitely out of the question for me, even though i didn't watch the actual footage video of how the baby arrived to this world, but i watched video of women going through natural birth delivery and it is too tough for me to handle. They are just so brave to tolerate hours of the contractions and i don't think i can do it, so even though the doctor told me my body is able to deliver naturally, but no thanks!
My gynae is a cute man when he always pretend he didn't know i want to deliver via c section when i have been telling him during my 1st trimester because he is a pro-natural doctor. Haha he will always ask me why and try to bluff me! Haha for eg, the long hours of waiting and contractions before the actual pushing. I have never seen any women delivering via natural birth get the baby out in 30mins, it is usually long hours of waiting for the dilation, even though every women varies, but during this long hours of waiting comes with contraction, as much as they mentioned there is epidural available, but i just don't want my vagina to expand up to 10cm because the post birth pain will be terrible even though many mentioned the recovery is faster than c section. The pushing part probably will takes 10min but i am referring to the moment waiting for the cervix to open, it is just too long!
In Singapore, if you opt for natural delivery but imagine waiting for so many hours but the baby still doesn't want to come out and you eventually have to go for c section, it's pretty much waste of time isn't it? Especially they will charge you twice as well, one for natural birth and one more due to emergency C-section. I doesn't want to take this risk. Even though many are always pro towards natural birth, but i think birth plan is personal for every mummy, you have the choice to decide which is more comfortable for you and not be swayed by just because everyone is going natural, or hearsay natural is good for baby and you want to do the same. Many baby that are delivered through c section are living healthy too, i am a true case as i am also delivered via c section.
Thus i will prefer planned c section and choose it to be my birth plan because it's fast, less worrying compare to natural birth on when your water bag is going to break, and what to do if it really do and wondering which day is your baby coming to this world. If you are a first time mummy going for the planned c section, you probably will only be worrying the actual thing on the actual day.
I shall share in another post my birth experience after that!
Till then.
