the labor story. the final labor story.

I owe you BIG.. The story of my labor. .Without induction. Without epidural the drug.
I am not against epidural. In fact I believe it is a wonderful creation kinda drug to calm down the moms which also means calming the baby. But one, I was itched to know how the real labor is and two, I want to eat my pain killer right away after the labor. Taking the epidural means you can only take something orally (food, water, anything) two hours after they have taken the epidural and the pain of the womb contracting AFTER Labor (they called it Rengat in Malay) is something that I couldn’t take, therefore having the epidural off means I could deal with the Rengat (hopefully) easily after the labor.
So I bled in the morning of Monday. Blood is always my show. I had it for both Azeuchry and Anna, and went into the labor room straight away. This time, I waited until late in the afternoon, until the Man finished his first day of bowling tournament organized by the Headquarters. (Two B I have hated : the Badminton and the Bowling). It is a big tournament, involving the five regions held biannual, so it is important for him, right, right, right? (Seperti biasa, akulah isteri yang memahami dan paling best di Dunia, uwek)
So we went in to the labor room in the late afternoon, stopped Dr Delaila from going home and asked her to poke me. It happened that it was only 1 cm. (it it always 1 cm when the blood come out, it was 1cm too for Anna and Azeuchry). I asked to go home, told her straight in the face that I am trying to do this one without being induced and without epidural. She nodded. Weird she didn’t give me that option during my first two. Kenapa ya.. mengingatkan aku pada grey’s anatomy where all surgeons are trying to defy the gravity, the rules of God. Haha..
So we went home, sempat lagi pergi singgah kedai perabot nak book new shoe rack menggantikan shoe rack aku yang dah tertonggeng, screamed happily seeing the kids faces and slept through the night hugging Anna and savoring the thick memory foam mattress feeling, knowing that my nights after that night will never be the same hahaks.
My first contraction started at around 12 midnight. Sharp pain behind and lenguh lenguh kaki. It was like once in one hour time. Mild. Manageable. Come subuh it was already once in 30 minutes. I remember to time myself and to breathe deeply everytime the contraction comes. ‘Facebook’ed asking around how exactly the contraction feels. Why mine hurting my back more than my tummy? And you will ask, “dan ini anak ketiga kau?” Haha..
Tried to sleep in between the contraction. It kinda went away around 10 in the morning. Then around noon, it was like once in twenty minutes. That it went quietly, nada, none, from 3 – 4. The Man was back, feverish, after two-days of bowling. He went to the clinic. At around 3, he called said that the clinic wanted to ward him for the fever might be dengue. He requested for iV Drip and that would take two hours. At around 5, my contraction is around 10 minutes duration. I was panicking between remembering to breathe deeply, to look at the watch to time myself and to recite some Zikr. He came back around 5:30, sempat lagi tu mengecheck emailnya kat PC nya, I was trying very hard to stay calm. HE went solat, and off to SJMC we went.
By the time I got into the car, at around 6:30, the contraction is around 8 – 10 minutes, at times it was 5 minutes per. He sped through the Sungai Besi tolls, and took NPE, just to be caught in the flowing traffic from kL going to kuchai lama and/or sungai besi town. It was 7 o’clock and I recited syahadah non stop, the pain somehow eased off when the Man was busy maneuvering the traffic. We were about 45 minutes stucked at the head of NPE.
We finally reached SJMC around 7:50 and a big contraction came in as I wanted to go out from the car. A lady offered the wheel chair but I don’t think sitting would help. Tried to walk calmly to the labor room at Fourth Floor while the Man went and parked the car. A guy asked whether I was okay in the lift and I said, holding on with a big smile to him. His wife might already be in the labor room. My eyes searched for a mid-wife, finding one, handed her over my appointment card and said, “every 5 minutes now”. She shoved me in, checked me out and said, ‘8 cm already’. No time for epidural. That was a relief.
Quickly told her that I was strep B positive before and got a shot of antibiotic. Was taught to use the gas mask. Doctor came to get the water broken and went out. Then the contraction frequency is uncounted. I inhaled the gas deeply everytime it came. It was not bad. I have been praying for a fast and easy labor, hoped so hard it was given to me. Then the doctor came. They asked me to push hard, this time without the gas, just to break the 9cm to10cm. Then I could feel the bulging feeling. Then another push, came out the head. I could not take any break anymore, since the bulging feeling is naturally force my body to push the baby out. The third and final push, the whole body came out and the bulging feeling is gone. (oh yea while I was still hoping it was a girl, the first thing that was flashed to me was his testis) There I was thanking God for the fast and relatively easy labor, the most importantly the baby was safe. The doctor asked me for the final push, which was not painful, to take the placenta out. The Man was asked to cut the cord, and finally, my baby boy was taken away from me, from a life hanging to mommy’s womb. My baby boy was free. And he was free safely.
While the Man snapped the baby’s picture away when the nurses cleaned him up and azan to his little crumpled ear, the doctor and my midwife was busy pushing lots of blood clots from my tummy. They squeezed my tummy hard, I could feel lumps of solid coming out. She finally stitched me and again, found out that the lumps keep coming out. Again they squeezed my tummy. When they took me down to my room, I found out that the lumps were still coming out heavily and again, the nurse squeezed and massaged my tummy downwards. At first I was like, sakit la you idiot, then I was like, get me my pain killer. Gulped down a big glass of Milo and then the two ponstan tablet. My ‘tumpah darah’ was not that bad, but told the Man, this is our final final. Period. Feverish body later that night. Compounded by the cold a/c, I had sleepless night.
The pead monitored the boy for three nights, since the Strep B virus might be giving him effect but it didn’t. Get him circumcised on Day 2. He started latching properly on Day 3. The Man was with me. The first night he was a hero, The second night he was whimpering and whinning in his sleep, the third night he went back home and finally I had a peaceful night. He came picking us up, got the bills and off to home!
The two kids back home were not allowed to the Hospital, so they were so happy seeing mom’s face. Azeuchry kept asking me about the new baby everytime I called home.
That was 25 days ago and mom finally regain the strength and faced the PC again. He was named on 14th Day. Adam Zulqarnain. The first man on earth and a leader’s name. the cord stump dropped at Day 17 and the ring over the little penis on Day 16. The Man bathed him and once he started working, I took over. It was awkward at first but I got the hang of it by Day 8 or 9 I think. Haha.