22 Sept 2014
It was our scheduled weekly check-up at our OB. I was exactly 37 weeks pregnant. Before the check-up, I was actually thinking if I should still go to work after our check-up because I wanted to properly hand over my "to-do"things to my colleague. But I was so tired from the previous weekend that I decided to fill the whole day off from work. I was so tired I actually thought I would give birth the night before (Sunday). See, it was my mother's 60th birthday on the 23rd and we celebrated it over the weakend so I was a but exhausted.
Anyway, as with our usual check-ups even though I won't be going to work I still leave in the morning with Joema. He goes to work and I while away the time in a nearby Starbucks. The perks of having your workplace and OB's clinic within walking distance. After eating breakfast and reading a few chapters of the book I'm reading around 10am, I headed to our OB's clinic. She wasn't there yet when I arrived and I was fourth in line. I texted Joema as a soon as I arrived at the clinic and told him I might be there until lunch time since I was fourth and Dra. wasn't there yet. But as fate would have it, Dra arrived after 10mins and that the first two patients were not yet in the clinic so technically I was already second in line. The first patient was only for blood extraction so that won't take much time so I already texted Joema to come to the clinic quickly. He arrived just in time before we were ushered in inside the ultrasound room for our turn. Dra. checked the baby's weight and she was a bit concerned that the baby's getting too big for me to give birth normally, he was almost 7 lbs based on the ultrasound. Dra. mentioned that if I give birth by the 39th or 39th week, the baby might be too big already. I told her I will give birth that week, I'm pretty sure of it hehe. After the ultrasound, Joema was asked to leave the room and wait at the clinic while Dra. did an internal exam (IE) on me. It turned out I was correct because I was already 4cm dilated. Woopee!!! She told us to have lunch first and then we can proceed to the hospital to be admitted. When I went inside the clinic, Joema immediately asked if we're going to the hospital already, I told him yes and that I was 4cm dilated. He was so sweet, he kept on saying "I love you" to me hehe. I'm glad my husband appreciates the fact that I carried our offspring for 9 months and I was about to give birth to our son right that moment.
So Joema and I went home first to have lunch even though we already have our hospital bags with us in the car. So we ate lunch first at home, packed a few more items in the hospital. I even took a nap while Joema went to the laundry shop to leave some laundry and had the car washed.
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| Let's do this!!! |
4pm - Pre-labor Room
We left for the hospital around 3pm and was admitted at the pre-labor room around 4pm. When the resident OB did that IE at the pre-labor room I was already 4cm dilated. Although she mentioned that the contractions are irregular and not that strong. Which was true since I don't feel any pain at all at that time. After they did all the initial screening, Joema was asked to get a room for us while they ready me to be transferred to the labor room. I told the resident OB and nurse that I want Joema to be with me inside the labor room but they kept on telling me that it was still to be cleared with our OB. Anyways, I just told Joema to go to the labor room after he gets our room.
6pm - Labor Room
I thought it was only 5pm by the time I was transferred to the labor room. It turned out the clock in my cubicle in the labor from was one hour late. Gosh hahaha! They only found out after the epidural was administered to me. When I was transferred to the labor room, an IE was done again and I was already 5cm dilated. So that was 5pm labor room time but 6pm real time. Joema was not yet around then, I had to remind the nurse who administered my IVs to let Joema inside the labor room once he arrived. They tracked him down and apparently he was still at the admission office waiting for our room. He was able to go to the labor room at 6pm (labor room time, 7pm real time). Another IE was done to me before he arrived and I was already 6cm dilated then.
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| See it was really after 6pm when I thought it was only around 5pm haha! Hardly feeling any pain at this point. The number in orange shows my heart rate while the green one shows the level of contractions. |
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| Smiling through a contraction. |
The resident OB asked me if I want the epidural already administered. I asked her if there's a limit or time as to when I should have the epidural administered because I wasn't feeling any pain at that time. She mentioned it really depends on my threshold for pain but that at the latest not until I was 8cm dilated. After a few minutes I asked them if I could have my epidural because I didn't want to go through another IE without it. Did I mention that IEs are hell? I hated it, so I told the resident OB I want my epidural before the next IE. The anaesthesiologist arrived a few minutes after that which was also about time because I already started feeling some cramps in my abdomen. The drug they administered via IV to help the contractions progress was already working. At 7:30pm (real time) epidural was administered to me. After this time, they found out the clock in our cubicle was one hour late so they corrected it hahaha. I requested for the magic button that I can just press to administer the epidural every 15minutes. But it was only given to me after the first shot ran out. I was feeling the cramping sensation almost every 5minutes by this time. When I got the button I pressed it every 15minutes or so to ease the pain.
So the next IE was done I think around 9pm and I was still 6cm dilated by then. Our OB also arrived by then. The next IE was done around 10:30pm, the resident OB who was doing the IE and while doing the IE I think poked my water bag by mistake so it broke. I mentioned in a previous post that I had a lot of amniotic fluid, so when my water broke at the labor room amniotic fluid was gushing out of me. The resident OB whose hand was still inside me (TMI I know!) was wet all over hahaha. My bed was soaking and my back was almost wet from the amniotic fluid. The nurses had to change my beddings after that. Anyway, the resident OB said I was 8-9cm dilated by then. I thought I could give birth any time then.
On a side note, Joema who was with me at the labor room was texting our friends on the updates. There's an inside joke within our group that Sept 22 is a no-no date for a birthday hehe. So they were betting and teasing Joema that the baby will come out on the 22nd. I really thought I could give birth after a few minutes when my water bag broke. So after that I only pressed the button for the epidural every 30minutes to an hour thinking that I woul give birth soon. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. The IE was done to me every hour. By 11pm, I was 9cm dilated and the resident OB asked me to practice pushing because although my contractions are regular the baby wasn't going down th birth canal. The resident OB had to teach me how to push again because I already forgot hahaha (inhale and then hold your breath and push for 10 counts). Pushing helped and it was also a great relief for me to get through the wave of contractions.
23 September 2014
I think around 12midnight after another IE was done, I was almost fully dilated as the resident OB put it.
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| Sleeping through contractions. This time around I think the monitor wasn't correctly reflecting the contractions. Medyo nagalaw yung belt na nakakabit sa tummy ko to monitor the contractions kaya di na nagreregister ng tama yung level sa monitor, the highest point it got to was around 40 when I felt the cramps. |
By 1am I was fully dilated but the position of baby is +2. Also around this time I can really feel the contractions (like painful cramps although still manageable). This was a bit new to me because with Miya I didn't feel as much pain. This time around I felt that I wanted to pushy the baby out already so I asked the resident OB what we were waiting for. They did another IE around 1:15am and said that the position of the baby is +1 I think. See the position of the baby on the birth canal is +2, +1, 0 -1, -2. They were waiting for baby to come down to the lowest position.
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| Not smiling anymore hahaha! I wanted to give birth na at this time. |
By 2am they did another IE and voila…baby was ready to come out.
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| Being wheeled to the delivery room. See the clock - 2:10am. |
The took me to the delivery room and the medical team prepped. I think I was there for only a few minutes before baby came out, 5-10minutes for them to prep and then it was show time. I only pushed maybe three big pushes through one contraction and then he was there. He was crying and our OB put him on top of my tummy. I had the overwhelming sensation to cry when I saw him, all the bed rest and difficulties we had to endure when I was pregnant all came back to me. but I held back my tears as I thought I might embarrass myself if I cried like a baby (pun intended).
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| Can you see him? |
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| There he is! |
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| He was sobrang likot while Dra. was trying to put him on top of my tummy that Dra. had to tell him, "Wag ka malikot!" LOL |
thie
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| As with Miya, Joema got to cut the cord |
With Miya before, I held her only for a few minutes then she was taken from me and was cleaned inside the lamaze room by the pedia team while I was closed up by the OB team. This time around, baby was with me the entire time we were at the delivery room right after his birth until I was led to the recovery room. That was awesome! Unfortunately, since he was with me the entire time and was not cleaned up in the delivery room, Joema didn't have the chance to have a photo with him just the two of them before baby was led to the nursery.
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| Unang Yakap. I finally got to hold him. |
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| Yep, he's a Medical City baby alright. |
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| So happy to finally hold him and see him! |
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| First photo with Mommy and Daddy |
By the way, we didn't use the lamaze room in Medical City this time around because it was under renovation. Our OB assured us that Joema can still be with me in the labor room and delivery room which turned out to be right. This was one of my worries before giving birth. But as I've said our OB assured us that the hospital now allows one companion inside. In fact, our OB was the one who took the initiative to push this policy - one companion when giving birth. She said the hospital required so many things for this policy, good thing that the World Health Organization required this in all hospitals all over the world (according to our OB). Hence, this is now practiced in Medical City - even if you don't get the lamaze room.
