The blogger side of me: A tale from the labour room

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Today is supposed to be my expected delivery date. Well, it is just an estimate and you never know when the baby decides to say hello to the world. In my case, it was decided for the baby, 2 weeks ago. I was 38 weeks into my pregnancy and my obstetrician advised me to came in and go for labour induction. The main reason is that I had placenta abruptio in my previous pregnancy and since the recurrent rate is high so it is best for me to deliver earlier.

The best thing of having a pre-determined delivery date is that I can be prepared and not having to go through the panic of rushing to the hospital and had my water broke in the car (that's what happened in my 3rd pregnancy).

Anyhow, I was admitted to UKM specialist center on the 2nd of June, 12 days earlier than the expected date.

One of the first things that I did when I was admitted: selecting the menu.

One tablet of Prostin was administered intravaginally at 10 am and uterine contractions followed soon after that. I started to have quite strong contractions at noon. From 5-7 minutes apart, they came faster until I barely had a rest in between. The pain jangan cakap la. Almost unbearable (but still managed some FB activities during that time...:P).

The cardiotocograph (CTG) reading during contraction-free period.

During one of the contractions. See the difference?

Being the 5th pregnancy with 3 normal deliveries, I should have been tolerant to the pain, shouldn't I? But this time the pain was phenomenal. People did say that the pain due to induction is greater. And I was lucky to be the living proof of that.

I was in and out of pain throughout the whole afternoon. I finally asked for analgesic and they gave me a pethidine jab which did not help at all. The pain was still there, worse if not the same. The jab only made me sleepy, and on top of that it left a nasty bruise on my right arm. Why not epidural eh? Well, I'm not the expert here but I supposed the risk of uterine rupture during induction, esp with previous Ceasar scar may have something to do with it. Having epidural may mask any pain along the scar that can be one of the signs of uterine rupture. Again, I'm no expert.

Earlier my obstetrician informed me that if the induction failed to soften and dilate my cervix, she would call it a day and insert another Prostin tablet the next day. She won't take any risk and continue for fear of uterine rupture due to my previous Ceasar scar. Oh no!! The thought of going through another agonizing day was too much for me to handle.

My water finally broke at 7 pm. I was 6 cm dilated then. Dari pukul 12, baru 6 cm. Biar betul... I was wheeled to the labour room at 8 pm. Sempat jugak la abis tengok cerita Nora Elena kat TV :D.

Almost another hour of agony in the labour room (and I'm greatly thankful for Mr Hubby's presence throughout the whole thing), I finally delivered a perfect baby girl at 8.56 pm. Her angelic face is definitely worth the pain. Alhamdulillah. Welcome to the world Syamila Nor Akma. *kiss*kiss*