Mummy's version of the labour story

Life has never been the same again since the arrival of Jan. I had to adapt to a whole new lifestyle as a milking cow on demand - literally. My schedule is centered around when she would wake up for her next feed. When she goes off to sleep, I will be checking emails, blog, eat my meals or just zzz. Never gone through such severe lack of sleep before, even when I was mugging for exams in my uni days. Hmm...

Anyway, here's my version of my labour story... (with slightly MORE details)
At around 0410hrs, while turning to sleep on my left, I suddenly heard a "tiak" sound. It got me a little worried and the first thought that came to my mind was, "Is that the water bag?" Sure enough, within seconds, I felt water leaking out and I got out of bed almost immediately, fearing that my bed would become a "water bed" . Water started flowing out and I went to the toilet. Trying to regain my composure, I called out to Ming Fai and surprisingly, he did wake up! We gave our gynae a call and he told us to go to the hospital first and he would see us at 9am.

Still quite in a state of shock, different thoughts came to my mind.
- I had a lot of work to clear (RFQ, review specs, handover...) before I was supposed to go on my planned maternity leave on 18 Jun
- my mum hasn't really moved in yet
- I can't have baby's birthday on 20.06.2007 (scheduled caesarean date)... =P
- Too sudden, felt quite unprepared in a way with the reality of parenthood setting in
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After grabbing my hospital bag from baby's room, I was still sane enough to pick out a bedsheet for baby's cot and hopefully my mum can get the cot ready when baby comes home. We then went downstairs to catch a cab to Gleneagles.

While in the cab, I could feel the contractions coming and also corresponding pain in my back. Upon arrival in the hospital at 0450hrs, we went to get ourselves admitted and walked to the labour ward. The midwife then got me to change into the hospital gown and strapped me on the ctg. One thing that puzzled me was why the baby's heartbeat seemed to fluctuate quite a bit - it was 130 and then 150 the next half a minute or so. I was abt 1cm dilated and had contractions every 4 mins. The midwife then asked me if I want the gynae to come earlier at 0730hrs or 0800hrs instead. Not being sure how much worse the pain can get since I didn't want any pain relief, I opted for 0800hrs.

I felt apprehensive when they wheeled me into the operating theatre, especially since Ming Fai couldn't be with me as I would be on GA due to my slipped discs problem. I prayed that everything will go on smoothly and was looking forward to baby's arrival. My gynae came in and said,"Told you baby can't wait right?". I could only smile at him. The anaesthetist then jabbed me, gave me the oxygen mask and I was away in lala land.

After a while, I could hear someone calling my name. I tried to regain consciousness and asked the nurse next to me how the baby is. "I don't know" was the reply. It got me worried. I looked around and then realised that I was in the recovery room and the nurse probably didn't know why I was there in the first place. It was already 0915hrs.

As they wheeled me out of the recovery room, I saw someone grinning from ear to ear walking towards me. It was Ming Fai! He just looks so elated and that settled my heart. He told me that the baby is ok and we were going back to the ward.

Soon after, the baby was brought to my ward for feeding and even before I saw her, I could hear her sucking away! True enough, she was sucking the back of her hand. One look at her and I can tell you - it's all worth it! =)