The pain of joy!

The night before.. appas and I were at a mamak stall having our supper when I mentioned that I have a 9-10 minute contraction.. little did we expect that we were gonna welcome the arrival of our first born!

We went in for my normal check-up at 37 weeks. I highlighted to my gynae that I had timed my contractions as 6-7 minutes early that morning. “Why don’t we check the opening then?” and when she did, “Yeap, you have a 3 cm opening. You can get yourself admitted today..” We were definitely caught by surprise as we were not prepared and I didn’t bring my bag that I had packed weeks earlier for the delivery.

Got admitted into the labour room at about 11.00 a.m. Knowing that I cannot bear the pain, we requested for epidural.. and thus, had to be bedridden.

Since we were planning to have our breakfast after the check-up, I was lying there so hungry.. (not supposed to eat). Apps did sneak in some milo for me as I was already feeling the gastric juice building up in my stomach.

After a long day on the bed, I was so tired. It was not easy to fall asleep with all the anxiety in the air...

At least, at about 8.05 p.m., the opening was 9 cm. The gynae and nurses were getting ready in front of me. They asked me whether I could feel the contraction.. and I said “Not really..” The gastric cramps overcame the contraction feeling! So, one of the nurse had to assist me and told me when I was contracting, and I pushed. Three pushes, and he was out.. Phew!

I looked at him as the nurses placed him on the cleaning counter next to me.. I smiled with tears of joy flooding my eyes. My FIRST born! And I couldn’t help notice that he has my lips.. a.k.a his maternal grandpa’s lips :)

Due date : 16 April 2004
Delivered on : 7 April 2004
Weight : 3.45 kg
Length : 53 cm