Giving Birth to Nakayla Rose 王睿璇

The process is still pretty much fresh in my mind, so I thought I'd quickly have it all written down before I forget (like I did with most parts of delivering Blake).

I'll cut to the chase this time though, listing it down in point form. I had this all typed out after everyone who came to visit me left - Thanks for coming!!

1. Real bloody show at about 7.40pm on 20 November 2012, Tuesday. I called my gynae and he told me to monitor for contractions that are 15-20 minutes apart.

2. Contractions followed after but I totally ignored them. I didn't even bother to check if they were 15-20 minutes apart. I then got myself a big cup of cookies and cream ice cream. The only thought that was in my head then - if the baby's coming, it won't be another month or so till I can have this again!

3. Contractions intensifies after midnight, and I told myself to hold it out till morning, after sending Blake to school. I kept talking to Nakayla, asking her to wait.

4. I managed to wash up and get ready for bed, but I couldn't sleep the whole night because of the contractions. Eventually, the contractions became unbearable, and I didn't think I could wait any longer. The only thought that was on my mind was - I need epidural now! So I called my mom at 3am, and my dad drove all of us - Sean, Blake, mom and myself - to the hospital.


Blake was super tired. He was also in a complete blur as to what was going on.

5. We reached Gleneagles Hospital. Sean and I got off while my parents took Blake home to rest. They sent him to school when it was time, and he was really well-behaved according to them! :D

6. Sean and I made our way to the delivery ward, and we waited for Dr. Lim to arrive. I could not have epidural yet as I needed his approval. In the mean time, the nurses gave me laughing gas to tide over the pains from contractions.


Yes, I was still laughing and talking like I wasn't in labour then

7. Shortly after this, the contractions became more painful. Dr. Lim reached and did an assessment. He said the worst thing I could have ever heard at that point in my life - IT WAS TOO LATE FOR EPIDURAL. I was already in a lot of pain and under quite a heavy dosage of laughing gas, and when I heard that, I almost died!

8. Even though it was too late for epidural, it will also be a while before Nakayla was ready to be out. Dr. Lim then left the ward for a while, I vaguely heard him say he has another baby to deliver (I could be wrong. I was under a lot of laughing gas.). All of a sudden, the contractions intensified even further (who knew that was possible!?) and I started to scream and thrash around the bed. Sean and two nurses had to hold me down. I was apparently in distressed (that's what I heard in the almost comatose state).

9. One of the nurses did a check for me and saw the baby coming, she quickly paged for Dr Lim before returning to hold Nakayla in till Dr Lim arrived.

10. To stop me from thrashing around, they told Sean to hold the gas to my face and soon, my body went kind of limp, but the pain could still be felt! I was screaming and my hands were grabbing whatever I could, although I don't remember being able to move much. I do remember my grip on things though. I think I must have clawed and gripped Sean's arms like mad during this whole period.

11. As a result of my screaming, cursing and swearing, I wasn't taking in the laughing gas, so the pain got worse for me. Throughout this whole process, I could hear Sean trying to calm me down with his voice. Whenever I could hear him, in the state that I was in, I tried to do as he said. When he said to take deep breaths, I tried to stop screaming and concentrated on taking deep breaths. I don't think it lasted very long though.

12. After about two hours upon our arrival at the hospital, Nakayla was born.


It was the most painful thing I have ever gone through in my entire life, and it somehow felt like passing motion in a strange way - a really painful one. I could even feel Dr. Lim stitching me up. I even remember mumbling that I could feel some pain down there during the stitching (no strength left, you see), and they gave me another jab, so that that Dr. Lim could finish the stitching. Recovery seemed much better than when I had Blake though. I didn't manage to sleep at all, and I was surprisingly rather awake after I regained some of my strength some two hours later. I even began to post photos on facebook! Then, I was hungry, really hungry! My appetite was good, and I did not feel any nauseousness or anything!

I still cannot believe what I went through, and that I actually survived it. Now that it's all down in words, I wonder if I'll ever remember this day as clearly as it is now...

Anyway, here are some photos taken during my stay at the hospital. I'm off to rest for my confinement now!






And here's our very first family of four photo! Taken the moment we all woke up. Hehe.

The Baby's Arrival

Let's start from the day before Blake was born.

It was 8 September 2010, our estimated due date (EDD) for Blake was 9 September 2010. I felt a lot movements, which was as usual, but I also felt some pain. Not intense but it was discomforting. I have been quite paranoid in the last 2 weeks of my pregnancy (the day my gynae said, "anytime now!"). I had tons of worries and fears about actually giving birth, and whether my boy will be born healthy (or even born at all!).

So that evening, I called my gynae, Dr. Lim, and told him what I was feeling. He said I could be experiencing early contractions, and that baby could arrive anytime now. The minute Sean came home, I told him and he said, "Let's have dinner first, and we'll head down to the hospital."

The pain was on and off, I had no appetite for dinner. All I was thinking then was, "my baby's coming, and everyone's so calm!"

When we finally arrived at the hospital, we were led to the maternity ward. Dr. Lim arrived a little later, and did a check. He said what I was experiencing was definitely contractions, but in the really early stage. But he said I should stay in the hospital, just in case the baby decides to just 'pop'. The nurses monitored me closely, and we spent the night there. Nothing.

Dr. Lim came in early in the morning at about 7.30am, checked again and said, "Still a little early, but I can tell you, baby's on its way." He asked if we wanted to go home, and wait it out or to just burst my water bag and have the baby now. It was our EDD, after all. Part of me wanted to wait, but the other part of me was afraid - what if I keep him in longer, and he dies? Weird thoughts I have, I know. In the end, we decided to go with Dr. Lim's suggestion to burst my water bag, and have our baby.

So I had needles plugged into me, and my water bag burst. Oh, I had my intestines cleared out too. Whatever the nurse gave me, it only took less than one minute for it to take effect, instead of the supposed ten.


Then we text and called our family to inform them, to which my mom rushed down immediately. Did I mention that it was her birthday that day? :)

When the contractions became a little too unbearable, I opt for laughing gas, skipping the thigh injections. Sean wanted to give my mom an update of our progress, so he took a photo and went out to the waiting area to show her.


The photo apparently shocked my mom, so Sean came back in to take another one, and went back out to assure her that I was doing ok.


Soon, the laughing gas was no longer effective, and I was breathing more laughing gas than oxygen. I was laughing, and crying at the same time, and my eyes could barely stay open. I wasn't high or anything, but I was definitely not in the right frame of mind. I was delirious, I guess. Sean got a little worried when I started crying harder, and asked if I would prefer to go for epidural, which I did.


I was initially really terrified of the idea of a needle sticking up my back, but when I was in that state, I couldn't feel, much less think, of anything! You have no idea how happy I was to have been off the laughing gas, and able to talk normally! Only thing was, I couldn't feel anything from waist down. All I felt was numbness, sort of a fuzzy vibration kind of numbness.

A couple of hours later, it was time. Dr. Lim and the nurses came in. Sean was asked to hold my head forward, Dr. Lim had that sucking machine on standby in case baby needed some sucking assistance to come out. I can't be sure what happened, but the next thing I saw was this thing that the nurse put on top of me, and before I could see much of what it was, it was taken away. According to Sean, I pushed a total of three times, but I was using the wrong muscles for the first two pushes. So technically, Blake took only one push to be out! Hehe.

By the time I was able to lift my head up, I heard the nurse screaming, and a baby crying, and i saw a stream of fluid hitting the nurse's chest. Dr. Lim then said, "Baby's urine is sterile. Don't have to panic."


And there, my baby has arrived :)