The day our lives changed...

WARNING : Blognovella ahead.

Hello World! The moment our lives change.

Date : 22nd Dec. 2008 (24 Zulhijjah 1429H)
Time : 2151 (9.51 pm)
Mode of delivery : Kiwi vacuum
Location : Am*pang Put*eri Specia*list Hos*pital
Obstetrician : Datuk Dr. As*har Abdulla*h

Alhamdulilah....no other word best describe what i feel then and right now...a single word no other than 'Alhamdullilah'....

Alhamdullilah semuanya selamat dan berjalan lancar.
Alhamdullilah we have a healthy (albeit slightly jaundiced but sikit jer) & beautiful baby girl.
Alhamdullilah we have all the love and support from our family and friends.
Alhamdullilah our lives are more enriched and happy with this latest addition.
Alhamdullilah for everything - no matter how small or big.

22nd Dec is almost like any other day. the only difference was that we both know that i have to be in the hospital after brekkie....

yes, i admit that i was nervous, but still managed to buat lawak and ketawa. in fact, we took our time to go to AP, bangun lambat sikit, walked around the block in Taman TA*R and makan brekkie.

I wasn't really in the mood to berjalan. Dah la panas, and me being such a couch potato, soooo malas nak berjalan. But Fitri was so bersemangat (and garang :-P)..he said : "kalau nak senang bersalin, kena berjalan juga".

after the walk and brekkie, dengan mengambil masa sendiri, we got ourselves ready...masa ni nervousness was still under control...

sampai je di AP, we 'checked in' and after waiting for a while, we were taken to the room. the company's entitlement is for the 4 bedded room, tapi memandangkan pada hari itu semua bilik penuh, i had to be in the 5 bedded room..which i don't mind coz ada org sikit nak 'meneman'.

eventho its the maternity ward, apparently ada a couple of non-maternity related patients with me..sorang sakit saraf and the bed beside me, gall bladder stone yang cronic (she has been there for10 days).

once settled in, the nurse monitored the baby's heartbeat and my contractions.

"You dah ada contraction..."
"Huh? really? tak rasa..."
"Tak kuat sangat lagi"

Seriously i didn't feel my contractions! even masa tu Fitri and i was still laughing and joking about it...

4 pm - A nurse came in and induced my labor...gila la bila dia masukkan the ubat under there....i was already squarming sebab first time masukkan her hari is to check the depth, and then baru the ubat...

"Selalunya first child kena masuk ubat lebih dari sekali (tak ke cuak bila u dengar that...?) ...u jangan bergerak dari katil selama sejam ya?"

"Lepas sejam akan ada another nurse to check your condition...minta any epidural ke sebagainya?"

I answered : "Mmg nak epidural"

She said : "Ok, nnt bila dah dilate about 4 cm, kita pakai epidural..kalau dilation lagi besar, epidural dah tak berkesan.."

Me about an hour after induction.

Tunggu punya tunggu, takde nurse yg datang pun after an hour...masa tu Imin (Fitri's younger bro) came and lepak w us...

I was already experiencing contractions every 20 mins....then shorten to 15..then to about 10....masa ni seriously dah tak tahan sakit...

Second baby's heartbeat monitoring with contractions every 10-15 mins

When tak tahan already, they check my dilation and it was already 4 cm. Then, laxatives were given for obvious reason. One of the nurse sia temankan i dalam the toilet coz takut i teran and baby keluar ke apa....

i kept apologising (dan malu) coz she had to witness me buang air... :-)

then, she had to keluar and get the wheelchair...

dah la sakit due to contraction, then kena membuang..aiyoh!

fitri papah i back to my bed and since the contraction was bad, i decided to berdiri and berpegang pada kerusi. it was better then me lying on the bad w the contraction (i tried but sakit yang amt berbanding i berdiri).

After a while, finally the wheelchair came...

8 pm - wheeled into the labor room. (Labour Room 1)

In the Labor Room...

Ivy line was done (me being penakut towards pain and tak suka needles, rasa sangat sakit when its done)...

All these while Fitri was by my bedside, trying to calm me...i told the nurse there about wanting the epidural...

Sementara menunggu, i was given the gas, entonox, to sedut everytime i feel pain. seriously masa tu high!

I boleh buat lawak and said mengantuk lagi even during the pain!!

After a while, sekali lagi my dilation were checked and it was already 6 cm!

"Epidural?" i asked...
"Tak sempat Puan, dilation dah besar"

Masa tu mmg rasa nak hempuk je the nurses and anaesthesiologist yg tak sampai-sampai tu..! tapi nasib baik tgh high...kalau tak mmg dah kena maki...(actually dalam hati mmg dah maki pun..)

dah la mmg takut nak bersalin, and tetiba u were caught off-guard...takde pain relief..(for me, Entonox doesn't help...i see it as a mere distraction/psyclogy ploy and for u to get high-legally).

I had trouble breathing...my breathing exercises mmg tak pakai. i tend to hold my breath and mengerang...which the nurses tak galakkan sebab takut i teran...

at about 9 pm, i could hear a baby cry from the next room....masa tu terasa cam berani sikit...not just fitri was there helping me breathe, but a sense of tak sabar my baby would come and then the pain would end...

masa tu juga my water broke..(yes, i contraction dulu baru air pecah..some ppl terbalik).

soon enough, Dr came in and after given the updates from the nurses, he mentioned about getting the vacuum ready...

mmg dah tak ingat apa dah masa ni...all i could remember was the rasa kena tarik and me had to push beberapa kali...

when the baby came out, dia tak menangis pun.....Dr said dia tertelan her waste and they need to clear her airways...

"Abi, baby OK?" (i asked sambil still high form the etonox)
"She's OK...." Fitri said trying to soothe me..

after what seemed like eternity, finally the baby menangis...

Fitri then iqamah kan the baby..

one of the nurse asked if she could bring the baby ke luar to show to our family before masukkan ke dalam incubator..

after given the green light, Fitri went outside to call them..while waiting for him to come back, the nurse letakkan the baby dekat my dada...

it was love at first sight....

"Assalamualaikum Dahlia.." i said sambil mengusap her pipi and hair...

"Wah! dah ada nama" one of the nurses said...i just smiled..

then, they took her to show to our family who has been waiting patiently since earlier in the evening...

after the placenta is out, then the cleaning and then the sticthing...since i tore, lama sikitlah the jahitan tu...*phobia jap*...

"Nanti bila baby dah ready, try to breastfeed ok?" Dr said kindly...

after the he left, the nurse checked my uterus, takut ada placenta tertinggal ke apa...she called the Dr and after a 2nd checkup, everything OK...panik makcik!

lepas tu lak, as i nak kena pakai maternity pad, the nurse tetiba cakap :

"Kenapa your uterus sebelah besar?" (tgk my perut sebelah kembang ok!?!)

i pun panik a bitlah sebab takut ada complication lak....

"Takpe-takpe, u try buang air kencing...i think your bladder is pushing the uterus"..she then took the bedpan...

memula ingat nak kencing sambil baring, but since takle, Fitri and the nurse helped me sit and membuang la..

ane my tummy dah tak besar sebelah anymore! *lega*

kena duduk di LR for about an hour plus before i was wheeled to my bed...it was a lovely sight when we keluar the LR...

everyone was there, both our parents and most of our siblings....

masuk-masuk je bilik, tak sampai 5 minit, baby dibawa masuk...

Our first picture together

lots of "ooohs, aahhhas" were heard...

a nurse helped me to nurse the baby.....my first time nursing.....and its a wonderful feeling!

after a while, everyone left except fitri...

walaupun sebenarnya tak dibenarkan, tetapi memandangkan a couple of husbands stayed by their wife's bed, fitri pun temankan i that nite...

we didn't sleep at all coz the baby kept waking up due to kesejukan...kesian fitri coz he came unprepared nak stay over...kena tahan kesejukan...

the pain, the hardship was definitely worthwhile......

i'm grateful that i have my family esp Fitri to help and support me tru it all....alhamdullilah...