D Day 2 :)

I requested to work from home 1 week before my delivery. It was a good decision because it's less tiring comparing to working in office. I still work, but at least I'm at my home and I'm less stress out. I believe it gave me some rest. I often feel very exhausted after working as my brain was all drained.

I worked till Friday 10th August. I was surfing in the internet on how to induce naturally. There are a few ways 1) eat pineapples - I somehow couldn't find fruit stalls :P... 2) eat chocolates - on this is easy, so I walloped Starbucks choc with java chip & Coffee Bean double choc when I went out lunch with hubby & friends. 3) Galloping - Ya, sound scary, but me in the desperate mode, I galloped while going up my staircase...

On the 10th Aug, I went Jusco with hubby to buy some food for the weekend. I was telling him how dreadful I am for weekends now as me with a super huge tummy, still need to take care of Eunice and worry about her food! (Ya, somehow I still dun really feel very comfortable having her to eat outside food for the WHOLE weekend.. one meal is fine but not for all the meals over the weekend)... I was supposed to go for my next checkup on the 13th Aug and decide if I want to induce or c-sect if there's still no sign of labor then.

We bought salmon from Jusco, thinking that's the easiest meal to prepare. And some other ingredients for pasta that EG will be cooking. I continued to work in the afternoon but it was a peaceful afternoon with not many issues in office so I lied down and rested for an hour - good move as well! Around 5pm, I felt some contraction. I felt the same thing the day before but it wasn't regular. So I thought it was just braxton hicks as I had the same thing for Eunice for about a week before the real labor show happened.

We went to fetch Eunice, and was jokingly talking to babysitter that I felt so heavy now. She asked me to eat more, saying some babies want to eat a lot before they decided to come out. :P.. We went for dinner near babysitter's house and I was very hungry so I ate quite a bit. On the way back, I saw the jam on the other side of the road heading to town, and I joked with EG, with the traffic like this, how to go hospital if I have to labor now? :P

Around 6.30pm, I went to toilet. After I done my business, I felt a gush of something coming out down there. I quickly sat back to the toilet and I saw some pinkish blood show. Immediately I told EG, "Hey, I have a bad news for you! I got blood show!" This is our 2nd experience so we were quite cool. He called my MIL and asking her to come on Friday itself instead of Saturday (she's supposed to come the next day), and she quickly went and changed her bus ticket to Friday itself, and thank God she did it.

In the meantime, I kept having water bag leaking at home. I sat on the toilet bowl and almost every 20 minutes, the water bag leaked. It's different from Eunice's time as during Eunice's time, it was blood show and regular contractions. I have decided to follow what my friend, Sheila, advised me to do - not to rush to hospital but walked at home to help dilation. And I drank milk and honey, as she advised, which supposed to give me some energy later to push.

So I walked up and down. I even squatted down to clean myself. I sat on the toilet bowl quite often. And of course, I checked in internet that as long as the water bag leakage is clear and with no foul smell, it's safe. So, I refused to go to hospital. At the same time, I worried how to settle Eunice if my MIL couldn't reach in time.

The bus from Taiping left late and only left at 8pm instead of the planned 7.30pm. EG told me worst case we'll bring Eunice to hospital and let her sleep in stroller or any bed. Wow, how bizarre that will be! I whatsaped my friends to pray for me, called my mum. My mum was very kan cheong and kept pestering me to go hospital. I refused. Stubborn me. Another reason is because I know Island hospital charged a new day from 12am onwards. I thought if I can tahan till 12am then only go hospital it'll be more worth it. :P

9.15pm - my MIL called and said she's on the Penang bridge already. Thank God! I told EG to bring Eunice out to fetch my MIL. And that was the best move as my girl  dozed off in less than 10 mins and when EG brought her in to her bed, she was still snoring. One major worry down.

9.45pm - As funny as it can be, I asked EG if he wanted me to marinate the salmon for him. I told him the salmon is RM23 and pls don't waste it. So with my contraction on and off, I chopped the garlic and marinated the salmon together with my hubby. Told him how to operate the oven and bake for 30-45 mins. I almost got killed by my girlfriends when I told them I was doing that. :P

10.30pm - I started to have the bearing down feeling so I told EG, let's go hospital. By then, I already lost count of the no. of times my water bag leaked, and I dunno how close my contraction was, probably every 5-10 mins.

I was still telling him, maybe we can lepak around that area and only go into hospital near 12am.

While on the way to hospital, my contraction got more and more painful. I told EG it's so painful, and he drove faster.

11pm - We reached Island hospital. I told the nurse at A&E, please check me first. If can wait, I'll wait till 12am only admit. So they wheeled me to labor room, slowly. I guess my face must be pale as the contraction was really bad at the sitting position. I kept breathing hard on the wheelchair and I thought I heard a lady told me, "jia you!" in the lift. :P... I might have scared her. :P... When I got into the labor room, I stood up and walked again and it made me feel better.

11.15pm - Midwives asked me to lie down. That time, the contraction almost killed me. So painful. They asked me to adjust myself and lied down straight and I told them I couldn't move! We asked if someone has informed Dr Karen. They said they needed to check the dilation first.

11.20pm - Checked dilation and told me I WAS FULLY DILATED! Goshhh... And must admit already. They called Dr Karen, I overheard the conversation "Patient fully dilate, membrane gone, active labor now".

During then, it's really painful already. I actually told EG I regretted for being stubborn to go for natural delivery. :P

Then, they gave me gas, asked me to breathe in the gas, said it'll help with the pain. NO, IT DIDN'T!. And the worst part is, they asked me don't push. Wa, that was really torturing! Because doctor is not there yet! Gosh.... but later on, they saw my suffering face and told EG, ok, let her push, worst case, we'll deliver for you.

11.35pm - Thank God Dr Karen came in already!. I have pushed once but baby is not out. They told Dr Karen that baby was in transverse position. I asked EG in my weak voice, what does that mean? Dr said baby is facing sideway. My heart dropped! Means it's not in the ideal position yet and I might end up c-sect again!

I kept praying and singing the song "God is so good" in my heart... to distract myself as well. I pushed another 2 times and Dr exclaimed, "OK baby is now down. Now, only waiting for mummy to push her out!"

Dr Karen is a very patient doctor. She once told me I only have chance to push 2-3 times and if I couldn't push baby out, I have to go c-sect. But during the delivery, I was given chances to pushed for almost 30 mins. I think I pushed easily 5-6 times. EG asked Dr Karen if everything is OK and she said, yeah, baby's heartbeat ok, she still can push... but baby is a bit biggish for her.

12.01am - In the end, Natalie was vacuumed out. I didn't like the vacuum. I had the same thing for Eunice's time and it was painful, and it's still painful! But it really helped. At my last push, everyone was shouting in the room to ask me to PUSH, and suddenly I felt a warm wiggling feeling down there, and while I thought I had to wait for another painful contraction to hit, EG told me, You did it!

I couldn't explain how happy I was.. happy is not the word, I was just overjoyed! I saw Dr Karen took out Natalie, put her on the baby carrier in the labor room. My eyes just couldn't leave her. I couldn't believe that I really did it for natural delivery! I really praise God for granting my wishes!! I told EG to snap her pic and my pic as memory. Natalie cried, oh that was the sweetest voice I've ever heard. :).. They showed me her fingers, toes, and showed me she's a girl :)... and brought her to clean up. After 1 hour she was brought to me to breastfeed.

While Dr Karen was stitching me up, suddenly I remember one thing, and I asked her, "Was there any episiotomy?". She said, no, just normal tear! Another miracle! I was so happy that I whatsapp-ed my girl friends and others who prayed for me that "I DID IT!!"...

Dr Karen left after everything was done. I kept saying thank you to her, and she told me congratulations, and she said, "You've gotten your natural delivery that you wanted :)". I was too happy to even tear!!

For the 45 mins of labor, I was holding EG's hand at one side throughout. I asked him later if it's painful, he said it is but lucky my hand is small. :)... But I'm really glad that he was beside me all the time to support me, and that he being supportive to allow me to go for natural delivery though I know he is so scared of that whole process.

I have been telling this story over and over again for probably 5-6 times but I still remember every detail of it. I told EG now that I think back, we might be too daring to take so much risks but it was really a very exciting night and he agreed. :)... But all in all, we still want to thank God for being so good to us, so merciful to us, to grant us our wish, and to give us such a beautiful and healthy baby, and such a wonderful delivery experience for both EG and me.

God is just SO GOOD!