The arrival of Harris

ENFIN !! Our petit angel is here!!

Our baby was born on August 21st 2010 ( 21 / 08 / 2010 ) at 37 week and 6 days of POA. everything seems to happen timely. mama planned to start taking pre delivery leave on saturday, and there you were ! showing the sign of getting out from my womb as early as 630 a.m in the morning of saturday 21st.

I was about to perform my subuh prayer when i felt something dribbling down my legs. initially i thought it was the incontinence which i sometimes experienced when i cough or sneeze ( or any manouvre that increases intra abdominal pressure in that matter ). however, this one came unprovoked. I hesitated and sat for a while. it had gone. I then continued with my prayer. halfway performing it, the dribbling became more prominent.. it was more like streaming then. My prayer was halted. There and then I was pretty sure it was not urine. It was something else coming from a different tunnel. My heart skipped a beat or two. ' is it gonna be today?' 'for real?' and i kept asking myself the same thing over and over.
mama told papa of what happened. there were both happy and nervous expression on his face ( so did mine). we already pre planned to travel back to kuantan that morning as papa was supposed to work and my leave began that day. i did not feel any contraction pain nor having show at that moment, therefore we were not rushing and took our sweet time to prepare for the voyage to the hospital:)

we arrived at the Kuantan Specialist Hospital around 1015 am ( after stopping by wan and aki's house to pick up some essentials) and checked in. The liquor kept on gushing out that the back of my cloth was quite significantly soaked. mama was initially placed in 4-beds- room. it was ok but not condusive enough. lack of privacy i guess. The nurses were nice. as i lay on the bed, the midwife nurse began to set up the CTG probe on my belly. well, my dear boy your CTG was reactive :)

Dr suraya came to check on you and mama around 1215 pm ( as she had an OT case to run earlier). She's a very lovely consultant specialist. She advised me to have Prostin inserted (a per vaginal medication to induce labour) as i still did not feel any contraction pain even after 6 hours plus post leaking liquor. i reluctantly agreed as i knew she was right but also had heard the less favourable story about prostin induction ( especially about its hyperstimulated pain ).

I was right too. mama began to have a moderate contraction straight away right after 5 minutes or so post prostin. my cervical opening was only 1 cm prior to the prostaglandin insertion. After 1 hour, the pain was becoming more and more frequent and stronger. i was no longer able to smile or laugh at papa's jokes. Dr Suraya came to my bed again. my os was on ly 2 cm at that time. she then prescribed me with intramuscular pethidine to ease the pain. the drug did make me sedated but failed to do its main job : pain relief. i suffered for another hour or so with contractions frequency of every 15 seconds!!

i could not take it much longer ( with os that small n pain like you are almost ready to push!) hence requested for epidural analgesia. they then pushed me to labour room for the procedure. i was lucky to be pain-free while on the wheelchair. however the ultimate pain came while i was about to underwent the procedure. i couldn't describe how excruciating it was. the midwife checked my os once again before the procedure. it was 3 cm but cervix was already effaced, she said. my epidural was administered by Dr Nordin, an anaesthesiologist. i was crying, citing 'Allah' ' lailahaillallah' and the syahadah. i didnt know what else to do. Papa was there all the while from the beginning, holding me, massaging, kissing my forehead and stuff. He too was worried and sad, seeing his wife in agony.. the pain was soo strong that i bearly felt the epidural needle being poked at my back, luckilly i did not move. Dr Nordin gave mama a bolus spinal analgesia as well for immediate pain relief ( as epidural's will take 5 to 10 minutes to work). My whole body felt numb for a while after the drug was introduced. i was almost immediately pain free after the procedure. Then Dr Suraya did a VE on me once again. i couldn't believe her when she said my cervix had already fully dilated! what?? 3cm to 10 in 10 minutes????? - Yes it was a superfast precipitated labour..

they then hurriedly prepared me for second stage labour and arranged my legs in lithotomy position. because of the newly introduced spinal analgesia, i barely felt like bearing down. however the midwife was monitoring my contraction hence helping me to know when to push. the second stage was very brief, with papa, dr suraya and the midwife encouraging me rather ..casually i'd say ( as i was no longer in severe pain :D ) . Being a doctor was a plus at that time i guess. though i didn't really have the bearing down feeling, but i technically know the correct way to 'push' and it did help!! Papa got to see your temporal head for a while( and he was really amazed it seemed) before your head crowned. I initially refused for episiotomy ( KSH still applies the 'rule' - epi for all primid) but after contemplating about my baby well being ( estimated weight of 2.8 Kg , no continuous ctg monitoring at that time, prostin induced + precipitated labour which were all prone to cause fetal distress) I finally agreed. Dr Suraya performed the episiotomy when your head was crowning. and in a matter of seconds, you were already on top of me my dear.. no longer inside.

I was speechless and mesmerized. hearing your first cry and saw you moving your limbs actively gave me a relief : i knew straight away my baby had a very good APGAR score ( indeed it was excellent. your APGAR was 9 at 1 minute and 10 at 10 minutes!) . they put a linen separating you from my belly which i slowly removed so that your skin would touch mine. it was so surreal. both papa and mama were in awe. we are finally.. parents - To a lovely baby boy.

The bonding time was very brief. they then brought you to an open care to put you under warmer ( as well as to have you cleaned). papa went to see you and had you 'azan-ed' while the doctor and nurses were nursing me. I can't help smiling, feeling fully tranquil. i have delivered our very own child...

After half an hour or so, the nurse returned you to us. you are soooo cute and adorable and tiny. you weighed 2.41 Kg, with length 43 cm and head circumference of 31 cm. your sugar level was 3.4 mMol/L according to the glucometre. Dr Siti was your attending consultant paediatrician. the first thing papa told me after he saw you was ' comel nye baby, mata die kelabu'. indeed you are very cute and your eyes are beautiful as well as the whole of you.

by 530 pm. we are transferred to a single room which was waaay better than the previous one. you were visited by many of our loved ones that night. wan and aki, nenek and tok, your great-uncles and great-aunties. everyone was in a very cheery mood just because of you :)

i think i have written long enough. there were still alot of things to tell you. but i will do so in future entries.

we named you, our petit ange : Harris - a protector, the guardian of heaven :)