THE DAY (The Delivery)

Got up as usual, preparing to get to the hospital for my regular prenatal checkup.
Experienced some tummy discomfort, very much like menstrual cramps but thought nothing of it since it'll be another 10 days before i'm due. Read about "false alarm" & thought it would be just another one of those episode.

Strangely enough, the mothers all decided to show up for their check up that day. We waited, and waited, and waited. The pain was getting more intense but still i somehow thought the baby wasn't due to come out yet.

And then we waited somemore. I think i was almost the last in que when after 2.5 hours of waiting, it was my turn to see the gynae. She did the normal routine checkup until hubby told her that i'm experiencing some form of pain. She did a check & we were told i was already 3cm dilated. Wow! And all this while, i thought it was nothing.

My heart began to race in anticipation. Was wheeled to the delivery room to prepare for natural birth. Hubby was sent downstairs to fill up some papers while the nurses prepared me. 30 mins later, gynae came in & burst the water bag to quicken labour.
And then, there was the not-so-good news. Advised me to do a c-section as there were signs the baby has defacated in the womb which would further cause distress.

All the reading that i've done previously didn't prepare me for these. I was disappointed the prospect of getting a c-section was in the books. I didn't had much time to consider. there & then, hubby & I decided we'll just do what is safest for the baby.

The next few moments were all a blur. I was given the local anaesthetic. Wheeled into the operating theatre. And then, that's when the EPISODE began!
The pain was excrutiating!!! i could feel the knife cutting into my skin. I quicken my breath to try to get some relief & managed to utter to the anaesthetician that i felt pain. There were some exchange of words between the surgeon, my gynae & the anaesthetician (and that isn't my imagination). I remembered vividly the anaesthetician saying that she's increasing the dosage and shortly after telling my gynae that she must have been to quick to cut me up, not waiting long enough for the LA to kicked in! The next few moments were spent helplessly screaming my lungs out but no sound came out as the pain was unimaginable. I felt them yanking the baby out from the womb, pulling some stuff out. All these happened when i couldn't see a thing in front of me as my front view was blocked with a cloth but you can imagine i could feel every single thing that was happening.
Suddenly i could hear in the background my baby's first cry! The nurse brought it to me, right in front of my eyes, next to my cheek, but sadly i couldn't muster an ounce of energy even to greet my baby a simple "i love you". And i passed out out of sheer exhaustion.

From that moment onwards, eveything was a whirlwind. From waking up in the nights at the hospital & learning to cope with nursing my little one despite the pain of the incisor.

I decided to forego the bottle & decided on breastfeeding bb luke.
The first time he latched on, it was magical. The bond was incredible.
But the next few sessions were painfully a struggle for the both of us. The nurse kept bringing him back to feed. I tried to feed but he was still crying helplessly. I reckoned there was still not much milk coming out. My roommate beside me was beginning to get annoyed. I just wanted the morning to come soon so i could hold onto hubby!

After 2 nights in the hospital, all i wanted to do was to get out of there as soon as possible. The hospital was so "cold". I just wanted to be in the warmth of our own home with our little darling, together as a family.

Coming back to the part of the horrendous episode, i regretted not taking any action against the hospital. We were just too busy coping as new parents to even write a simple complaint letter to the management to inform them of my experience. It didn't help the fact that we paid over 6k only to go through such pain! The experience has left a scar in my memory. Hopefully, it'll fade with time when we plan for our second one.