welcoming baby Arissa..

Oh yes it's a girl!

Let me flashback how it actually started..to where i ended up in operation theatre for a Caesarian section.

On a regular check-up, Saturday morning 9th Oct - I was at week 38++.. Doc told me that the baby's weight increased by 400g in a week. My hubby & I were so worried. But Doc said there are babies who grow rapidly at the end of pregnancy. So I asked if it's OK for me to induce given the situation that my baby was growing bigger in a short of period. She briefed me on induction, where it is best taken at week 38 because the risk is zero. If it is too early, baby may bear the risk, and if taken at week 39 onwards, the mother will bear more risk. So Doc asked if I was interested to proceed, she would book the labour room for me asap. I was also excited because the date I was supposed to induce was on 10.10.10!

She called the labour room ward to book a room for me. And she was negotiating with the nurse who answered the phone to accept her request. As soon as she hung up the phone, she told me that I was the last person on 10.10.10. It's fully booked.

Okay, I thought this was it. I was about to see my baby on 10.10.10. So on that Sunday morning, at 7.30am I went to the hospital. I But unfortunately that did not happen. After I was dripped, and given the pill to attract contraction, I started to feel the pain after an hour. I was also on CTG scan to monitor contraction and baby's heart beat so I had to stay in bed unable to move that much.

Nurses came to check every 4hours to check on my dilation. The first 1cm occurred at around 2pm. And the next 2cm was at 10pm. I cried in frustration. At 10.30pm, nurse came in to tell me that Doc made a call asking me to start fasting (I was already visualising the Doc cutting my tummy). 30minutes later she came to check me again, and asked if I still wanted to go on. I said YES. Then she kept on saying "Kesian you la". I was so weak after episodes of contraction. I did ask for an injection so that I could go to sleep.

I kept staring at the clock in front of me. Sigh..i has past 12midnight. Oh well, it's not really about the date(10.10.10). I have already set my mind that I wanted to go for a normal delivery. So the next morning around 8am Doc came in to check my dilation. She greeted me with "Nurin, kesian you la..", and proceeded to check my progress. Then without asking my consent, she said "There's no point of continuing. You're risking your uterus. If the contraction is too often, then it might get ruptured as the uterus is getting weaker." The nurses came to get my signature to undergo C-Section.

Miji went out the labour room to inform my parents, and in-laws. Everyone was shocked. But my dad took it well, as it is for the best he thought. Miji came back in tears which made me cry too. We were wondering if we had made the wrong decision. But Doc said highly likely the dilation was slow was because the baby could not descend due to my backbone. The baby was stuck in between, even though it had already engaged(but not to its zero level yet).

Dr Delaila, being so very popular at SDMC, had to conduct so many operations from day to night. My session was supposed to be around 11am but due to another emergency delivery, and OT rooms being full, I had to wait till 2pm(with ongoing contraction!).

The nurses were nice, and soothing to talk to. I expressed my feelings, how frightened I was to go on an operation as this was my first. They all gave me assurance that everything will be taken care of, and that Dr Delaila is an experienced O&G.

At 1.40pm I was transfered to the OT hall. I had to wait for the anesthetist to explain on Epidural, Spinal Cord, and GA. My brother reminded me on the phone, to take GA so that I would not be panicked in the OT. So I told the anesthetist that I preferred GA. He told me that's my last resort if either Epidural or Spinal Cord does not work on me, as there would be more risk to me if I take GA.

And so he suggested Spinal Cord after he examined me. At around 2.10pm the nurses pushed my bed to the OT. My heart was thumping so fast. I overheard the nurses said "OT 6!". I remember Anna, one of the nurses who was with me in the OT. She held my hand from time to time. I kept on telling her "Anna, I'm scared..". And the moment the door to that OT6 was opened, I cried "Oh my God, this is scary....!" I saw the lights hanging from the ceiling like those in Grey's Anatomy. And to my surprise, it made the situation more like in a movie when they put on songs. I could recognise the first song that greeted me to the room. It was by The Corrs, but I forgot the title of that song.

The anesthetist started doing his job. I could feel he marked some dots on my back. Another nurse had to hold me and without my realisation, I was hugging her so hard. Then I asked the anesthetist, "Will it be very painful?". He answered, "just a little.. OK take a deep breath". And bingo, I felt like ant bites on my back.

A few seconds later, I could feel half of my body was numb. All the people in the room was preparing the tools and hanged the so-called tent to between my tummy and my chest which would avoid my sight from seeing the cutting. But I still could see a little shadow of Doctor's movements. I could see Doctor trying to cut me. Before she did, she asked me whether I was OK. I said out lout "I felt nauseated!!!" They put me on Oxygen too. And tied both my hands.

Doc was like 'Huh? Nauseated?' She ignored that, and asked if I felt anything. I told her, "I could feel like a knife." Then she waited for a little while, and asked again after she drew the knife(or whatever that she's holding that time). I said, "YES YES I COULD FEEL THAT!"

She did not ask for the third time, in fact she just CUT MY TUMMY! Maybe she was annoyed asking me the same question, and having to receive the same answer from me. Like my boss said, it did feel like Doctor moving parts in your body but painless.

10-15minutes later, Doctor told me that she was going to push my upper tummy to give pressure to the below tummy so that baby could pop out. Doctor's assistant pushed my tummy so hard, I got panicked again. It was very hard to breath as my diaphragm was squeezed to its max. The next minute, I heard bubbles, assuming water from the womb. And the next 5 minutes, I was so relieved having to hear the Doctor calling out my name, and knowing that the moment I have been waiting all this while was happening. I heard 'the' first cry. My eyes were dwelling with tears while listening to Doctor's words. "Nurin, comelnya baby you, macam you la. Haaa..dah buka mata, dah menendang pun!"

I was smiling happily. The most incredible thing that had ever happened to me.

The baby was finally out of the womb. I kept on asking the Doctor and the nurses, "It is a boy or a girl?!" Nobody answered. They took the baby for weighing, then wrapped with towels. A nurse, Choo her name brought the baby near me to show me the gender, the fingers, and toes. And she made the baby kiss me while saying "Kiss Mommy!" Then she brought the baby to a corner for cleaning. Before the baby was sent to the nursery, nurse Choo brought the baby to me again to "Kiss Mommy again" like 3 times.

It's not over yet. Now Doctor had to stitch the cut she made on my tummy which took about 10-15minutes. After that, they had to clean me, and brought me back to the OT hall, a waiting area. I was shivering. I asked for another blanket. Then one of the nurses said, "that's normal to feel cold, it's the effect of the spinal cord anesthetic. We'll give you a warm blanket."

After a little while, I called the nurse, and told her that I was in pain that I needed some painkiller. They gave me a jab after Dr Delilah approve. The jab kept me drowsy and made me fall asleep. Blood pressure was monitored every now and then. I was at that waiting area for almost half an hour. I repetitively asked when I would be sent upstairs to see my family.

The moment they wheeled me out from the hall to the ward, I saw my hubby smiling at me. He kissed me on the forehead. My parents and parents in-law were there too congratulating me.

Phew..

Now come to confinement. The next day after the delivery, the nurses forced me to walk. Only God knows how painful it was. It was so hard to get up from bed, to walk, to sit, to lie down back in bed. Worse, was to go to the toilet. Thankfully, Miji helped me a lot. Such a wonderful hubby and Papa.

And to Arissa, our dearly princess..welcome to the world.. Even though it was not easy for Mama to meet you, it was worth the wait. Watching you sleep day by day soothes all the pain I have. Mama & Papa really pray that you will grow to be a very good girl, bright and cute and pretty as you are now. Mama & Papa really love you so much.

Papa told me, that he even cried when he uttered the azan to your ear..