November 13, 2009 – RED ALERT – DELIVERY

Hayden is ready to say “Hello”!

Actually Abbie had contractions yesterday in the afternoon, but not so serious in the sense that the frequency was not high. Dr. Yong’s plan did not work out as planned. Abbie was on oral medication together with the injection of Ventolin, but the contractions kept disturbing her.

The contractions got extremely serious at night. The pains were on and off more frequent than the noon. I had to call the nurses a few times because Abbie was shaking like no tomorrow. ‘It’ was bleeding more, and she showed it to the midwife. Immediately they transferred her back to Labour and Delivery Suite. At this point, I was thinking Abbie will go into premature labour.

The senior midwife checked on Abbie’s ‘door’, the ‘door’ remained closed.

RED ALERT

9:48am – Dr. Leong checks the ‘door’, it is not opened yet but it is getting soft. Hayden measures 2.0kg in weight now, fortunately it is safe enough to deliver now. Most probably Hayden doesn’t need to stay in the incubator as he has reached the benchmark of 1.8kg. Abbie is going to give birth to Hayden at anytime soon prematurely, as soon as today. I need to go home and pack some stuff for Hayden and Abbie now. By the way, I did not sleep at all for the whole night. I seriously need a good sleep.

3:30pm – I reach the hospital. Abbie is sleeping but is disturbed by my arrival. The nurses came for a routine check up. At 4.00pm, they stop the Ventolin injection on her left hand as it is getting swollen. They have to rely on the Ventolin oral totally now, maybe Ventolin injection will be continued on Abbie’s right hand later if necessary. The side effect of Ventolin has caused Abbie’s skin became red all over her body, including her face. Actually her skin is kinda thin and she gets blush easily. Also, her hands are shaking, she is nervous, thanks to Ventolin. Anyway, Dr. Leong is coming.

4:48pm – Dr. Leong is not here yet. The contraction is getting better now, but her lower abdomen pain is killing her. She wants to puke, but nothing come out.

4:58pm – Dr. Leong just came. He is checking on Abbie’s vagina, to see whether it is big enough to deliever. He said it is about 4 – 5cm now, when it reaches 10cm, it can be delievered. He explains to us the pros and cons of both vagina birth and caesarean section. It is a difficult decision for us. Finally, we decides on caersarean as it is a premature delivery. It is easier for Hayden though Abbie might need longer to recover. Dr. Yong will be in charge in the operation.

5:30pm – I was told that I am allowed to witness the delivery process as Abbie will be on epidural anesthesia. But later on, Dr. Yong decides to go for general anesthesia as Abbie’s pain is unbearable and the vagina is big enough for delivery. Hayden can’t wait to meet us. Since then, I have no choice but to leave the operation theatre, it is around 6.00pm.

7:15pm – After having my dinner, I go to the operation theatre. While waiting for the lift, another lift door opens. Two nurses are wheeling a baby cart, one of them points to the baby, she looks at me and says,”Ini anak you.”. I go to Abbie after that, she is fine.

November 12, 2009 – 1112?

Thanks for visiting.

Early in the morning, I heard some noise. The nurses came in for regular checks on Abbie. I heard something but I couldn’t remember anything, my eyelids couldn’t even been lifted a little. I knew that there were something going on, maybe Abbie was having contractions, maybe they were joking around as Abbie was getting better, so many maybes.

Then, Dr. Yong came in. He said the contractions are unusual, and it could lead to premature delivery. Abbie was on 33rd week pregnancy, Dr. Yong said he will try to hold for another 3 weeks for delivery. He said it is okay to deliver now but the baby would have to stay in the ICU longer. He wanted Abbie to stay in the ward until tomorrow, he would have totally cut down on Ventolin injection and give oral Ventolin to relief her contractions pain so that Abbie could be discharged, but he wanted to see the result of the transition first.

According to Dr. Yong, if the contractions still continue, he has no choice but to give up and deliver Hayden prematurely.

Abbie was being shifted from Labour and Delivery Suite to normal ward, room 559. After shifting room and settling her, I went home for a shower after that. I called mum to prepare Abbie’s meal, Abbie wanted fried rice for her lunch.

I came back to the hospital with Abbie’s fried rice, mum was along with me. Mother-in-law and Shin were in the ward. Abbie looked good, she could talk, smile, eat, and even joke. We (my mum and I) left at 2pm. I took a good sleep at home before I came back for Abbie at night.

Abbie was not keen on the hospital meals. As we do not want to waste the food, I decided to finish it for her, and she would be taking the outside food. When I came back in the evening, Dorothy and Shin were already there. AuntyPauline, Chui Hoon and Rinnie came after that. Abbie looked okay at that time, but the nightmare began after they left…

November 11, 2009 – The contraction day

Contraction – When a woman who is about to give birth has contractions, she experiences a very strong, painful thightening of the muscles of her womb.

Before today, I did not know how scary this word could be to a woman, until I saw Abbie’s facial expression.

It was sunny late in the afternoon, I couldn’t wait to go out for some sweating basketball games with the buddies. Abbie was okay at the time, I asked her if she felt any discomfort, she answered ‘no’. I told her that I would be back as soon as possible. Usually an hour or two is normal for me.

After the games, I went to the car for my cellphone, and I was shocked to see 12 missed calls from Abbie on the phone panel. I called Abbie, she was groaning with pain. When I reached home, she said the pain is on and off or contractions, and some brown spotting were found on the pad. Those were some of the symptoms of going into labour. Therefore, she may need to admit to hospital if she was getting more frequent pain. She added that her colleagues and friends who have had this kinda experience before suggested her to self-monitor before going to hospital. It could have been a temporary situation, according to them.

As usual, I went to ‘tapau’ supper for her. While having the nice curry wild boar and mixed vegetables, again she started to groan. We were kinda worried and I decided to take her to the hospital without more waiting. Eumora bar (soap), sun block lotion, facial lotion, hand lotion, stretch mark lotion, and any kind of lotions, all the lotions into the bag and left for Tropicana Medical Centre after that.

We arrived at the hospital at 12:30am. Abbie was taken to Labour and Delivery Suite, her contractions and Hayden’s heartbeat were being monitored there. The senior midwife called and consulted Dr. Yong V.P., Abbie’s gynaecologist. Dr. Yong advised Ventolin Obstetrics injection to be given at the rate of 4 mL/hr to Abbie, together with a single dose of dexamethasone.

Abbie’s contractions continued until around 4am, where the medications had worked effectively on her. I was still conscious but extremely tired and sleepy. She had the pain and I could feel her pain. Things were getting better after that, and finally I slept on the sofa until the morning.