July 29, 2009

Days leading up to the birth

Saturday, July 18
Term +1. I was already 2.5cm dilated but surprisingly, there are no contractions at all. ZILCH!

Monday, July 20
Had lunch at Jaya One and swung by my obstetrician's clinic to ask if it's OK to wait another week before induction. He advised against doing – his reasons being baby will continue to put on weight and I may have difficulting delivering her. Furthermore, the risk of stillbirths increases with each week post-term. He also told me that the theory of +/-2 weeks was derived before the advent of ultrasound scanning to determine gestational age, and many O&Gs do not subscribe to that anymore since ultrasound scans these days provide an accurate estimate of gestational age. I decided to heed his advice, as just last year, a colleague lost her stillborn daughter, who weighed 4.5kg.

I started feeling fairly regular contractions, 20 – 30 minutes apart at 8pm, increasing in frequency to about 10 – 15 minutes apart by 10pm. I was quite sure I would need to go to the hospital soon, and was contemplating whether I should call my elder sister, who's staying nearby, to stay the night in our house and watch over Yiu Yiu, just in case we needed to go to the hospital. But then, I fell asleep and nothing happened.

Tuesday, July 21
I got a little worried over the lack of action last night, despite the earlier contractions and sms my obstetrician early in the morning. He asked me to see him in the clinic just to ensure that everything is OK. Surprise surprise, I was already 5cm dilated, and I'm still perplexed at the lack of contractions.

I had taken leave as there was a fire drill in the office and since hubby is also on leave, I suggested we go shopping, hoping that the walking will help to speed things up. We even caught the 11am Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince early bird show, my first movie since Kung Fu Panda a year ago.

We had already made arrangements for Yiu Yiu to stay overnight at the babysitter's house, as we had to be at the hospital at 7.30am the next morning. I felt guilty for leaving her at the babysitter, for i should be spending more time with her, today being the last day that I'm exclusively HER mum. From tomorrow onwards, she’ll have to share her mum with her mei-mei. We visited her in the evening, and out of the blue, I thought, "What the heck! We can always send her to babysitter early tomorrow morning before going to the hospital." I asked if she wanted to go home with us, but she said, "It's OK mummy. I stay here tonight because I listen to you." Ha ha…as if, I guess it's like an adventure for her, because even yesterday, she asked if Apek (that's babysitter's hubby) will be sending her to school.

Back home at night, I just rechecked my hospital bag to ensure everything is packed. And there were still NO contractions.

10 comments:

Asianmommy said...

Good luck with everything! Soon there will be one more miracle in your life.

SleeplessInKL said...

maybe the contractions were there but you didn't feel them. the same thing happened to me with my 3rd child. i didn't feel a thing but when they hooked me up to one of those machines to monitor the contractions, they were definitely there! my doc says i have a high tolerance for pain :)

2ma said...

u r definitely a steady & cool mummy!

ZMM said...

But I guess everything went ok.. :)

Btw, I was hugging Zara so tight on the last day before I was to go for my induction.

Pity her exclusive right to me will be taken away.

Liew said...

YY is enjoying being a dai kah jeh :)

michelle@mybabybay said...

Hope you have a smooth delivery!

beckysmum said...

I tot your baby shares the same birthday with Xuanne :-P Seems like is one day after (22/7), am I right?

A Mom's Diary said...

Asianmommy/2ma - thanks.

Mimi - yeah maybe, coz my first one was an induced labour so I had no idea how "normal" contractions felt like, till it became rather intense.

Zara'a mama - exactly my sentiments, but then, my little monkey prefers the adventure of sleeping over at babysitter's place. I was crying in the car when we left babysitter's house.

WK - she definitely is, and I'm thankful for it.

Michelle - birth story coming up next :-)

Beckysmum - Yeah, it's a day after Xuanne. Left a comment on this in your post on Xuanne's birthday celebration :-)

ryeli said...

wah, you sound so relaxed - can watch movie some more. :)

looks like yiu yiu is all grown up. you've trained her well, she sounds very independent. hope she's taking it alright with her new mei-mei.

can't wait to hear your birth story. btw, hope yan yan's jaundice has cleared. tk care!

A Mom's Diary said...

Syn - Yiu Yiu has been an angel, as far as her mei-mei is concerned. Will have a post on that soon. Yan Yan is still slightly jaundiced, but we've discontinued phototherapy.