What happened?

I can’t believe it. The last time I actually decently blogged was in August 2017, and we’re already in February 2018? Last I checked, I was still a pregnant whale. And today, I am a mother of two.

Yes, two.

So, what’s happened between then and now?

A LOT.

Firstly, I am very sad to say that we are not able to go on with our renovation plans for our home – and not for the next 2-3 years, at least. Let us save that story for another day.

However, we are very happy to announce that we are now a family of four! And that we now have a helper to manage the daily house chores and, hence, we are managing well.

Alhamdulillah, I gave birth to a(nother) beautiful baby boy in November. It was a labour much faster than my first, though much tougher. I was already feeling a fair bit of contractions two days before I actually popped, and haven’t been sleeping well at night. It was a lot of tossing and turning trying to find the right spot. And just when I found it and was just about to fall asleep, a short wave of contractions would come before I got uncomfortable again.

So I got up in the wee hours of Thursday (23/11) morning, perspiring like I had been running a marathon in my sleep. We had the aircon on and the fan blasting at me (my husband and son must have been freezing, I reckon) yet I felt uncomfortably hot. I’m assuming it was the contractions I had battled throughout the night. I tried falling asleep but could hardly get any. Thankfully, by morning, I had enough energy to do the pelvic rock to ease the pain whenever a wave came.

We had already planned to run errands with my parents, as we needed to get stuff organised for our helper before she arrived the following week. And that, my friends, was the only day my dad could take his AL as it was the busiest time of the year. In the morning, my dad picked my son and myself up and we headed to my parents. I ended up walking to Woodlands Mart to get breakfast for everyone.

We all headed out and arrived our destination by 12.30PM and finished our errands 3 hours later. While we shopped, I was constantly stopping and bending forward to grab on to something every time a wave came. The contractions were getting stronger and I was still choosing ice-cream at Giant, guys. Because, PRIORITIES KAN.

Suddenly, I felt a quick gush down south. I took myself to the toilet and my pad was soaked with what looked like discharge, with a tinge of blood. I told my mum and we quickly paid for our goods before heading home.

In the car on our way back, the contractions were already 5/10 on the pain scale and were 5-7 minutes apart. The moment we arrived home, the waves came at me every 3-5 minutes. GILA, I tell you. But I was determined to put off going to the hospital for as long as I could, from my first experience of getting there too early and ended up strapped to the bed.

I called Hubs and he rushed home. We had dinner (PRIORITIES, yet again) and I waited for him to finish Maghrib before we finally made our way to NUH. When we checked myself in, they did a VE on me and we were shocked to find that I was already 3CM dilated! Shortly after the VE, I felt like taking a dump so they let me go but I only managed to pee.

Within the next 30 minutes, they had to do another VE on me (because I went to pee) and found myself already 5CM dilated! Hubs looked pleased as he expected it to be a quick labour but, of course, he can only dream – I was 5CM for the next 3 hours, guys. And since I was already hungry, Hubs got me my Double Chocolate from Coffee Bean and Nachos with Cheese Dips!

Yupp, still craving while in labour.

I was dying to get some sleep and finally managed to fall asleep shortly after midnight. I was just too freaking exhausted from battling the pain for days. Hubs ordered something from Food Panda and got me Roti John which I really wanted to eat, but SLEEP > FOOD at that moment. I got up 2 hours later and there was best news ever..

I was fully dilated and ready to go!

Sadly, I didn’t have the urge to push or anything like that. In fact, I was forced to push each time a contraction came. Bubs had indeed descended and everything was in place, but I guess Allah’s timing is always better. I was crying, grabbing, scratching, punching and pinching Hubs (kesian dia) because the contractions were !@#$%&? and even told him I just wanted to die.

Seriously, sakit k.

After 40 minutes of pushing and fighting, I developed a high fever of 39 degrees. They gave me some water and oxygen because I was already breathless, and THIS close to giving up. Bubs heartbeat does not seem good on the monitor, and I knew I had to get him out but I just couldn’t find the energy to push any more. After some short deliberation, they allowed me to rest for 10 minutes.

The doctor and all the midwives left us alone in the room while I contemplated on a C-section, for the safety of my baby. But, of course, Allah’s plans are always better. I started pushing again at 0555hrs and within 10 minutes, I became a mother of two.

I cried so hard, because I was so thankful he came out safely. It was such an eye-opening birth experience, compared to my first. It was 6 hours shorter, but perhaps 6 times more difficult.

And that, my friends, was what exactly happened. 🙂