I never imagined that one day I would be a writing a post about my labor story and the birth of our daughter. The feeling surreal in trying to find the right words to describe the whole experience while Amyra lays in her cot right next to me. 

JANUARY 3RD, 2020

5:00 AM - 4 DAYS BEFORE MY DUE DATE

I woke up to use the toilet and noticed that I was slightly bleeding. My heart immediately started racing when it struck me that this might be it, my baby is coming. I quickly looked up online what this could mean and learned that my mucus plug had broken. It's basically a ton of mucus with blood clot. 

I rushed back to tell Raj and text my doctor. My doctor replied immediately saying he thinks my mucus plug broke and asked me to come and see him by noon. I started having cramps as well since I got out of bed so I was finding it difficult to go back to sleep. I had nothing better to do so I gave into my cravings for a delicious chillie cheese toast whilst chilling on my birthing ball.

11:00 AM

I woke up again a few hours later to more discharge and bleeding and it started freaking me out. I thought this could be my water breaking but wasn't sure. I started getting mild contractions, which felt like a peaking period cramp that would subside. It was manageable but uncomfortable at first. I managed a quick showered and got ready and frantically put the last of  my items into my hospital bag, incase my doctor tells me to go to the hospital straight after visiting him.  

My doctor's clinic was about a 7 minute walk from my house, It wasn’t an easy walk for me complete whilst having and dealing with my sporadic contractions.

12:30 PM

My Doctor did an internal examination and said my cervix was softening which indicates that I had entered into labor. and he predicted that that later the same evening or early next morning I would be delivering my baby . In that moment I felt an overwhelming sensation with a rush of emotions feeling the  day was ACTUALLY here. Soon our world was about to change forever. 

1:30 PM

I insisted to my husband that I wanted to go have one last dim sum meal before heading to the hospital. That is pretty much what I have consistently craved and wanted most of my pregnancy. We went to Hyatt Chinese Restaurant (one of my favourite Chinese restaurants) which is like 2 minutes walking distance from my house for lunch. Also I thought a good and yummy meal would distract me from the waves of contractions and pain that was about to commence. 

2:45 PM

Following lunch, I got home and tried to take a nap since I didn't sleep much and knew I had a long night ahead of me. It was hard to fall asleep with the contractions getting stronger and more frequent, my hubby helped by massaging me, and taking a warm shower really helped in managing the pain.

11:30 PM

The pain was unbearable, and my contractions had been 5 minutes apart for the last 30 minutes. That's when we decided to go to the hospital. My elevator wasn't working, so had to walk down 7 floors, so we timed it that as soon as I finished having a contraction at home, we rushed down the stairs to have my next contraction. I definitely felt this was the right time to go as my pain was slowly escalating to an unmanageable level.

Once we got there, checked in, filled out some forms, declaring insurance forms etc. After 20 mins of dealing with that that, the resident nurse brought me to a room alone, where I had to put on a gown, I left my socks on as I heard your feet get cold (which they did). They hooked me to a monitor and it was showing I definitely was having contractions and they were getting stronger, the nurse said I came in at the perfect time. A nurse came in to do an internal examination, and check my cervix for dilation and effacement. I must say it was really painful and freaky feeling her push her entire fist and arm up there to check the cervix status. It turns out I was only 1cm dilated! 

JANUARY 4TH, 2020

12:45 AM

The brought me to the labor and delivery room where my doctor had come in to do another internal examination on me (ahhh so much pain) and advised me to take the epidural now to help manage my pains, and he would also induce me with Oxytocin, as he said after 7-8 hours of having an epidural I could get a fever so he preferred to induce me to speed up my contractions. My husband was still not allowed inside to be with me yet.

They then induced me, and then rolled my on the side and curved my back whilst the anaesthists gave me the epidural. I must say I was a bit worried about this, but it wasn't that painful. I was still feeling the contractions, they said it would take 15 mins to work.

My doctor then went in and did another internal examination and said the induction was working well on me as I was now already 2 and a half cm dilated and my contractions were getting stronger. He also broke my water bag, I couldn't really feel that just water gushing out. My doctor said he thinks by 6am I would be ready to deliver so he'd come back later and have the nurses check on me.

1:30 AM 

My hubby was finally allowed in the room! I was relieved to finally have him there as I was scared, nervous and just overwhelmed with what was happening. By this time the contractions were SO STRONG, I didn’t think the epidural was working on me. I kept asking the nurse to give me more as I heard from so many people once you get the epidural you can sleep, relax chill. But I was crying hysterically to Raj telling him I can't do this.

4:30 AM

The nurse came in to check at every hour, by this time I was 9cm dilated and she said she was going to inform my doctor to come back to the hospital as I would soon be ready for the final push. 

5:00 AM

The Doctor was called in when I was 10cm dilated. Immediately our doctor along with the supporting nurses started coaching me on the correct technique on how to push for the final stage of labor. Honestly this was the most painful part. The forceful push sensation felt like I was trying to unload a massive poo but nothing was coming out,  it didn’t help either when I was feeling nerve spasms all down my legs from having them stretch and spread apart. Asides from the simulated constipate effect the entire positioning was very uncomfortable and testament to my lack of flexibility. Bearing in mind by this stage I was in active labor for the last 5 hours with accelerating pain and intensity the contractions.

I was exhausted even before I started with the climatic push! Half hour into the final stage I kept crying and screaming as I felt like I had been running a marathon pushing forever! The doctor and the nurses said they could feel the head in the birth canal, but I was just too exhausted and frustrated to keep going. The Doctor with his wealth of experience was already prepared and inserted a vacuum cup and placed it against the baby's head to help guide her out. On the next wave of contractions I pushed whilst he also used the vacuum suction. In that moment, she immediately started crowning and her head was half out. That is when I noticed a slimy round and hairy human head emerging from me and I completely freaked out! I was screaming hysterically, shifting my waist and lifting my leg to give one ultimate final shock and awe mother of all pushes! Twisting of my waist in that hysterical state caused me to tear down there! 

6:01 AM

Out she came! It was the craziest feeling ever. They put her in my arms immediately. It was the wildest experience in the world. I was traumatized from the final push and in shock. I didn't understand what had just happened. I felt exhausted and told Raj to take our baby first and let her come in contact with his bare chest skin. In the meantime I was just trying to process the whole thing I just went through whilst they were pulling the placenta out as well and stitching me up from the tearing.

It was a magical watching our daughter Amyra, skin to skin with Raj as she bonded with him. All Raj kept saying was this is on of the most exhilarating experience of his life. But I was still processing what just happened... They then took our baby away to clean her, give her a shot, measure her weight and height etc. to hand the details over the Hong Kong birth registry. The nurses informed us our baby had a mild yet very common issue of slight jaundice so they were going to keep her under the light for few hours and suggested my hubby and I get some rest.