Baby Liezl - My Birthing Story (Part 2)

Monday - June 27, 2011
My gynecologist Dr. Yap has ordered me to rest this week. Work was really crazy and it was only a few days back that they finally decided that yes I can hand over to my colleague. Frankly I can't believe that I have reached this point that I still did not have a replacement. I can't even make an announcement to the hiring managers that I liaise with as there were no definite plans. Despite the flexibility my boss gave me to work from home occassionaly, it still did not alleviate how stressful things in the office are. In fact Ryan commented that I'm far worst working from home since I hardly get up and do not go for breaks compare to going to the office where I have to walk to the mall to get my lunch and ladies room is far from where I sit. Add to this fact that I am driving my family crazy with my volatile temper.

Anyway it was Monday and the stubborn me declared that I will still go to work (blatantly ignoring doctors orders) however when I stepped into the shower I was bleeding a bid. Contractions? I got so used to it that I hardly feel it. I called my doctor's HP and she told me it's a "show" (I had to look it up in BabyCenter after the call to find out what she meant) and she said wait for the contactions it can either be today or a few days more.

So I obviously stayed at home and continued to file for my medical leave.

Night came and nothing. No regular contractions..yes the pain was there especially at night but it doesn't progress.

Tuesday..Wednesday..Thursday...waiting mode. I was still bleeding but not profusely or alarming nor were the contractions. However doing nothing at home really helped a lot. I was not that uptight anymore and I can feel the excitement building that Baby Liezl is about to come out.

Friday - July 1, 2011

After that 4 days rest at home it was time to see my doctor. We dropped Iaree off to school and on the way to doctor's clinic I was feeling the frequent and more intense contractions. Hmmm..again I am so used to it that while in the waiting lounge of the clinic Ryan & I was browsing the Transformer's movie sched. It was only 9:45 AM and we are targetting the 11AM show, Ryan was about to click the buy online button but I said lets see what the doctor says first. I was getting hungry so we decided to grab breakfast first since Dr. Yap was still with a patient. When we returned to the clinic few minutes after her door was open and we hardly stepped in her private room she was already questioning me "What are you still doing here???!!" I replied..."err..we are here to pick you up and take you to the hospital"
"Aiyoo go now I'll see you in the hospital before lunch" She touched my tummy and said "You are havin contractions??!!" I replied "Ummm..I think so since 9:15 this morning" Then she shooed us away..I even attempted to ask her "So is it really now like now NOW? Because we wanted to go see a movie first" Hahaha of course she did not let us anymore and she even bragged that she was going with her twins and hubby on Saturday to watch it too.

So Ryan and I decided that we still have time anyway let's go back to the house to get the DSLR. Not only were we planning to watch a movie that day, we needed to go and buy a replacement point and shoot cam as ours got broken few weeks back...so if this is really happening now we have no choice but to bring the SLR.

15 mins away from the hospital Ryan got a call on his mobile. It was Dr. Yap!She was looking for us and apparently she's at the labor room and I wasn't there. Hahahaha she wanted to scold me but at least she was relieved that we weren't too stubborn to watch a movie instead of heading to the hospital. At least we are on the way there now. LOL.

PANTAI MEDICAL HOSPITAL:

My oh my the parking lot was packed. Because we were so embarrassed that Dr. Yap was already there I got off and walked myself to the labor room. I even went to the wrong floor where the maternity wards were located and the lady guard even asked what I was doing there -I told here I'm giving birth today.

Once I was settled in the bed Dr. Yap casually walked and informed me "I will break your water bag okay?" then she turned to the nurses "if her contractions do not intensify or not that consistent put a drip on her". Nanay ko!I heard that drip can be painful talaga...before she went for her lunch I was inquiring about the epidural because the wasn't too much I thought maybe this time I don't need one. But she told me and Ryan the pain level would be the same so go for the epidural knowing my pain threshold last time. Hehehe..

Ryan went to the car to get the tripod and other stuff. While he was away they made me order my lunch, dinner and breakfast for the next day. When he got back they have delivered my lunch..at this point the pain was beginning to getting into me it was around 12:45 PM. I told Ryan not to starve himself and grab something to eat or he can have my lunch. I don't have the appetite to eat anymore. To distract myself from the more frequent pain of contractions I logged in to FB but cant stay online long enough as it's getting more and more painful. The nurses asked me if I already want my epidural but I still wanted to wait out for a bit. I wonder for what do I like to wait for (I was also like this with Iaree's birth) realistically speaking the pain is unbearable for me. I told them to call the doctor maybe around 1:15 PM ish..we have agreed to this time because they advised that some doctors go back to their homes after lunch so while they are here and haven't gone for lunch yet better catch them.

I tried not to visualize how big the epidural needle is luckily my pain was still bearable so I was still mobile. However it was nerve-racking to hear the Anesthesiologist scolding and I mean really scolding the nurses for preparing the wrong whatever. I only got the part that the epidural will take longer to have an effect on me because of this mistake. In my mind I tried to see the humor in the doctor's angry lecture to the nurses but really?!

After a while the pain started unfortunately 30 mins has passed and the epidural doesn't seem to be helping. This was the agonizing pain here. So they said to wait for a while..after 15 mins more it wasn't doing it for me. My contractions were spiking up to 70-80 and it was crazy. When I came in it was 30-40. I lost track when it was they put the drip to increase the contractions but I guess that's what made matters worst. Seriously it was so pain free during Iaree's labor. I was screaming and crying due to pain and I was under epidural. Then I was also having problems with my right leg which was so numb. I was so uncomfortable. The nurses received instructions to increase my epidural dosage. After a few minutes that didn't help!! They refilled the epidural with more and that somehow helped. That was around 3 PM I guess because everything was happening so fast they checked me twice and I was already 7-8 cm dilated so they have called Dr. Yap back in.

Before 4PM Dr. Yap was prepping me for the delivery. She also declared that it was her birthday that day that's why she was dressed so nicely and I am making her deliver my baby. Hahaha. We also had a Filipino nurse helping us. Dr. Yap was giving me last minute tutorials (in reference to my lack of pushing skills last time). It seemed pretty effective but was not enough. After a few tries (and I was getting really tired) she asked if I needed some help. I said 2 more pushes if I really can't go for the forcep.

They were really very encouraging and they said I was doing good but I still needed help. Good thing I asked for it because there was also another reason I can't bring her out by merely pushing...the cord was tied to Liezl's neck 2 times. So this time they did not give Ryan the option to cut the cord as they had to do it quickly. I am so grateful nothing bad happened to Liezl. As Dr. Yap explained later it was because my umbilical cord was so long that it didn't harm her.

Finally Allysa Rielle was out at 4:15 PM, July 1, 2011. Ryan later came back and told me she weighed 3.59 KG when we were expecting a 3.1 KG baby. It was a painful but rewarding ordeal and I was so happy to have our new baby in my arms.

When mama brought in our very new "Ate" Iaree she can hardly contain her excitement and was so disappointed that the baby was still being bathed and napping it's taking like forever to see her. When our Liezl arrived it was truly a heart-melting moment for the sisters to finally meet. Iaree started to gently pat her cheek what would soon become (almost) pangigigil. LOL. Iaree didn't want mama to take her back home to sleep comfortably fearing that "what if the baby looks for her Ate and I'm not around?" no!I'm staying here with her.

And our new journey as a family begins with plenty of love and excitement for our 2 beautiful daughters.

Baby Liezl - my second pregnancy story (Part 1)

We've been wanting to have a second baby so the age gap of Iaree and her sibling will be just right. We wanted Iaree to be big enough to be independent and understand things. Financially speaking we were really aiming for the regularization from my company as it was promised to me a year back(this is for better maternity coverage) however there seemed to be no clarity on this so we gave it a go.

We got the good news that I am expecting November 2010! It was such a delight for all of us and Iaree was the 1st we told..she was so excited she thought the baby will come out instantly from the time we told her. From then on she learned about the word "ATE" and refused to be the "baby Iaree" we fondly call her. She became very protective of me & my tummy. Always volunteering to take care of me when I am throwing up or simply not feeling well. We can't be more proud of her really. This made me & Ryan all the more excited with our new addition.

The pregnancy was a bit tougher I threw up more often and can't take food as much as when I was pregnant with Iaree. I had to avoid a lot of fruits..unlike with Iaree I can take almost anything. Then in the middle I also got soooo sick that I had to take antibiotics. I never had to with Iaree so I was soo scared. With a toddler in tow, a hectic job & feelings like this it was a whole new experience for me that wasn't so welcoming I was starting to think did I age that much to be pregnant again?

Completed the 5th month and the "morning sickness" came less to a point I thought it was gone. But I spoke too soon..I did have it less often but up to the 7th month I was still throwing up and having nauseous bouts.



Imagine my delight for food after the 7th month not to mention the work stress level kept on increasing...with no career progression or regularization in sight. I always had food on my table and I eat desserts like crazy after lunch breaks. Hahahaha. Just between my 34-36 week of pregnancy I gained about 3-4 KG and Baby Liezl from 2.8 something became 3.1!!!!So doctor said..okay baby's ready to come out anytime..hahahaa. I was put on diet just to be sure. First week of diet, weight maintained but the baby still gained. Second & 3rd week of diet I was losing weight the baby's was constant. Or so we thought...then contractions I had...

I think I started having contractions 35th week. I read somewhere it can be stress contractions too. Must be due to work. Hmp! We have sent mixed signals to our bosses especially for Ryan who is working in the faraway land of Cyberjaya where it's not practical to bring the car everyday. He's at the mercy of the bus schedule so he had to inform his boss every time there's a possibility of me delivering. People were always waiting for baby to come out that after a few weeks the questions that Ryan & I are both getting were - "you're still here?" or "baby is not out yet?" because despite the early warnings signs the baby just felt cozy inside my tummy and stayed on. And Ryan really made me diet and walk ok. We park at the other side of 1 Utama mall and my office is at the other far end (for my friends in the Phil - imagine Greenbelt 5 to SM). He used to pick me up at the lobby of our office but not this time.

There was this Friday on my 37-38 week of pregnancy that we really thought this is it. The contractions were 10 mins apart and very very painful. We decided to go to the hospital but in the car the contractions were gone. Ryan said just try to walk it out in the hospital. But even after an hour of walking around the contractions didn't return as painful or as frequent. Besides if I do deliver that night I am so tired from all the walking.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the story. Birthing time!