It's a boy!

Well, the lil one finally had to be forced out.

After waiting for the due date to arrive (nothing), then waiting a week after that (still nothing), baby Aidan very reluctantly left the confines of his comfy home and into our arms on 24th May 2007.

Doc S had already told us to report to the Labour Ward bright & early on that day if he still hadn't made an appearance yet. So we woke up early, had a light breakfast, chucked our bags in our messy car and headed to the hospital. After getting settled in the delivery room, Doc S examined me and declared I was at 3cm. I sputtered a bit about how I could have only dilated 1 whole centimeter in the last few weeks. She started the IV with the drug to induce labour and broke my waterbag at around 9.15am. Fluid was clear so it was just a matter of allowing labour to proceed. The first contractions started pretty quickly and before long, they were coming pretty fast.

K was with me, although he spent the time alternating between napping on the armchair or watching TV. Hatiku terasa panas aje.. But he did hold my hand during the contractions and fed me air selusuh..

After about 3 hours, I caved and asked for the injection. The experience turned fuzzy after that. Contractions were slightly more bearable and I felt like I was almost falling asleep between them. My progress was slow, even slower than my first time. I was getting exhausted and frustrated that I hadn’t dilated much and baby was not making his way down fast enough.

After a few more hours, the nurse examined me again and said she had to drain my urine. Apparently, my somewhat full bladder could be impeding baby’s progress and since I was all doped up, they can’t let me go use the toilet. And so they stuck a catheter in (I think) and somehow got everything out. Not a pleasant experience. I asked for the gas after that cos it felt like the injection was starting to wear off.

They started setting up all the gear (apron and boots by the sink, surgical supplies table to my left) and the kind nurse tried to calm me down and wiped my sweaty face. Where was K during all this? Conked out in the armchair, possibly even snoring a little. The nurse had to drain my urine again and right after she finished, I felt the urge to poo. Of course, I communicated this to her in a combination of words, wailing and crying. K woke up by then and jumped out of the chair. The nurse did a quick check and Doc S came in and told me to start pushing when the urge came while she got her gear on.

So I pushed. Bear in mind, this was after 10 hours so I was very lembik and my effort was probably pretty lame. They got very urgent suddenly and kept telling me to push and keep pushing. Suddenly, K told me “Mummy, you have to push kuat-kuat kalau tak adik kena vacuum nanti.” I gave it my all, complete with a sort of wailing cry. I think they had to sort of help me along by making the opening bigger (combination of snip snip and hand manipulation, ouch!).

When our son popped out and Doc S held him up, I knew why they were urgently telling me to push hard and were ready to use the vacuum so early. He had poo-ed in there and it was stuck to his bottom – a long trail of it. I’m just thankful everything turned out okay.

I was completely out of it after that. Didn’t have the energy to keep my eyes open while they cleaned and stitched me up and transferred me out. I remember reading in my pregnancy book that subsequent deliveries are generally shorter. I mentioned this to my mum the day before, probably in an attempt to delude myself. My mum’s words? “Tak tentu, tengok nasib kau macam mana..” In the end, mulut mak kita memang masin…

So after a 10-hour labour and being threatened with a vacuum, baby Aidan was delivered at 7.06pm on 24th May 2007 weighing in at 3.37kg. Huge if compared to Alya who was just 2.14kg at birth. He’s healthy, very crafty and curious.. Favourite thing to do is to lift his head and look around while I'm trying to burp him..