Labour Story
Hi friends, I’m excited to introduce a new member of the family, my newborn, Lucien Isaiah. He was born 5 days earlier than the due date, at 3.16 kg and he was 50 cm long.
It’s been a couple of months since I gave birth to Lucien. I finally found some energy and a bit of time to share my first labour experience.
In this post, I’ll also be sharing some family photos taken by our beautiful friend and talented photographer Lena Lim, this was one month after Lucien’s birth. Lucien was born during the COVID lockdown, hence we were not able to have baby and family photos professionally taken immediately.
In short, I had a natural labour i.e. no medication such as epidural, morphine, laughing gas, or pethidine to ease the pain. It was an unexpected decision to have a drug free labour. Looking back, despite the second the degree tear and high amount of blood loss (postpartum haemorrhage), I found my first labour experience to be an empowering one.
Reading about other open and honest childbirth and postpartum experience helped me to mentally prepare for my labour, and learn how different one’s labour experience can be from others! If you are expecting, I hope this article relates to you or encourages you some way or another. If the details are too much information for you, feel free to skip the sections below.
outfits:
ASTR the label Sonnet dress in white from Shopbob. Similar here
Lucien is wearing Wilson & Frenchy knitted overall
Photographed by Lena Lim
11:30 PM (7 days before the due date)
I was getting ready for bed when the mild contractions kicked in. Each contraction lasted about 15-30 seconds long, came at about every 5 minutes. I was nervous, told my husband that the baby might be coming soon. He suggested that it might be Braxton Hicks a.k.a practice contractions. I called the hospital, the mid-wive suggested it might be signs of the first stage of labour. She asked me to take some Panadol, get some sleep, and call back if I bleed, stop feeling the baby’s movement or when my water breaks.
I managed to get some sleep, not well. I used this breathing technique, which was really helpful to get me through labour contractions throughout the journey.
8.00 PM (6 days before the due date)
I lay in bed all day. The contractions continued for the whole day, a little more intense at this point and about 3-4 minutes apart. I didn’t have appetite, barely ate all day. It was a little frustrating as I didn’t know how long these contractions were going to continue until I would be fully dilated to push the baby out.
10.00 PM (6 days before the due date)
My mucus plug came out when I peed. I bled a little bit. The contractions were becoming quite intense. But I was glad at the same time, because it was a progress, a step closer to giving birth and meeting the baby!
11:30 PM (6 days before the due date)
My water broke, finally! It was a gush of water came out when I was in the toilet. I eagerly called the hospital. The same midwife answered the phone and asked me to come in.
The contractions were more frequent, about 2-3 minutes apart. At times, it felt like they overlapped and very intense. I also felt the urge to push, like an urge to have a bowel movement.
12:30 AM (5 days before the due date)
We got to the hospital. I was looking forward to the epidural to ease the pain. The midwife checked to make sure the baby was alright first. When she checked how dilated I was, she told me my cervix was fully dilated, and that I was ready to push the baby out!
I eagerly asked for epidural but she said that I didn’t need it, an epidural was useful to block the pain during the dilation process. My husband who was a doctor agreed with it. She said that I'd feel better, as I'd ‘release' the pain with each push. I didn’t quite understand what that meant. I remember the strong urge to push the baby as soon as possible. I couldn't think much and went ahead with the midwife’s suggestion to not have epidural. I trusted that I was in experienced and capable hands.
2:00 AM (5 days before the due date)
I started pushing around 2AM. I finally understood what the midwife said earlier by releasing the pain/contraction away as I pushed. It felt like I was pushing for ages, to be honest, at same points I wasn’t sure if I could it.
3:00 AM (5 days before the due date)
I continued to take a deep breath, and silently prayed with each contraction/push. It took about an hour to push the baby out. At 3AM, Lucien was born into this world! As I hold Lucien in my arm, I was awestruck. The rest of the labour i.e. delivery of the placenta seemed like a breeze. The obstetrician came in to stitch the second degree tear, and stop the excessive bleeding (postpartum haemorrhage).
Giving birth was quite possibly the hardest thing I have ever done. However, it wasn’t as horrifying as I imagined and I’m grateful for this experience. It has made me realise the extraordinary strength of a woman’s body, our ability to endure physical child birth pain, and more importantly the capacity of our hearts to love unconditionally. I’m now in the thick of postpartum. I will continue to share my postpartum journey and my perspective on motherhood so far in another article, as this one is getting too long.