Birth Story of Khalif Aryan

This is going to be a super-long entry.

Sunday 16 Feb 2014.

We got a visit from my adik ipar & his in-laws. He just got married 2 weeks ago and weekend tu, the couple buat KL tour to their relatives' places together with his MIL and FIL. I managed to prepare soto Johor with begedil daging lagi kau. Gigih kemain. Everything seemd to be like normal. Not even mild contractions or period-pain like of feeling.

Went to bed quite early because Aryan nak pegi school the next morning. And I had a check-up with Dr Idora. Thinking about the traffic from Wangsa Maju to KL, aku rela bangun bagi terpacak kat spital at 8am rather than getting stucked in the bad traffic.

At 11pm, I felt like perut memulas. It must be the feeling nak poo poo- that was what in my mind. Went to the toilet tapi taknak pulak poo poo so I just ignored the feelings and went to sleep. At about 1230am, terjaga sebab rasa perut memulas lagi. Tapi sakit memulas tu macam manja-manja je.. It must not be the contractions I said sebab tak sakit mana pun. I did not have any braxton hicks masa pregnantkan Aryan. Not even this time. So I did not know how the braxton hicks feel like.

The memulas perut feeling came quite regular that night. I was in all-four position most of the time. Susun bantal tinggi-tinggi atas katil and melekap kat bantal tu. Memang tak rasa sakit lah I could sleep macam biasa. At about 3am I was quite curious knapa that feeling tak hilang-hilang eh. So I started to time the contractions. No harm pun nak time kan. Kau just download je apps dia. Senang bebeno. Eh eh eh... Bila tgk the pattern, it was 5-6 minutes apart and lasted for about 1 minute. But I was still in denial. No, that must not be the real contractions. Firstly the feeling was manageble and secondly I was only at 37 weeks along the pregnancy. Takkan nak deliver kot kan. What ever lah I said, sambung tido, esok pagi jumpa Dr Idora boleh tanya dia ape kemenda nya ini.

Monday 17 Feb 2014

MNI insisted to not sending Aryan to school. Takut kalau aku kena tahan ward masa check-up nanti leceh dia kena amik Aryan from school. Lagipun badan Aryan dedar-dedar so we sent him to his old babysitter's place. Oh you know the traffic in KL on Monday morning could drive you nuts! It took us almost 1.5 hours from Wangsa Maju to Pantai Hospital KL. Madness! Dalam kereta MNI and I berborak like takde apa-apa berlaku. Sebab entah, aku tak rasa sgt pun the surges. Tapi sempat jugak jeling-jeling jam kat keta- mannn memang the surges dtg every 4-5 mins and lasted for about 1 min.

Sampai PHKL, I was the second patient. But unfortuntely Dr Idora got an emergency at the labour ward and masuk clinic lambat. MNI asked me to go direct to the labour ward but I refused. Sebab kang macam-macam plak dia nak check. Better jumpa Dr Idora dulu and get her advice. We got to see Dr Idora at 11 am. Before tu, I felt like vomiting kat waiting area.  Tapi berjaya tahan.Cuak jugak because muntah pun tanda yg baby is coming, Masa Aryan pun aku muntah few hour before delivered.

Masa scan scan maybe she could feel the surges. She asked me ada rasa any contractions ke and I told her lah about the memulas-mulas thingy. She asked for my permission to do a VE. I was ok since aku pun nak tau whether I was in labour or not sebenarnya. Lepas VE, she told me that I was 5cm dilated already and baby was fully engaged. Ya Allah, I was still in denial. Sebab it was so different compared to masa delivered Aryan ; at 4cm I lost my mind already, tarik besi katil, marah MNI, menjerit and whatnots. Dr Idora asked us to masuk labour room or balik rumah pack baju ke macam mana. Bag mmg dah ada dalam kereta, so I chose to masuk labour room. Kalau balik rumah, mmg agaknya bersalin dalam keretalah kekdahnya.But I told her nak masuk labour room after lunch and zuhur. She was ok.

12.00pm

PHKL adalah tpt yang bosan utk jalan-jalan ye. Tak macam kat Prince Court boleh jalan dari hujung ke hujung, luas etc. PHKL jalan 10 minit dah habes tawaf spital dah. At this time, I could feel the surges were more intense. Bila surges dtg, I had to stop walking and lean on the wall. Few times jugaklah staffs kat situ tanya nak wheel chair ke? But I said no, I memang tgh jejalan nak cepatkan labour. 

Sempat pegi starbucks kejap beli Java Chip Frapp. Tgh beratur and bayar pun, I tried to control the surges. I applied lah all the techniques that I learned during the hypno class. It helped me a lot. Bila ada surges yg terlalu intense tu, what I need was just lean on the wall je. Itu position yang i felt so comfortable. After dah dapt frapp, jalan-jalan lagi around the hospital. Pastu dah bosan, MNI kata jomla check-in labour room. At least I could be free nak buat apa-apa position which I felt more comfortable. Sebab hospital tu boring, aku pun agreed.

1.00pm

In the labour room, as usual macam-macam plak benda-benda admin yang nurses tanya. I told them about my birth plan as they did not get a copy of it. My file was still at the clinic. Fortunately I had extra copy in my handbag, so I passed to them. The nurse requested to do a CTG. I refused at first, but dia mulalah kata procedure biasa bla..bla..bla.. Sekejap je pun takpe she said. So I malas nak layan and agreed.

Masa ni MNI mmg sgt memainkan pernannya sebagai birth companion. He asked the nurse to dim the light, controlled the room temperature, korek sana sini setting the room etc. The nurse gave me freedom to tukar baju spital or birth using my own cloth on. Aku malaslah nak kotorkan baju sendiri kan, so tukar lah baju spital tu. Then rasa nak shi-shi. Went for a loo and there you go, mucus plug dah keluar. Hermm.. lps tu cam saikologi sgt, tetiba plak rasa surges sgt kuat. (maybe that was my mindset sebab mucus plug dah keluar). MNI plak masa tu keluar kejap pegi beli roti and amik telekung dalam kereta. Lps mucus plug keluar, aku muntah lagi skali. I knew baby really really want to come out already. 

I tried to find the most comfortable position. Apparently kneeling was the best. Ada stool dalam labour room tu, so I letak bantal on it, and turunkan selimut to alas my lutut. Masa ni masih whatssapp with my buddies cerita lah aku tgh in labour ni. Probably 6-7cm dilated already, aku agak je lah kan.

I was in this position most of the time

1.30pm
MNI masuk labour room bawak roti apa bagai. Memasuk carik aku, rupanya I was terselit tepi katil resting on the stool. He wiped my sweat, bagi minum air, bagi makan kurma etc. He also gave me the light torch massage. Owh sgt selesa seriously. Then at one point, rasa lenguh lah plak dok gitu, so I stood up and swayed, squat etc. Masih tak selesa. MNI hugged me, we cuddled. Oh man sgt selesa. It must be the love hormon oxytocin. Ngeehehe.

Cuddling really helped me to control every surge :)

He asked me nak naik katil tak. I did not want to lay on the bed. He asked me to be at kneeling position but on the bed. Dia cuak kot kalau baby keluar on the floor. Wakaka. So I naik katil and set myself to this position.

Kneeling On the bed

Naik katil tak sampai seminit, tetiba I felt a big poo came out. Man that was the air ketuban. Masa tu I knew baby was about to come out already as I could feel it. MNI called the nurse, tapi nurse lain yg dtg. Not the one that I passed my birth plan to earlier. She requested to do a VE but MNI refused. He asked the nurse to panggil Dr Idora sebab MNI pun tahu based on experience masa deliver Aryan, bila pecah ketuban je tak sampai seminit baby keluar. The nurse insisted to do a VE sebab dia kata kalau tak tau brapa cm dilated macam mana dia nak panggil dr. Gosh aku malas nak layan lagipun aku tak nampak muka nurse tu. I tried my best to control my breathing and focus on the delivery. The visualisation techniques really really helped! The nurse asked me to baring utk VE. Ok lah fine, baring kejap she did VE and 9cm dilated already. Baru dia terkedek panggil Dr Idora. Masa tu aku dah kembali ke kneeling position semula. 

2.00 pm

I made the humming sound. Sgt membantu my breathing and visualisation. Suddenly I felt the 'ring of fire' thingy and I just breath out the baby. I know the head was out but masa ni nurse yg kelam kabut tu entah apa yg dia buat aku tak tau. But for sure she was not down there until I told her the head was out. The other nurse yg ada my birth plan entered the room and she was the one yg sambut the baby. I breath out for the second time and I knew the shoulder was out. Lepas tu the rest baby slide out sendiri at 2.09PM.

The nurses asked me to turn and placed the baby on my chest. But oh before tu diorang ada buat suction kat baby tu jugak, but MNI kata no, its enough. They did not touch the baby after that. Let the vernix absorbed to the skin and baby was so alert. That was the best moment I tell you ! After tu baru Dr Idora dtg. MNI cut the cord after about 15 mins when the cord dah stop pulsating and turned white. Aku pun rasa sgt segar bugar, fully concious and dapat appreciate that moment to the fullest. . The placenta dah keluar dari rahim, so Dr Idora just tarik sikit je bagi dia keluar habes. I had minor tear, kena jahit sikit. After that we were left alone for bonding time for about 2.5 hours before being transferred to the maternity ward.

Syukur Alhamdulillah semuanya berjalan dengan lancar dan selamat. No drugs, only 2 VEs, no medical intervention, I felt very comfortable during labour and delivery, I was in control of my own body, and it was a wonderful birth experience :) A very gentle birth. Alhamdulillah.

Walaupun ada nurses at PHKL yang tak brapa nak follow our birth plan, but all in all I berpuas hati sebab almost all we requested diorang respect and follow. For instance we requested to delay cleaning the baby, delay vaccine etc, semuanya mereka follow.

Few tips :
1. Practise makes perfect ! Kena rajin practise breathing technique so you know which one to apply and when. Ini aku pun kurang practise so ada jugak time yang ke laut breathing aku tuh.
2. Visualize the birth that you want. I always visualise that I will give birth at on all-four position. And turned out to be true. And also I always always always visualise the rose bud, the blue ribbon, thinning and thickening of the servics, the baby path, the laluan J etc. All these really really helped me a lot !
3. Get enough drinks and food. Energy kena ada ok.
4. Husband kena tau their role as birth companion. And both of you must understand your birth plan. So senang lah nak protect apa yang u nak.
5. Trust your body ! It is designed to give birth naturally.
6. Of course doa bnyk-bnyk and tawakal kepadaNya selepas usaha dan doa.

Ok. perasaan lepas bersalin kali ini? Saya tidak trauma lagi and tak serik utk bersalin lagi. Alhamdulillah.

Happy birthing !