A princess is born!

So life can never do without some drama, right? It's amazing how life can be so peaceful one moment and then the next, a million things seem to happen simultaneously.

Date: 22 Dec 2012
Venue: Singapore

It was probably one of the most stirring days of my life so far.

06:30am I woke up with a shock as I felt a gush of water leaking and ran to the bathroom thinking "My water bag burst, I AM GOING TO GIVE BIRTH!". In the end, I concluded it looked more like vaginal discharge and since it was quite a common symptom during pregnancy, plus the hubby was working overnight and not home yet, I decided not to raise any false alarm and went back to bed. Though obviously I wasn't in the mood for sleep anymore.

08:00am Although there was no more gush of water coming out, I was starting to leak water bit by bit. Uncontrollably. It felt kind of amusing and weird because I did not experience this for Angel and the only thing I felt was contractions back then. But now, no contraction, no pain, no spotting. Just water trickling.

08:30am I had a missed call and the next time I picked up my phone when it rang, to my astonishment, it was from a delivery guy who was proud to announce that our shipment from Sweden has arrived. Downstairs. At. My. Block. *&!@#*$%! The last we heard, the shipment had been delayed and was not supposed to arrive till January. So you can probably imagine how my jaw dropped when I heard the sudden news. Living in a cosy Sengkang 4-room HDB flat with my in-laws, a busy hubby and a toddler meant that our house was pretty much in chaos and we had ABSOLUTELY no space for the near 100 boxes of stuff which had arrived from Sweden.



So it was a mad rush that morning as we spent half an hour arguing with the shipment company and why they had not given any advance notice, then asked for the shipment to return in two days' time but the guy said it was not possible, followed by a panic as my in-laws and I hurried to clear the living room so that it could be a temporary warehouse for the boxes.

All the time as I was leaking and leaking. I stayed mum about it because everyone was already in a frantic state of mind from all the boxes coming into our doorstep and busy checking off the items. I was sooooo hoping that the hubby was around but nope, no hubby in sight yet.

10:30am Finally, I broke the news to my mum-in-law after I made a call to Thomson Medical Centre, whereby they obviously asked me to make my way there asap. The hubby arrived home, flabbergasted. The big sister started weeping badly, saying "I don't want Mummy to go hospital" even though we had already prepped her in advance for this day. So eventually, the hubby and I decided to take Angel with us to TMC while the parents helped us to to check off the shipment.

11:30am On the car ride, the contractions began and I half knew this was going to be it. The big day I had been waiting for. We reached TMC and still had to wait around for a while before we got to meet the gynae. I had just seen her the day before and she had commented "Not yet, we still need to wait" and voila, next day morning here I was with my water leaking. She did a check and informed that my water was almost gone, not surprisingly since it had been hours already but I was only 1cm dilated. Omg. Worse than my first birth where I was at least 2cm open when I was admitted. Nonetheless, I heard the words "We have to start labour now".

I was wheelchaired into Birthroom 9, feeling excited and yet a little apprehensive of what lay ahead. The hubby took care of Angel and brought her for lunch, so it was pretty much me, myself and I for the next couple of hours.


12:00noon The nurse told me that I was going to be given a pill which would make me clear my bowels. Although I had heard of it, I had never taken it because back in Sweden, the nurses were prepared to clean up any unexpected poo. So it felt a little awkward when I took the pill. Rectally. I have to say it worked magic though. Within five minutes, I was dragging myself to the toilet, closed the door frantically and proceeded to empty out whatever was inside me.

12:30pm Ironically, half an hour later, I was given lunch. Chicken porridge. I guess I needed it to give me the strength for the pushing later. So with my contractions still bearable and about ten minutes apart, I had a peaceful lunch watching TV in the comfort of the birthing room all by myself.

1:30pm The hubby returned and asked me "So what's the situation now?" I was relieved to see him and have his company, at the same time glad to know that Angel was now safe with my in-laws. By this time, the contractions were getting more intense though I would say tolerable.


2:00pm At last, my gynae came in to help me induce, as expected. I knew the marathon was now going into the toughest, most painful and most challenging phase. Indeed, the next hour was one of the most excruciating moments of my life. The contractions got stronger, deeper and faster. Back in Sweden, I sat on the gym ball the whole time and swayed left and right which helped to distract me. This time round, I lay on the bed from start till end, not something I liked and I actually wished I had a gym ball in the room too.

As usual, I would grab hold of the hubby's hand and squeezed his fingers every time the contractions came. Just when I was thinking the contractions were hurting like mad, he commented after looking on the screen "They don't seem to be the very painful ones yet", as compared to those I endured for Angel. OMG. Am I going to make it to the finishing line?

2:30pm I decided to ask for the laughing gas, even though it didn't do me anything good physically the first time, it did help me to cope better psychologically. I didn't feel giddy, I didn't feel high, I didn't feel numb. But breathing it in did help me to mentally think that "I can do it". I had a little difficulty learning how to hold the mask correctly and the nurse said "Mummy, you are too tense, just relax!". Hello?? Why not let's switch positions. Anyway, the laughing gas, the hubby's fingers and the hubby's chanting "Breathe in, breathe out" helped me to cope with this tormenting half an hour.

3:10pm At one point, I half thought I wasn't going to make it. I shouted into the mask, I rolled my eyes, I yanked the laughing gas tube till it came off more than a couple of times, I curled up like a dead leaf. We were told to sound the buzzer as soon as I felt like I wanted to poo. And so we did. I half thought the baby was going to come out already. The nurse came in, did an examination and proudly announced I was 6.5cm dilated. I almost wanted to faint because I thought I was near the 10cm mark already. Honestly, I doubted myself. Can I take the pain anymore? Was it a smart choice to refuse to take epidural, again? Can I, can I, can I really do this a second time?

3:20pm Lo and behold, the next ten minutes was a miracle. You wanna know what's the most painful part of labour? It's the part when you feel like you have a dire urge to push (sort of like wanting to purge out a big poo) BUT you have to hold it in because 1) you are not fully dilated, 2) the gynae has not arrived. I heard the nurses running around looking for my gynae, shouting "She's wide, wide" and I knew it, I was fully dilated.

I probably gave out a few screams as I tried to hold back my baby while we waited for the gynae, whom we were told had to deliver an unexpectedly high number of babies on that same afternoon. The hubby looked at the clock and said "Hey, maybe Ariel will come out at the same timing as Angel, 3:47pm!" I laughed weakly but replied "Dear, I don't really care..."

3:40pm I was so relieved to see my gynae and two nurses rushing to prep everything. One of them placed both my legs on stands, told me to use my hands to grab my thighs from behind, asked the hubby to place one hand on my back and the other to hold mine, and finally, we were ready to push!

3:47pm I was still in the right sense of mind to ask the gynae "Can I shout when I push?" which made her chuckle and she said it was up to me. She also told me that since Sweden does not practise cutting open the v and I had tore naturally for Angel, she was going to let me tear this time round too. With the next contraction, I pushed and shouted with all my might. Alas the contraction died before I could feel anything coming out. All of us were quiet for a minute as we waited for the next wave, and I used the force I never knew I possessed and TA-DAH, Ariel came out, head, body and all.

You know what was the amazing thing?  

Her birth timing was exactly 15:47, just like the big sister.

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So there goes Ariel's birth story.

I requested for her to be handed to me the moment she came out and we also decided to have her room in with me instead of being taken care of in the nursery. Well, let's just say these were the best decisions because it is so important for mummy and baby to bond in those first few minutes of life, and personally I find that there is a lack of motherly love in the nursery and so no matter how exhausted or weak I felt, I would rather be taking care of my baby myself and cherish those first days of her life with her.



Last but not least, I am super thankful that she turned out to be healthy, safe and perfect. Perfectly adorable, perfectly cute, perfectly cuddly. And the best thing is, she's all mine to love and to hold.

I love you, Princess Ariel.

For Angel's birth story, go here. For Asher's birth story, go here. For Ansel's birth story, go here.

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