Akmal Izzat: The Story

as many know, this pregnancy wasnt smooth flowing. it wasnt bad - i had no morning sickness, i wasnt inactive, i could still take the public transport (and stand!), i could still fast the full month (bar 3 days), i could still manage the house and the 3 boys if hubby is not around (even did it in my 34th week). but there were things i didnt experience during previous pregnancies that i experienced during this one - terrible food poisoning (that had me on the ctg as early as my 23rd week), bag migraine that required me to be admitted, asthma attack that had me on the nebuliser 3 times a day for a week, frequent contraction that had me on medication since my 28 week and the worst (for me) was the pain in my left leg that irritated every movement.

because of the pain, i was extremely looking forward to delivering the baby. my gynae pleaded for me to at least make it past 34 weeks. she's so happy that i just about reached my 37 weeks. that was my fault totally. i took 2 weeks off since i had my week 34 check up. i wanted badly to induce myself. with the house chores i did at and all the walking i did in the shopping malls, i succeeded. during my week 36 check up, my gynae announced that i was already 2cm dialated and labour would happen in the very next week.

hubby and i chose to admit ourselves in the hospital on tuesday. more of work - hubby wanted a day to settle his things at work and i wanted a day to settle my laundry at home. the fact that the tuesday was the third of march made it even nicer.

i was a bit sceptical that i would actually give birth on tuesday, mainly because i couldnt feel anything leading up to the day. the contraction, of course, but i've been feeling that since my 2nd trimester and there wasnt anything new or extra about my contractions.

but i guess the baby knew daddy and mummy's plans. come tuesday morning in the car, my contractions started getting a bit stronger and a bit uncomfortable. when we reached the hospital i almost reached knuckle-gripping point. the admission process felt a bit long, the first check up by the nurse felt even longer. they were, of course, every was done within 20 minutes and by the time hubby had finished his breakfast i was already in the hospital gown in the labour room.

the anesthetists came to give me my epi-time shot (note: this delivery had some similarity with amir's - same room, same labour room, same 2 nurses - a rarity - same anesthetist) i was immediately on air. hubby and i watched 2 movies in a row (how come i didnt know we can switch on the telly in the labour room?) while we wait for the dialation to increase. initially it went up fine from 2cm to 4cm to 5cm within 3 hours. somewhere in between my gynae came in to break the waterbag.

i kept looking at the ctg graph, my contraction is getting more frequent from 3minutes to 2 minutes apart. then there wasnt anymore dilation. i was worried, the nurses were worried. one of the nurses even stimulated me to dilate further and it somehow worked. it quickly became 8cm around 1pm and the contraction became 1 minute apart. still not fast enough for them. they were wondering if the baby was big enough, if my contraction wasnt strong enough.

around 2cm they announced, 10cm and quickly called my gynae. my epi has been topped 3-4 times and i lost all feelings in my legs. the nurses encouraged my to push. i tried but the baby didnt move. it was different from ariff, then 3 tries had the nurse yelling stopppp. now it was push and push and push and 'are you ok?' then the gynae annouced that the baby's head was tilting up. oh god...asyraf all over again! it would be vacuum to push the head down and assist to pull out.

saw the nurses bring the vacuum, i saw my gynae preparing the vacuum then all i heard was pushhhh. 1 push and i felt a great relief off my stomach. the baby's finally out. one of the nurses commented that the umblilical cord was also wrapped around his body which explains why he wouldnt move with the intense contraction.

they put the baby on me for a while and took him away to clean him. it was then that i broke. i started crying. and crying and crying and crying. not because of the baby but because i was so tired. i was crying the 9 months away, the last 4 years away, the whole morning away. i was just so exhausted and i told hubby so. i cannot go through this anymore, i'm relieved and i'm done.

the gynae took a long while to clean and stitch me up due to the baby's head position. when she and all the nurses left, i started shivering. the room became so cold that i had to throw the covers over my head. hubby called the nurse who later called the anesthetist. he gave me something to calm me down, which he said would make me sleep. it did almost immediately. i was grateful for the drug, i really needed to sleep as i was tossing and turning the night before.

it was raining heavily (i later read the it was flooded in the city). hubby and i slept for almost 2 hours, we could have slept more if the anesthetist didnt come in. i was still groggy and hubby was (still) hungry. because the last epi top-up was quite high, i wasnt able to move my feet for a long while. the doctor said to wait til 8pm but i finally managed to move at 10pm. i quickly cleaned myself, changed my clothes and went to sleep. i didnt hold the baby at all cos i was still shivering.

i tried sleeping the night through but was distrubed by the contraction of the uterus. after getting a round of painkiller, i finally managed to get a good 3 hour sleep. come morning, i felt better after a good shower, hubby felt better after his breakfast and the baby came in...still sleeping!!

over the couple of days in the hospital, the baby was pretty quiet. he had his meals regularly, slept long hours and gave hubby enough time to run his errands and me sleep off my exhaustion.