The story started on Wednesday, 21 March 2007. I started to see some “show”. Thinking that my labour would start anytime, I decided to rest at home, ready for D-Day. The wait dragged on for 2 more days with only intermittent false contractions at nights. We hoped Sher Min would be born on our wedding anniversary (23 March) and as the day draws near and false contractions grew stronger in the morning of 23rd, we thought THAT WAS IT. The false cotractions (felt like abdominal cramps) were about 2 mins apart when we decided to make our way to the hospital.

So we packed our gym ball, mini compo, labour bag and admission slip and confidently strode into the hospital at 10ish a.m. asking to be admitted for delivery. Midwife looked at me, not convinced I was in labour (since I was still smiling) and suggested I see my doctor at her clinic next door. After waiting for 2 hours to see the doc, she announced that I was only 1 cm dilated and that my surges so far were just first stage labour signs. She doubted I would birth that day.

All hopes dashed for an anniversary baby, we left the hospital dejected. We went for lunch and movie to celebrate our anniversary. Got home at 4.30pm to rest and by then the surges had grown stronger.
Actually after the doc examined me, I somehow felt the surges grew stronger but hubby insisted I was being mental about it. By 6+pm, the contractions became unmistakably “CONTRACTIONS”. I sat on the gym ball doing the pelvic rock, listening to my HB CD trying to relax through each surge as taught by Wai Han. It did help.

All those times, we were timing the surges but there wasn't a regular pattern for us to confirm an established labour which was what the doc asked us to look out for. So we thought it still wasn't time yet. By 11pm, my surges were about 2-3 mins apart. We decided to go to the hospital then again packed the gym ball, mini compo, extra pillows, snacks etc.

Because it was past regular hours, we had to go through the Emergency section. I politely refused to be taken on a wheelchair and walked instead to the labour ward. First thing the midwife did was to examine me and found me to be 6cm dilated. She strapped me in bed for 30 min so she could monitor the baby’s heartbeat. That 30 min was agonizing as I can’t seem to “work” my surges off in that position. Baby’s heart rate was pretty stable at 120-140 throughout labour. Once the monitor was off, I jumped off bed, hopped on my gym ball to meet subsequent surges which grew stronger and stronger. By now time has no meaning. I was just living surge by surge. All of a sudden, my water bag broke while I was on my gym ball. Be it instinct or reflex, I managed to kick my ball away and my water splashed all over the floor. It was a huge mess. Then the “mega waves” hit me about 2+am. By now, I had to kneel on the floor, hugging my still-clean gym ball. The midwife asked that I inform her when I feel the urge to push is strong. So I told her I was already feeling it but somehow she said only when the urge is stronger.. I can’t really tell the difference by then. So I followed my instinct to go with the urge and started pushing silently. It felt better so I kept doing that with every surge.

Suddenly I felt something came out. Thinking it was the baby, I cried out “she’s out”. But it was only the membrane. The midwife found me fully dilated and the level of excitement went up many notches.
Midwife went to call the doctor. I insisted on being on my knees in bed. Midwife gave me the shocked look. By now I was not in the best of moods obviously so I told her squarely the doctor agreed and it was all in my birth plan. She relented, I got my way and there I was, hugging the gym ball, still on my knees, looking damn constipated. When my baby crowned, they could see her hair. So that’s when I first knew Sher Min won’t be bald. All through this process, hubby had been the perfect birthing companion. He was supporting me, stroking my back to calm me down, fanning me when I was sweating & observing every gory & gooey details. This was the same man who was worried about fainting initially. As I was kneeling at the front of the bed, everybody were behind me. By now, the spectator crowd has grown to 5 (3 midwives, 1 doc, 1 hubby). After what seems like 1,000 years of pushing, my baby finally emerged, together with a whole load of bloody fluid. Boy, it was a messy bed but somehow, my gym ball escaped unscathed. That itself was a miracle.

Sher Min emerged from my womb not crying but made tiny sounds to let us know she is ok. What made the whole birthing process different and quite unheard of in this part of the world/hospital was that I practically broke all conventions & routines that can possibly be broken – refused to be strapped in bed like all rule-abiding mums, refused all drugs, pain-relief options & routine episiotomy, insisted on the freedom to move around during the labour, adopted the kneeling position during active labour & birthing, was adamant that the baby not be spanked or have fluid sucked from mouth and nose at birth, requested that the umbilical cord be clamped only after it stopped pulsating, plus baby not be cleaned immediately till the vernix was absorbed plus time be given for the placenta to be birthed naturally. It goes without saying that I was not a very popular “patient”. Nonetheless, it was quite an experience for all involved.

– Bee Ting (Mar 07)

Sher Min - in the buff
Sleeping with smile