Can't wait to give birth too...

My colleague, Linda who is slightly more than a month advanced than me in her pregnancy has just given birth yesterday to a 3.16 kg baby girl!

I was so excited and couldn't wait to go visit her and her baby at Mount Alvernia Hospital. So I went down today.

Seeing her baby in the bassinet REALLY made me envious. How I wish I can hold my baby in my arms too!

Congratulations to Linda on her precious new addition to the family!

It was quite interesting listening to her birth story...

She had been having contractions since 11 p.m. on Monday and endured it all the way through the night till 8 a.m. the next morning. She then proceeded to the hospital and discovered that she was only 2 cm dilated. It didn't progress very quickly as the dilation only increased by 0.5 cm at 12 noon. So she was put on the drip and her labour was augmented.

I cringed when I heard about the painful vaginal examinations that the midwives did every two-hourly. Linda said they were so painful that she might not have asked for epidural if not for these VEs as she found the contractions manageable. I'm glad I've stated in my birth plan that I want to keep the VEs to the minimum and only to be done with my permission.

In the end, after having the epidural at 1 plus in the afternoon, her baby was finally born about 4 hours later. In retrospect, she realised that she might have admitted to hospital too early.

Hmm.. I do agree with her. It could have been prodomal labour as from the way she mentioned the kind of contractions she had gotten in the night, they didn't seem like labour contractions to me as they were irregular in frequency and intensity.

Maybe if she had not gone to hospital, they wouldn't have augmented her labour and then perhaps she might not have given birth this soon (at 38 weeks plus).

Well, whatever it is, maybe it's a good thing too. Her baby's arrived earlier to celebrate Mother's Day (14 May). Hehe...

Anyway, the moral of the story for me is... to take note of the contractions when it happens and go to hospital only when it becomes regular and increasing in intensity. Or better yet, wait for water bag to leak or the bloody show. 'Cos I definitely don't want an augmented labour...