Hi mummies, sorry I also MIA for so long - its been so difficult adjusting at home with the baby. Baby woke up every hour on the first night, thought she hungry but latch on for a while then falls asleep, then when I put her back in her cot, she starts crying again. I figured out why she was like that - coz she was sleeping in my room with the aircon on. She was probably too cold and needed body warmth. In the hospital, the nursery temp. is like room temp, so now I let the baby sleep without aircon in her own room and she sleeps like a baby thru the night and wakes up for feeds every 2-3 hours.
My birth story:
My baby girl Jade was born at 37 weeks old on 5th Sep, 3.270kg and 50 cm long after 20 hours of labour. Delivery was natural with epidural (induced by gynae because my placenta was aging prematurely - there were lots of white calcium deposits seen during my scan so gynae said baby not getting enough nutrition, plus fetal movements were slowing, so he asked me to induce that night. I checked into Mt E at 12 midnight and doc inserted tablet into my vagina to soften the cervix. 10 hours later at 10am I was only 2cm dialated, so doc burst water bag to speed up the process and put me on oxytoxin drip. Before doc burst water bag, I asked for epidural, which was done by anesthetist Dr Winston Jong. He's apparently known as "Instant Winston" coz he does epidurals really well and fast! Well he lived up to his name because it was so quick and easy! A urine cathetar was attached and IV drip to control blood pressure was given to me. After abt 15 mins the epidural kicked in, and I didn't feel any pain from the contractions. But I got itchy all over my chest and arms, which was a side effect of the epidural. Some ppl get it, and I guess I'm one of the lucky ones
But I was glad to exchange pain for itch! After that I managed to sleep, I was so exhausted and I knew I had to conserve my energy. At 8pm I was finally dialated 10cm and baby's head was down so I started pushing and baby was out! I was quite surprised to see my baby was covered with white gunk instead of blood (dunno where I got the idea that the baby will be bloody). Placenta was delivered after that, and I asked to see it coz I was curious abt the white spots...it was quite interesting...my hubby took alot of photos of it heehe.
After delivery, they cleaned the baby up and PD checked her, and put her under the heater for 30 mins before allowing me to latch her on. My baby started sucking immediately and quite vigourously, and I got a sore nipple after that!
On the next day, thankfully the lactation consultant came by when I was breastfeeding coz I wasn't latching on correctly - baby was sucking on my nipple instead of the arola (sp?). She taught me how to do it right, and IT MADE A WHOLE LOT OF DIFFERENCE!! There was absolutely NO PAIN when I did it correctly..She said if I feel pain, make sure to break the suction with my small finger and latch the baby on again. The trick is to shove the baby's mouth into the nipple when she opens her mouth wide. Got to be fast..I had to do this several times before I got it right!
The pain after delivery was quite hard to deal with. Once the epidural wore off, I could feel my tailbone aching from the delivery, and the episiotomy was really painful. Thankfully my SIL brought a float for me to sit on, it really helped relieve the pressure and pain!
On the 3rd day, my breasts became hard and painful when the milk came in. The cold cabbage leaves worked to reduce the pain in between feeds. And before/during feeds, I use warm/hot towel to lay over breast and massage to help the milk flow.
For those delivering in Mt E, fyi my hospital bill came out to $4200, of which can claim $1800 from medisave. I stayed 2 nights in 1-bedder, with hubby rooming in. The nurses in the delivery and maternity ward were really wonderful.
Oh and Mt E does provide for baby's clothes and nursing wear lor. No need to bring your own.
Have to go now. Will post again soon. Take care you all.
