Sophie's exactly 3 weeks old today. She entered this world uneventfully. Labour started with "show" on Sunday morning (30 April) when I got out of bed, with contractions some 15 minutes apart. They finally got to 5 minutes apart early Monday morning 2 a.m. so we set off for the hosital. Found to be 4 cm dilated on arrival. Besides periodic checks on baby's heartbeat, and a couple of trips to the bathroom, I simply waited it out on the bed, with Sean sleeping in the reclining chair beside me. No shaving, enema, epidural, or anything. I reached 6cm 2 hrs after admission, and near 6 a.m. I was starting to think I couldn't take more of this, and tried moaning to take the edge of the contractions which were about 4-5 min apart. When the nurse next came in, I told her I was feeling slight urges to push, and she checked and found me at 9cm! It was the best news ever. She kept her hand on the cervix to wait for the next contraction, and when it came she managed to get it to 10cm immediately. Then came the bustle - calling the doctor, bringing in the instrument trays... Thankfully this was all happening before 7a.m., the cut-off time for my own doctor to do the delivery because he was leaving on a trip that very day. The nurses said there was bulging - the water bag being squeezed down cos it hadn't broken yet, and told me to push whenever I felt the urge. When doctor Paul Tseng arrived 10 min later, I told him I was scared to push. He told me to push by bracing my leg against his hip, but I found it easier to brace myself with my hands on the bedrails, and keep my hips slightly off the bed. Pressing down on the tailbone reduces the pelvic opening and was actually more uncomfortable. Doctor was gently stretching my perineum as baby descended. Doc and nurses and Sean were all encouraging me to push, and I really tried to "push past the pain" as doc put it, but my body just did it all itself when another contraction came and her head cleared. With the next push she was all out and they let me hold her immediately. She was bright-eyed and all slippery and grey with that protective coating of vernix that they eventually washed off. I sustained a little tear which was taken care of with two stitches, and got jabbed in the leg to get the placenta out. Sophie weighed in at 3.145 kg, head circumference 33cm and length 48cm. We went home 2 days later.
She's nursing well and generally doing fine. Still yellow, but paed said it's alright. Some nights she's done 5hr and 4 hr stretches. I'm still trying to get her onto a routine. It always seems to be getting there and then will get messed up because we had a break in it by going to the doctor or to my mom's place. Maybe we should just avoid going out for a while...
