Finally!
I arrived at hospital on Sunday at 11:30 pm, found to be 7cm. Yay! This should be quick! Doc Paul Tseng came and we agreed to have the waterbag broken to speed things up further.
But, after 3.5 hrs, STILL 7cm! Doc had gone home after waiting around for 2+ hours. By then I was getting very tired of the whole thing and asked for epidural. Super midwife Ms Susan Lim said "No need! You're going to deliver any time already!" and had me use the gas instead.
To save me from further suffering, with each contraction she literally took things into her own hands and helped me stretch. At one point I told her "Stop it! No contractions!" but she said "Don't worry, I'm just helping you," and continued to help me stretch. In less than 30min I was 9.5cm!
They called the doc back, and I was asked to push. Didn't feel any urge to push at all but oh well, no harm trying, and baby actually started descending! With a lot of encouragement from doc and midwife, eventually baby's head crowned. That's when doc said STOP pushing. By then, that was hard! But it was totally worth it because he could ease her head out, followed by a little more pushing on my part to get her shoulders clear which doc assisted with great skill, and there she was, all 3.54kg, and I didn't need any stitches!
I guess it can be considered a straightforward and relatively quick thing, but I'm sure it wouldn't have been possible without the wonderful help of midwife Ms Susan Lim and doc Paul Tseng at Thomson Medical Centre. I didn't need any "recovery", was pretty much back to normal other than feeling overall tiredness from pushing, and sleepy from staying up till 4am.
Oh, and Rachel has a headful of curls. Looks very much like her kor kor at birth. Very hairy all over, even her shoulders and ears!
