Noey’s Birth Story – Seven Years On

On this day seven years ago, I was feeling heavy. I was 38 weeks along with at-that-point-still-unnamed Noey in my belly. My face was puffy, my skin was blotchy and I had really fat feet and fingers from water retention. (Yup, definitely no pictures here!)

I was looking forward to the end of the week when I would be starting my maternity leave. I had planned it carefully. It was to be my last day in the office. 1 October was a public holiday. 2 October was to be the day when I would take a breather. I had planned to have lunch with my good friend Daphne, buy that baby bathtub that I had yet to get, and then put my legs up for a bit before baby comes with my EDD being 10 October.

Except. Things don’t always turn out the way we plan, do they? Especially when that someone is me…

On the night of 1 October, I was feeling very uncomfortable. The husband and I had taken the opportunity that day to spend time doing non-baby related activities. After lunch at PS Cafe Dempsey, we walked for a good amount of time at the Botanic Gardens with the husband snapping pictures. On hindsight all that walking probably triggered the birthing process! Perhaps I should have taken my doctor’s prediction that I would not make my next appointment with her on 3 Oct more seriously.

That night I tossed and turned but just could not get to sleep. I ended up going out to camp out with the husband who was in front of the TV watching Liverpool play PSV and headed back to bed after the match, still awake.

I eventually managed to fall asleep, only to be awakened by my water breaking at 7am on the morning of 2 October. This is a lot less dramatic than it sounds. It was nothing like what happens in the movies! I can only say that it felt like a “click” and a trickle of water. I in fact thought that I had accidentally peed and rushed to the toilet. There I “emptied my bladder” (or so I thought) then shuffled back to lie down, or to feel another trickle of water. On my third consecutive visit to the toilet, I knew that the liquid, colourless and odourless as it was, wasn’t pee. I didn’t want to be too hasty but I figured I had no choice. I had to wake the husband up. My husband is usually notoriously difficult to wake but all it took was a tentative “I think my water broke” and he was immediately awake. He was also extremely excited. Me, I was feeling a whole bunch of mixed emotions. I was excited too, naturally, but also scared about how the baby was going to make its way out, and a bit dismayed that my day of rest was not to be.

I started experiencing a dull ache in the lower pelvis soon after — yup, contractions had started! We called our gynae’s office and were told to make our way down to the hospital. I had the presence of mind to take a shower first and throughout this time, I kept leaking water. By the time we got to the hospital, I was in pain! I was siting around painfully while Daryl queued for admissions before a security officer noticed me and waved me to the delivery ward. I felt a bit dumb for not making my way there immediately on arrival but hey, it was our first baby so we were both a bit blur.

What followed was the most miserable period of the whole process, when I had to change into hospital garb, had the enema administered, and had uncomfortable things done to me down there. *shudder* The lowest point was the VE. I was sure I never wanted one ever again! I was also never so glad to see the husband when he re-appeared.

I was 2cm dilated on admission. So far so good. I wasn’t 100% sure I was going to get an epidural though I was certainly leaning towards it, and since the pain was bearable, I decided to wait it out. One of the things the husband brought along to distract me from labour pains were some happy holiday photos and we had a good time looking at some of them and kidding around. “Baby’s like fashion,” said the husband. “One day he’s in, the next day he’s out!”. I also made calls to cancel lunch plans and inform our parents that their grandchild was on the way. Oh and to ask my mum to buy that bathtub!

We made it all the way till around 1pm when my gynae, Dr Wong, popped in all cheery. After another VE, she merrily told me I was 5cm dilated. “Only 5 more hours!” she said. FIVE?!? That was the point I decided, yup, definitely getting an epidural. It was a bit weird having to curl into a ball for the administration of the epidural when I had a big ball of a tummy in front of me plus the painkiller they gave me before the epidural made me feel a bit light-headed. But once the epidural was done I started to feel sooo much better. The pain went away and this was the best part of my day because I could take a nap! I was so tired from the lack of sleep the night before so it really felt good. The downside of the epidural was that it made me feel cold and shivery. I asked for blankets even though I didn’t actually need them and ended up with a bit of a fever during delivery. I also couldn’t feel my legs at all but on the plus side, I couldn’t feel the VEs any more either. Yay!

I don’t remember much else about this time except that I was very hungry, since I had not had any food since the previous night. The husband and I begged for some food and the nurses eventually relented, letting me have some milo, but I promptly threw it all up after having some. So much for that!

Eventually, I reached 10cm. It was time to push! I hadn’t the foggiest idea how to do that when I couldn’t feel anything but I gave it my best shot. This went on for a while and I was making slow progress. The worrying part was that baby Noey seemed to be getting a bit anxious. Every time there a contraction, his heart rate went up before returning to normal when the contraction ended. He also kept sliding forward when I was pushing but retracting down the birth canal when I stopped. As I mentioned in my earlier account of his birth, this was the point when he was officially named, with my doctor and the nurses encouragingly calling “Noah, come on out, Noah!” during this process! In the end, my gynae decided the forceps had to be used. With that, it only took a couple more pushes and he was out!

My memory of the delivery might have gotten slightly hazy over the years, but the one thing I still remember and will always remember is how I felt when they plopped newborn baby Noey, all arms and legs and covered with goop, on me. “He’s here!”, I cried. And promptly started tearing. At 7.32pm on 2 October 2008, I became a Mummy.

He’s here! And not looking so pleased to be out in the world.

Looking suspicious while getting all his birth stats taken.

One with Dr Wong! I was still feeling cold and shivery after birth, hence the blankets.

Today, my soon-to-be-7-year-old is a lanky bundle, still all arms and legs, and fast catching up with me in height. Every once in a while, I look at him and feel a slight panic over how quickly he’s growing. With school, homework and after-school activities, it’s hard to find the time to spend meaningful one-on-one time with him, especially time when I’m not asking him to hurry up or scolding him about finishing his homework. It’s something I’m actively trying to correct by being more conscious with the time I am spending with both my kids.

At 6-plus-nearly-7, Noey is a sensitive soul with an artistic nature — and temperament! He loves to draw and has a natural musicality. He is also a voracious reader who just about reads anything with words at every moment of the day. It is extremely hard to get his attention when he’s reading and it frustrates me to no end. I ironically often find myself telling him to “stop reading!!” when many around me are trying to get their kids to read. It is a happy problem that only mummies of bookworms will understand. As a result of all that reading, he’s a walking encyclopedia of random facts which he likes to dish out at equally random times!

No longer a baby, he is able to do most things on his own but is more than happy to ask me to bathe or even feed him if he could get away with it. He also remains an affectionate boy who still runs to the door to give me a hug and a kiss when I leave the house, and will blow me a kiss everyday when I drop him off at school.

But he’s also growing, growing, growing, and every so often, he surprises me. Like the other day in the car when he told me he knew “all the Kiss classics” (I listen to Kiss 92 in the car) and asked me if I knew what his favourite song was.

“I don’t know — Frozen?” I asked in jest.

“Noooo… It’s ‘I Bet My Life’ by Imagine Dragons,” was the surprising reply. “I heard it on Ellen when Nainai was watching TV.”

Of course we had to have a listen (since I had no idea what song he was talking about!) and it was sooo cute to see him seriously bopping along. I die. I then let him listen to my favourite Imagine Dragons song — It’s Time — and a couple of other tracks. It was fun. A bit unexpected, but fun nonetheless. In truth, he and his sister have surprised me many times over in the course of their lives. With their sense of humour, their insight, and everything they do which simultaneously shows me that they are both a reflection of us parents yet also their own person in so many ways.

Seven years on, I’m still learning to be a mummy, and grateful everyday for the little lives that give me the privilege of doing just that.

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This post is part of the ‘Birth Stories’ Blog Train hosted by Owls Well. To read other exciting birth stories please click on the picture below.

(Here’s Naomi’s Birth Story, too if you’re interested to read that!)

If you would like to travel to the previous stops on this Blog Train and read more interesting birth stories, you can start with this one here by Jus over at Mum in the Making. Jus is an amazingly creative and organised supermummy with three boys and another little one on the way! She blogs about her family and homeschooling adventures, loves to craft, and survives on chocolate and coffee.

At next week’s stop we will be visiting Michelle at MummyWee, supermum to six kids aged 3 to 17! She will be sharing the birth stories of her children next Tuesday and I’m sure you wouldn’t want to miss that so do remember to hop over!