He weighed 3035g and was 51cm long.
I was quite surprised by his arrival really.. I truly expected him to go past his due date, partly because his last estimated fetal weight at 38 weeks wasn't very high.
So I was determined to continue with life as normal at 39 weeks.
We had a potluck dinner organised for the evening with a few friends( neighbours ) and we were having a steamboat dinner. I was supposed to prepare the chicken broth and buy some fresh produce for dinner.
I think contractions started on the night of 20th, because I had a restless night and hardly slept. I noticed irregular but starting-to-hurt type contractions... but in my mind I assumed they were just stronger Braxton Hicks because I just turned 39weeks.
By morning the pain was getting more obvious, but not so much that I couldn't function. So I went about my usual day, although I let the girls start their school holiday early because for some reason I just couldn't bring myself to take them to school.
At work the pain was still irregular but I was really cranky. Man... people that turn up to ask for medical leave! Here I am in occasional pain and STILL at work!!
It was a good thing that at the back of my mind I felt I really had to cancel the next day's appointments. So I did.
I called it quits at work around 5pm and went home to rest. I think close to 6pm the pains intensified and I knew there was no way these could just be BH contractions.
Chris got home early ( thank goodness ) so we waited a little while until the contractions were 5 minutes apart. By then we decided to head to KKH to get checked out. I was still contemplating whether or not to get an epidural.
At the labour ward it took forever to get registered and then I still had to be hooked up to monitors for over half an hour while they monitored the contractions. That was quite uncomfortable. I have to thank my good friend KSY whom I was messaging, regarding epidurals. She said "yes! "
Still it took a good hour before I finally got the epidural, and then it was pure bliss. By some stroke of fate, the anaesthetist who turned up happened to be the very same guy that gave me the spinal at Annika's emergency C section! Except he's now promoted to be consultant! I was just wondering how strange it was that the 2 anaesthetists would be named Shawn at both my births. This time the spinal-epidural worked beautifully and it took most of the pain away.
I was 4 cm dilated at admission, and after the epidural we were able to lie back, relax and watch Sherlock Holmes on TV. Dr John Tee arrived to see me just past 9pm and he was really surprised that I was already 9 cm dilated.
He left me and returned at 10 pm and told me the head was right there! It was incredible. I didn't even realize I'd been having regular and strong contractions. Thank goodness for the epidural. He hitched my legs up, told me to give strong and steady pushes, and in 3 pushes Liam was born.
I admit, I was a little disappointed that he was a pint sized 3 kg at birth, considering his 2 sisters were 3.2 and 3.5kg respectively. Still, the most important thing was that he was well and I had a successful VBAC!
Dr Tee didn't do an episotomy but I had a minor tear. He stitched me up quickly and did the blood taking for cord blood storage. The placenta weighed 660g.
KKH has this new skin-to skin contact thing, so I was left with naked Liam for over an hour. I think this birth experience was so much better than Madison's, I felt less rushed, more relaxed and they gave me more time after delivery to recover in the labour ward than before.
It's now 1 week since Liam was born, so today is technically his due date. He's got the same issues as his sisters, mostly jaundice requiring regular heel pricks and visits to KKH. He gave me a huge scare yesterday.. when he woke up at 5pm he felt really warm to me and I measured his temperature to be 37.8 C. I panicked big time thinking neonatal pyrexia. I kept taking his temperature throughout the evening and night and fortunately that settled.
It's such a relief to have delivered the baby. The last month of pregnancy was so uncomfortable, from the chronic distension of the abdomen, inability to eat proper meals, occasional reflux, and most annoying of all, this strange insomnia. I hardly slept the last month! When the baby popped out, it was IMMEDIATE relief. I could breathe again!
I'm really happy to meet this youngest member of the family, and for some strange reason, this kid I fell in love with immediately. I think its the confidence that comes with subsequent children... less apprehension and more knowing that 'this too, shall pass!'
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