It was 3am on the 26th of December 2021, the exact due date of baby Natalie. Miin woke me up intrusively. “I think my water broke”, those were the words from Miin, I immediately got up, and thought this is the day baby is finally going to show itself to the world. We had been trying to “induce” the baby since the previous week with medium intensity exercises. Miin did squats, lunges, table tennis, and even spent an afternoon playing badminton at 39-week pregnant.
We tried to keep calm, and thought about all the lessons we’ve learned from the numerous birthing courses we attended. We called the hospital to inform them of our situation, and the midwives were happy for us to wait for natural progression of the labor. So instead of packing up and rushing to the hospital, we started to measure Miin’s contractions. Once that was ready, we tried to sleep whenever possible, knowing we were still in the early stages of labor and hoping for natural progression of the labor. But deep down eager that the pregnancy is finally coming to an end.
First Check-up
It was 3pm the same day, 12 hours have passed since Miin’s water broke. Family members were all on edge, confused by the fact that we were still at home, trying to maintain our regular daily routine. She had irregular contractions, and a lot of excitement. We could barely sleep since the early hours. So we called the hospital again, and this time they wanted us to go in for a check-up.
I remember this trip felt very different to other car rides. It felt we could be going as 2 people, and coming back with 3. We even had a last minute check on the car-seat to make sure it was safe for use.
When we arrived at the birthing suite, the midwife checked Miin and baby, and everything seemed fine and well. Baby was healthy, Miin was in good shape, there wasn’t any urgency at all. Then we went home, and continued our journey to help progress the labor.
Another sleepless night
It was the 27th now. We barely slept once again. Miin had contractions with increasing intensity throughout the night. We had a scheduled appointment with FMAC – Fetal monitoring antenatal clinic to check on our progress and the health of mummy and baby. Everything seemed to be at the exact same point as the day before, nothing’s changed, our 2nd trip to the hospital seemed to be in vain.
To take our mind off things, we drove to Mount Dandenong. Had a very slow walk on the trails. Miin had contractions with higher frequency and intensity at this point. It was starting to be a challenge to keep doing our life normally.
At breaking point, or 3rd time lucky?
It was 5am on the 28th now, around than 50 hours since Miin’s water broke. Once again Miin woke me up, this time noticeably more shaken compared to the last time. Miin noticed the change in colour of the fluid that was leaking for the water breakage. She also felt baby’s movement has reduced significantly in the past hour. We immediately called the hospital to explain the situation, and was told to make our way to the hospital.
We got up, had a quick cleanup, and was on our way to the hospital. We were admitted to birth suite 3, and check-up began. To our relief, baby still had a healthy heartbeat, hovering between 13o to 160 beats per minute. Miin’s vitals were doing well too. Midwife Laura even checked Miin’s vaginal fluid, and it was still looking healthy. However, the labor hadn’t progressed at all! At this point, I thought we were at breaking point mentally, and it was easy to misread the situation, and we told the midwife exactly that. I guess the message got through to her, and the birthing team finally offered us the option to induce the labor then and there, instead of the scheduled day after. We were mentally and physically exhausted from the lack of sleep, so we took the offer to start the induction process.
Induction
At around 11.30am, the drip finally started. Sometimes we just need a bit of medical intervention to kick start the nature’s process.
Contractions gradually became more intense, and frequency also increased. By 2.30pm, Miin seemed to be in extreme pain. She was given the first line of pain relief, which was gas. I was eager to know the progress, and asked Heidi, the midwife that would be taking care of us that afternoon. She estimated that labor was slow, and she would expect a dilation of the cervix of 5cm at around 6pm. I couldn’t believe we were still that far-off, I didn’t even told Miin as she was in the toilet when I asked for the progress. All I could do was to try to help Miin to progress further.
By around 3.30pm, Miin’s pain seemed excruciating, and she could no longer stand or sit; she could only lie down on the bed in various positions. She also started to ask for further pain-relief, morphine, epidural, she wanted anything that would help her.
Then we asked Heidi to check internally the dilation of Miin’s cervix. After ordering the morphine, she checked, and to our surprise, Miin’s cervix had dilated to about 7cm, and it was nearing the 10cm needed to start pushing the baby.
At this point, I was starting to take a proactive role in this labor, instead of just sitting around, playing different meditation and music audio, I told hold of Miin’s gas dispenser tube. And timed Miin’s breathing, once we was ready to inhale some air, I shoved the gas tube into her mouth, so she’s only breathing in the Nitrous Oxide. There was also time I had to help her pace her breathing, as Miin was only breathing in short bursts due to the pain.
Around this time, we heard deafening screams from across the hall, presumably from another woman giving birth. The screams are nothing short of one from a possessed character in a horror film. I remembered that moment, but could not mention it, as Miin were going through an ordeal of her own.
By the time the morphine shots arrived, this was around 4.30pm. Heidi once again manually checked the dilation diameter. And this time it was 9cm. At this point, morphine can no longer be used, as it might affect the baby’s breathing.
The Push
Miin started to have urge to push, it’s difficult for my to describe this feeling, but I thought urine and shit were passed at some point. Another midwife started to come into the room to help Miin with pushing. Miin was lying on her back, and she pushed 3 times with every contraction. 2 really strong ones, and 1 weaker one at the end. That happened for about 1 hour, and at the very end, when baby’s head had already surfaced, Miin continued her push. Miin was even given a chance to touch baby’s head during this time.
Then baby’s heart rate started to plummet, from a stable 140 bpm, to around 90 bpm. This was when one of the nurse hit the big red emergency button on the birthing suite wall. Between 4 and 6 midwives urgently rushed into the room, some pushing Miin’s stomach, some tried pulling the baby’s head, one started to make a cut on Miin’s vagina. It was an intense moment.
“There is none like You”
Then it happened. With the help of the midwives, Miin’s last draw to push, and baby’s determination to live, Natalie Enning Seah was birthed to the world at 5.56pm on 28th December 2021.
She immediately let out a siren-like sounding cry, alive and lively. At that moment, we were overwhelmed and relieved. At this moment, “There is none like You” was playing on my phone, a fitting song indeed. I for one burst into tears for Miin’s pain is finally over, as it was killing me inside to witness her suffering.
Hello World.
That’s the raw recollection of our birthing story, hope this will be a welcome for us to parenthood, and for Natalie, Hello World.
PS. Big thanks for all the midwives ( Heidi, Laura, and more) at Angliss Hospital for helping us through the birthing process, our family and friends for the prayers and blessings, and God for unfailing love.
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