labor process

wanna share my labor process here for those who havent had the labor experience.

my due date was 23-June-05. i was late a week than my due date.
how i felt so impatient to hold my little baby. i planned to get an injection to stimulate my constraction if it's over a week than due date.


4am 29-Jun-05
luckily, i found some blood (mucus) while i went to toilet, looks like some thick slippery brown discharge. but i still couldnt feel the constraction and my water (amniotic fluid) hadnt broken. my mom said, every woman could have different sign for labor. some women probably never experience mucus plug, for others, it may occur just before labor, or any time in the last month of pregnancy.

while some women will experience the leaking of amniotic fluid before labor. It can be difficult to tell the difference between leaking of urine and amniotic fluid. A good way to check is to recline in bed for an hour after emptying your bladder. If upon arising, fluid trickles out, it is most likely amniotic fluid. Regardless, it is always best to have this checked out.


09.30am 29-Jun-05
on 09.30, after taking a bath and getting ready, my mother-in-law accompanied me to the hospital, which was only 20 minutes by walking. however, it was hot summer day, so we took the bus, for 2 shelters.

when i checked in, there's a mom-to-be that had had her amniotic fluid leaking. i could see from her wet gown. i heard that her baby's head was not in the right position for normal labor. so she was advised to have the C-section.

i got a room for two. my roomate checked in one hour before me. she got the mucus a day before.

after checking in, i went thru some routine check, blood pressure check, USG, heart check, urine test, etc. etc. the result was ok and normal. i felt quite confident and ready for the labor. the supervisor of the labor division (Doctor Lu 吕主任) told me that my baby will be about 3.25kg.


11.30am 29-Jun-05
i felt the constraction after lunch. just before i thought if i still couldnt feel the constraction, i would ask for some stimulating injection. the nurse told me if i felt the constraction once every 5 minutes, i must inform any of them, which i would go into the labor room.


1 pm 29-Jun-05
my roomate began to feel the constraction every 5 minutes. seems that she couldnt manage the pain. so she went into the labor room. the doctor said that she got 2cm opening. while everytime i felt the constraction, which was around 25 minutes, it was not so hurting, so i just took a deep breath.

as info i got from my sister-in-law (Mery), in total the opening was 10 in scale (about 10cm). here was Mery's advice to me:
when you have early opening （1-8 cm), do not use any energy to push. just bear it, take a deep breath, to save your energy. you can begin to push while the opening was between 8-10. otherwise, you may loose energy before it's needed.


so during the 'waiting' time, we played poker, call "80 score". because there were only my roomate's mom-in-law, my mom-in-law, and my husband, need one more people to start the poker.


4.30pm 29-Jun-05
my constraction period was near to every 15 minutes. Lin accompanied me to climb up and down the stairs. hehehe... it's said that it could help to accelerate the labor process. is it true?


11pm 29-Jun-05
my constraction period intensified to every 5-7 minutes. i hadnt report to the nurse. i thought i still could manage the pain. for every constraction, i took a deep breath and humming "Hey Jude" and Ming Yue Ji Shi You (明月几时有--- i didnt know the lyrics, so just humming...). the nite went by.


07am 30-Jun-05
i went to toilet for the "nature's call number one". it's advised that before the labor, it's better you could finish all your "poop", to avoid you might need to poop on the bed. it's very awful if you've got to!



8.30am 30-Jun-05
A nurse came for checking up. i told her i began to feel the constraction every 5 minutes, 'coz she asked me the period of constraction. then came a doctor, who put her hand into my vagina. she said, i got opening of 6. then they brought me to labor room.
though it's said to be the best maternity hospital in town, it doesnt supply any labor dress for you. i just wore my own dress. finally i asked for a blanket to cover my leg, 'coz it's cold inside (because of the AC).

the doctor didnt accompany fully. sometimes she went into the doctor room, which was viewable from my bed.


10am 30-Jun-05
i still tried to take deep breath and singing (humming). according to the doctor, my constraction speed was low. finally she gave me some infusion to stimulate my constraction. probably the doctor didnt want to wait for too long time.

when my opening was 8, the doctor (her family name is Zhou) said that i could now use my energy to push. she said use the energy to push as hard as i could when there was constraction. for me, it's better to push then to bear the constraction with deep breath. because at the end, it's already much easier to push if i could feel the constraction.

i could feel a lot of fluid flew out. i couldnt see what the fluid looked like. was it blood or amniotic fluid? i didnt know, i couldnt see it.


the doctor told me that my water hadnt broken. she told me that she would break it with a kind of injection needle. it hurt a little bit.
during some period of time, the doctor would check the baby heart beat. normally it's around 140.

but at the end, the heart beat dropped to 120. i worried. but the doctor said it was OK and still in safety limit. but i had to push harder to faster the process. since i worried so much about my baby heartbeat, i pushed harder and harder.


01pm 30-Jun-05
later on the doctor made some cut at my vagina. again, it's hurt of course. but still manageable for me; it's nothing compare to my eagerness to hold my baby safely.


01.08 30-Jun-05
then i heard some voice, "bruuug...sruuugg...sruuug..." my baby was pulled out and put on the bed. i could feel that my baby was moving on the bed. then i heard her crying out, not too loud. though Lin said, it was very loud =) few minutes later, i just knew my baby was a girl when the doctor carried up the baby and showed to me that it was a girl. then without my agreement, the doctor brought her away. oooh... she didnt let me hold my baby first!

in China, usually you would never know your baby's genital until she was born. to avoid early abortion. in china, some family still treasures boy more than girl. while every family normally only is allowed to have 1 child (one child policy). people with particular exceptions can have 2 kids.

really, the whole process was not as hurt as i imagined before. i had prepared for the worst, which i assumed very very much hurting!


later on, the doctor cleaned my womb, pressing it... some fluid (or blood) flew out. then i got 6 stitches, whole process was without anaesthetic. the doctor said that i shouldn't have pushed when she made some cut on my vagina. but when she instructed me, i didnt hear it at all, besides probably bcoz i didnt understand chinese language perfectly. so i got more stitches. but i heard my sis-in-law got 13 stitches, due to the big size head of my nephew.

only then, after the labor process, the doctor just knew i was not a local chinese, i was an indonesian chinese (or a chinese indonesian) =)


2pm 30-Jun-05
about an hour after labor process, my baby was put besides me on my left side for 30 minutes to get her first breast feeding (colostrum). i couldnt express it in any word for the feeling of holding her for the very first time. i just felt so touched and fully in love when holding this tiny creature in my arms. she was so cute and so lovely.

i didnt know whether she could drink something or not.
few months later, i just knew that colostrum is the best intake for a newborn. dont let her drink anything like water or formula milk at first.
while in hospital we didnt know. my mom-in-law gave her formula, worried that she might get hungry.


3pm 30-Jun-05
after i was done and ready to get out from the labor room, i saw my roomate was brought in. i said 'hi' to her. she hadnt had her baby. she was shocked to know that i had my baby already, ahead of herself, while she went into labor room first.

later on we knew that she had to switche to c-section, since her baby's head was very big and couldnt go thru normal labor. her baby was 4.15kg. while my baby was 3.25kg.
her baby's head got stucked during the way out. it took 3 doctors to pull the head out during C-section! how horrible! actually the baby was already in danger.

my husband was not in the labor room, with several reasons:
* i didnt want him to faint out to see the bloods
* it's not allowed from the hospital
* you should pay extra money if you insist to go into the labor room

funny thing was, my husband sent in a towel for me later on before the labor. he meant i could bite it if i couldnt manage the hurt. previously he ever said to me, "hhmmm... it seems that in the middle you would ask for c-section." hahahaha...! i didnt use the towel and i didnt ask for c-section.

'coz i still believe that normal labor is the best, unless i have no choice but to go for a c-section. and i am totally ready for the most hurt or pain that i should bear.

really, it's better to have a normal labor, you would only 'suffer' for several hours. (of course if everything is normal). one day after the labor process, i could already get down from bed, and walked by myself. if you have a c-section, it's hurting after the labor. and you must totally lie in bed for at least 4 days. it hurts even when you laugh. that's what happened to my roomate and it's still hurting even you've already gone home. i could go home after the 4th day, while my roomate needed to stay in the hospital for 1 week.


during my stay in hospital for 4 days, we thought that i hadnt produce any milk, bcoz we didnt quite understand about it. my mo-in-law also didnt really understand too. luckily the doctor taught us and said actually i had had my breastmilk. she taught us how to massage since the milk wasnt totally sucked by the baby and got hard and hurting.

the babies were always put besides the moms during stay time in hospital, so they can get breast feeding when needed. during nursing time, i often talked to my baby, and she responded by humming, "mm...mmmm..."
my roomate said, "listen, listen ... how cute ... as if she knew her mom was talking to her."

we became famous in the hospital, because there are seldom foreigners having baby in the hospital. they doctors and nurses called my baby, "yenni junior" (xiao yenni 小燕妮）.
my mom-in-law said, "no..she is not Yenni. Yenni is her mama's name." lol ...!

she was afraid of water during "swimming session." she cried out loud, compared to other baby. so her swimming session ended up quickly.


the mom that checked-in at the same time with me, finally having a c-section. firstly, her husband insisted to have a normal labor, where it's very obvious that the baby's head position was not normal, and must have a c-section. probably due to the fund problem, bcoz it will be more expensive if you have a c-section. so from 10am (29-Jun) until the next day afternoon, she still suffered for not being able to have her baby out. my roomate said that she heard her screaming all the time while in labor room.

after suffering for more than 24 hours, in the afternoon, probably 5pm (of 30-Jun), her husband agreed for her wife to have c-section. otherwise, not only the baby, the mom's life could also be in danger.


hopefully this sharing could be useful to any of you.

however, IMHO, it would be better to consider for c-section if:
* you are about 10-14 days late than your due date
* your baby size is too big
* your baby's position is not normal
* your baby's head is circling by the umbilical cord (more than 1 cycle)
* above all, consult with your doctors, they know best !


above all, if you decide to have a normal labor, for me.. it's really not as hurt as i imagine. dont worry so much about it. many moms could go thru it, so will you !
take deep breath during constraction, you will be OK !



written on 30-Nov-2005, in indonesian version.
english version on 5-Feb-07 (sorry for the limitation of my english vocab and writing ability).