It was a casual Saturday, when I planned to have a concall the whole day that day to assist on a video shooting for work. Dennis, planned to drive to Pattaya for a site visit for his new founded business. The little one in the tummy, however, has other plan for her parents. It was on week 38 of pregnancy, that little Kirana decided she want to meet us both. This is her birth story 🙂
I woke up slightly before 5AM, feeling some urge to go to the bathroom. At that time, I felt funny feeling as if the water broke. After half asleep-ly checking on the internet of “water broke feeling”, I was pretty sure this was it. I woke Dennis up with the news and he got up with a rare morning grin on his face.
Having pre-pregnancy class before, we were pretty informed on what to expect. Not to worry. It can take few hours to more than 24 hours from water broke to delivery. Just wait calmly. However, I decided to get ready, “who knows if the baby coming sooner?”. So I went to shower, getting dressed up, even did my hair and brows (Gotta look good for the big day right?). I prepared this app on the side for counting the surge. After the calm shower, the surge is getting intense. I told Dennis that we should leave soon. And at 6 AM, off we go to the hospital! The excitement was real, we will meet our baby soon!
By the time we arrived at the hospital and went to the delivery room, it was 6.23, and I was 6 cm dilated already. Dennis put the speaker out and putting on the delivery playlist, giving me my aromatherapy oil to help me relax, prepared drinks on the side. And he was staying by my side to hold my hand.
Then it went more intense. The contractions grew in frequency and intensity. Whoa! I never screamed that much in my life before. During this time, I imagined that with every surge, I ride a wave of rainbow, and at the end of several rainbows, the baby is waiting for me. Told to myself, “Hang in there, every surge will bring me closer to Kirana. We are working together on this process.”
The urgency to push is real. However, the doctor told me to wait until the opening was 10 cm. She briefed me efficiently on exactly about what to do, how to do it, and most importantly to save my energy and focus for what’s important (aka pushing!) and to not scream as it will drain the energy. I was asking few times, “Can I push now?”, and after a while, the doctor finally said “yes, you can push!”.
There were some seconds within that 30 minutes of push that was intense. I was telling Dennis that this is hard. He patiently whispering and reminded me of my breathing. Handed me some coconut water. Holding my hands. I could not imagine getting through this without him.
After few pushes, Kirana was out at 8.45 and I have her on my chest. Dennis and I were so happy and it was an emotional moment. “Hi baby”, we whispered to her. The skin to skin contact after birth is the most precious moment.
Then I begun to tremble. It was this uncontrollable shaking on the whole body and my teeth started to crackers. Kirana was taken from me to be bathed, and I was given thick blankets to warm me. The nurses was pretty calm, but that moment was nerve wracking because we didn’t know about this before! Postpartum chills, they called, apparently was a common thing to have after giving birth. I kept asking for more blankets because I felt so cold. This lasted for 30 mins or so until I brought to hospital room.
After it got better, the nurse brought in the most awaited cart – with sleeping Kirana inside 🙂 I held her close and she tried to breastfeed for the first time. It was a pure bliss.
“We did this, baby. We’re so proud of you. Welcome home.”
