Brayden 7Y10M19D
Bevlynn 3Y7M12D
First week of the year has gone and past very quickly. We had to adapt to the new changes at work. It was a busy week. I have two other colleagues who will be expecting babies this year.
I recalled about my pregnancy moments. Although there were sweet moments, there were also moments I realised that had been traumatic for me.
During my first pregnancy, I was excited to find the two lines on the pregnancy kit. It was a good early start, no morning sickness, no aversion to food. All were good until the 2nd trimester. I had a small cyst detected and low laying placenta. The cyst was growing and growing. We were still staying at Clementi at that time.
When we did the first trimester screening, the doctor advise us the baby could be borderline having Down Syndrome. I was nervous, what should I do? I decided to proceed with pregnancy, no matter what we will pull through.
At 19 weeks, I found small patches of bleeding. It was a shock to me, I quickly texted the doctor but he was overseas for a conference. I called to be admitted into Thompson hospital asap. That night, the scans showed baby was having normal heartbeat, no distress. The bleeding stopped after another 30 mins. I had to stay in the hospital for 2 nights. There was nothing much that the doctor could do but to wait for the bleeding to stop on its own. The nurses were nice. I was worried, now not just for the baby but the cost of such emergency hospitalization is costing very high. It had come up to more S$2k on the bills just for the 2 nights. I have asked for home-stay hospitalization for 2 weeks.
At 22 weeks, I felt the first baby hiccups after having meals. It was cute and funny. Now baby is also responding to his name and kicked me whenever I call. Gestational diabetes is under control. The low lying placenta is still the same, according to doctor, sometimes it would go up when the baby is growing, so let's wait and see.
At 24 weeks, my tummy felt hardened, suddenly I felt a rush of blood running through my body and my heart was beating really fast. I almost blacked-out. After resting for half an hour, it went back to normal.
At 27 weeks, I was shopping for groceries and while carrying 3 big bags, I started to break sweat and felt slight faint. I must have been quite hungry and the recent hot weather wasn't helping. At 28 weeks, it happened again. This time at Chinatown temple. Mom, Bro Max and Bro Gene were in Singapore. I suddenly felt strong tightness to my tummy and started to have difficulty breathing. I sat on the floor waiting for the faint feeling to go away. This is the time when I am not bothered by gazing onlookers. I just felt like vomiting and I want the dizziness to go away. It went away after resting for 15-20 mins.
I could feel little butterflies under my belly. It is a cute ticklish feeling. I feel the strong maternal emotions flowing; I need to protect the little one.
At 30 weeks, I was out at Suntech shopping with hubby. I felt a warm gush of liquid coming out. I told Hubs I might have peed on my pants involuntarily. We quickly walked to the nearest toilet to clean up.
As I went in there, I realised - it wasn't pee. It was fresh RED blood. I was bleeding heavily, I started to panicked. I tried to half lay on the toilet bowl, hoping and praying that would stop the bleeding. There were more and more blood. I texted Hubs about it. I told him I would try to hold my position to stop the bleeding, after more than 15 minutes, it didn't stop. I started to panic. I texted my Doctor, he was overseas but he mentioned that it is ok. I just needed to lie down. Now the whole toilet was full of stains of blood on the floor and sides of the bowl. I heard voices of ladies queuing in the toilet, and they were saying, how come people in the cubicles are taking so long. I started to knock at the side cubicle and ask for help. But no response. I tried again, no response. I know someone was there as I heard her going in but they just ignored my call for help. I texted Hubs again, I told him to quickly go and buy the pads so that I can put it on and we can go home and I wanted to lay flat. It took him awhile because he couldn't get anyone to come into the toilet to pass me the pad. Could he not have barged in since it was an emergency? I was scared, felt powerless.
We went home and I took a nap of 30 mins. When I woke and sat up, more blood came out........ Oh no, I cried and cried. This is surely not normal. There were bleeding of 4-5 pads. I decided to be admitted into emergency of KKH. I was put on bed rest in the hospital. The tummy was having slight contractions; they call it "Braxton Hicks". The hardening of the tummy came and went. It started at 2am and stabilized at 4am. I couldn't sleep much. During my stay, I met other mommies who are having various complications (some are alot worse) and stayed in the same ward. We made friends and comforted each other. It gave us strength to pull through. I was discharged after 6 days of monitoring. I was given hospitalization and bed rest again for another 3 weeks.
On 36 weeks, the bleeding came again together with "Braxton Hicks" contractions. It was on and off for 3 days. I had been sent to the delivery room multiple times just in case if I went into delivery. Doctor cautioned that I could go into delivery anytime and I needed to be ready, I was given the steriod injection to strengthen the baby. The visiting doctor asked me why I did not confirm with more tests for Down Syndrome, there is a possibility. Oh my goodness, how this comment messed up my emotions. I was hoping baby can wait a little longer, but he just wanted to see the world sooner. We needed to go into emergency C-sec because the baby was in breach position due to the low lying placenta.
When I was in C-sec surgery, I was given epidural to numb the body. When they put the cold block on my body, I could not feel anything. The surgery started very quickly. I felt pushing and heavy pressure on the tummy area, but no pain. Then after awhile, I heard a baby cry. But the doctor told me that they needed to send the baby to NICU for some checking and monitoring. I wanted to vomit, I felt cold when were were sent to the recovery ward.
While I was in surgery, Hubs was waiting outside. There were only 2 person there waiting and there came an alarm and announcement of Code. Doctors rushed in into the delivery suite. Hubs was thinking could it be me. After a while, he got the good news that I had delivered. He's a father.
He got to see his son at the NICU all hooked up in tubes and a tiny diaper. He's safe.
I felt relieved. We named him Brayden.
