My (Almost) Painless Birthing Story

Warning: Proceed with caution. TMI on some sections. 

🕰  3:00-ish PM: 4 cm dilated! Ready for admission?

I had my 38th-week appointment with my OB to check how my dilation is progressing. 

The previous week, I was already 3 cm dilated with no pain and she already reminded me to bring my D-Day Bag on the next checkup in case I need to be admitted already. She said she requires her patients to be admitted when they're 4 cm dilated because that's when active labor starts. 

So, that day, I went to her clinic with my kilay, a bit of blush and lippie. Plus, I had ironed my hair. You know, to look decent in the after delivery pictures.

But plot twist: I had no fab post-delivery photo. I take the worse photos ever.

Anyway, after the IE, my OB said that I'm already 4 cm!!!

She asked if we want to be admitted already. If we do, we'll have the baby within 24 hours from the time of admission.

We were wary of delaying my delivery further because of the holidays. I wanted everyone, including especially my baby's pedia cardiologist to be present when I give birth.

See, we had a little bad news (okay, tremendously bad diagnosis) during my 36-week ultrasound, so we wanted to make sure that we have everyone we need so after a few Q&A's, we said YES.

I'll be having an epidural, by the way.

🕰  4:00-ish PM: Emergency Room SOP

Time to drop by the Emergency Room! Admission starts there.

I planned to drop by first just to give them a heads up.  I was hoping to go to the canteen to eat some snacks. I wanted to make sure that I can nail the labor with food in my stomach, but nooooo. They didn't allow me to eat or drink na.

What the?!

I still managed to bite a few crackers and gulp down some water after insistent asking. This momma right here ain't too functional without plenty of water. I'm a water gal and I drink water like all of the time!

They also repeated the IE, which I first declined, because my OB just IE'd me!!!

But then, they called my doctor and my doctor said I should repeat it, so fine. Feel me down there again. 🙄

The OB who did it to me announced that I'm still at 4 cms. (See, still the same.) And upon retrieving her hand wrapped with a bloody rubber glove, she repeated what my OB told me in the clinic, "You have a beautiful bloody show."

Uhm, should I say thank you?

Anyway, I can feel the husband getting too tensed and I can feel the excitement build up inside of me. Honestly, I didn't feel any fear. NO KIDDING.

I dunno. It must be the prayers.





I also wanted to feel good too because I've read that oxytocins cause contractions and help hasten delivery. 😊

🕰  5:00-ish PM: To the Labor and Delivery Room we go!

Off I go to the Labor & Delivery Room.

I wished I can do labor with my loved ones in a private room, but the hospital I'm in doesn't allow that. Cannot allow that, rather, because they have limited equipment. Everything is in the labor room.

I got to brush the fear aside because I already sort of know what to expect. I have been admitted for about 24 hours because of threatened pre-term contractions when I was 30-weeks pregnant.

Yes, so the nightmarish bed of vaginal delivery didn't scare me the second time around.

I knew where they're taking me. I knew what the room looked like. I had a quick "Hey, you're back. This is it!" conversation with the resident OB who handled my case before. I even got admitted to the same operating room.

So, it felt like home! 😝

🕰  6:00-ish PM onwards: Ready for the Labor Party 🎉

Alright, the real fun begins now.

As usual, they plugged the Fetal Non-Stress Test to see my contractions and baby's heartbeat. There was this one intern (whom I kinda like) who was assigned to me.

She blabs a lot and I basically told her my life story because she asks a lot of questions, including, "What will you give your hubby this Christmas?"

Are you kidding me, lady?

It's this baby!

I went through a lot because of this precious thing and I think he's worth more than any gift that I could ever give (or share with?) my husband!!!



The intern's constantly monitoring me because of one problem: the heartbeat of my baby is off the charts at 160-180 bpm. Normal is at 140's.

My OB visited me after her clinic and broke the news to me, but it was nothing new. Baby has been like that the last time I got admitted. He gets excited, they say.

My doctor asked me if I was tensed and proceeded to touch my wrist to check my pulse. I'm not, though.

I didn't know that this could be serious.

My doctor can't give me meds to trigger the contractions because baby's heartbeat is faster than it's supposed to. When they give the meds, it may even go up. But the real danger is when it shoots up and goes down... consistently. 😧

So, my doctor opted to sedate me to calm the baby and his heartbeat.

I hated to be sedated, that's why I went for an epidural to "actively participate in giving birth to my baby". Lemme save this epidural decision for another post.

Seconds after the meds kicked in, la la la... I was off to dreamland.

When I woke up, my baby's heartbeat is normal at the 140's already. Hooray!

If it didn't, we'd have to go for a Caesarian birth. And I conditioned my mind to be ready for that too.

🗓 December 22, 2017

via GIPHY

Epidurals don't eliminate the pain totally. They block the sharp ones, leaving you with dull pressures in your cervix and vajayjay and terribly weak legs.

I never had the chance to experience how it is to have your water bag break naturally like what pregnant women experience in the movies.

Mine didn't. They had to prick it. 

via GIPHY

It was the resident doctor's idea. She said that my little one is in an oblique, cephalic position. They even had a hard time making sure of baby's position because they kept on mistaking my 8-cm myoma as the baby's head.

Yes, I have a myoma. And it's that big. I can feel it. I see it bulge on the lower right side of my abdomen. And sometimes I stroke it, thinking it's my baby's head. 😂

Back to the baby. 

The resident doctor said that if we will wait for the spontaneous breakage of my water bag, there's a tendency for my little one to swim around, changing his position. So, the solution was to hold on to the little one while they break my bag of water. This move will help him shift to the normal delivery position.

My OB agreed to this and she was the one who broke my bag. There were like 3 doctors who held on to my little one to keep his position. I remembered asking my OB, "Doc, naputok mo na ba yung water ko? (Doc, did you already break my water bag yet?)."

Did you know that the aesthetics are also scheduled?

They're giving me the shots as per my demand, but there should be an hour-long gap in between. 

So upon hearing that my next shot is at 8:45 AM, I felt like I was doomed. The contractions were strong by 8 AM and I felt the real pain almost all birthing women decry about. 

So, it is painful. An 8 out of 10, I suppose.

Can deal with it. I have expected an 11. 

If the pain hits, it'll last for a couple of minutes then it goes away and comes back again. 

I just lay there motionless, comprehending the pain because I wanted to remember how it's like. Besides, the drugs will dull the sharp pain in 45 minutes. 

Sidestory: There are lots of people (men included) in the room and I didn't care if they're seeing my you know. It's a bloody show in there!!! I caught a glimpse of my lady part's reflection from the lighting equipment in front of my legs and it ain't a cute sight.

🕰  9:00-ish AM: Felt like a miracle

After praying the rosary (I think I have finished the 5 decades. Not really sure, though. But it feels like I did), another doctor did the IE. 

After she stuck her hand down there, she gave out a chuckle. I couldn't figure out what that meant. 

After what felt like 5 minutes, she said that I'm fully dilated!

That's the only time when I wanted to cry!!! I felt like my prayers were answered—I went from a 6 to a 10! 

When the staff heard, they cheered me on!

Galing mo naman mommy!

First time mo to? Galing ah. 

Yes, malapit nang lumabas si baby. 

The one administering my anesthetic drugs even patted my head like it's a dog's. Lol. I like him, though. He kept on encouraging me and coaching me and even joked around.

Before the doctor told me the super good news, I could feel a dull pressure in my lady part and I had a hunch that it might be the baby. 

BUT.

Big BUT. The doctor who IE'd me said that I should not push because if I do, the baby will come out. She said she can already see baby's hair! *excitement!!!*

We had to wait for my OB who had an ongoing myoma operation in another room. We waited for what felt like 30 minutes.

Yes, I was lying in there with my baby's head in my cervix, I suppose. And I was careful not to push. I think I was already singing songs in my head that time, chilling because I'll be seeing my baby in a few.

However, the doctor (who said that she's seeing my baby's hair) was the one who initiated the delivery. I'm guessing my OB is quite busy in the other room.

She held onto the hair or head of my baby the whole time. I think that's what she did because she didn't remove her hand inside my you know. 

And I kept pushing. I'm kind of lame in the pushing game though. It took me 30 minutes to deliver the baby. 

via GIPHY

PREGNANCY PUSH TIP: They told me was to push 

like you're going to poo. 

Woah! Seriously?! I never read this tip on the Internet. I should have known that this is the kind of push that I should have practiced. 

And you know what, I was chilling the entire time that I'm delivering! I don't know why. But I was chilling nonstop and I'm telling them that I'm cold. 

Sidestory: Mom had an opinion on this. She said it must be some kind souls who are helping me. 😑 Stop creeping me out, mom.

They're cheering me on while they exchange stories about their co-worker. It's like nothing major is happening. They're chatting with each other. Uhm, hello. I'm giving birth here. Lol. 

My OB was there during my delivery and seeing her face made me relax.

By that time, I could feel the contractions which felt like GIANT POOP 💩 is about to come out and you have a MAJOR CONSTIPATION THING GOING ON.

Luckily, baby was already out by 10:00 AM. And the placenta was out after a couple of minutes. 

Hooray! They placed my baby on top of me, but I didn't see his face. I could only see his back. He was soft and warm and was crying with all the lanugo over him.

My heart is just swelling with joy and I couldn't feel any pain❤️ —even though I can see my OB sewing my lady bit from the reflection on the lighting equipment.

All praises to HIM, especially when we thought that our baby had a major illness 3 weeks before he was born! Will talk about this soon.

P.S. Our baby boy's name is Jeerux. More about him + pictures of this little man in the next posts.