Aug 2025 : Pushing a baby out.

First of all, thank you to my husband for donating his sperm. hahaha. 

 No lah, he does more than that. I also want to thank my mom, my parents in law for taking care of me when labour is approaching. 

My husband is also the one tolerating with me when the contraction happens, and comforting me when contraction happened. 

2 days before giving birth 

5/8/2025 tues 

Day time go to PPUM Level 4 - Pre-assessment centre 

For cervical examination

Bloody show - mucus from cervix 

Fake contraction

No dilation 

mucus plug on 

taken on 7th Aug - morning time, after I checked into the hospital. 

5th Aug 

2 days before giving birth 

- The first bloody show

(Then I went to hospital , as the doctor asked to come when there is either of these 

3 signals : 

blood, 

contraction or 

water break.)

 The nurses called it "bloody show" .  When I searched in  chatGPT, it says the bloody show happens  between few hours to few days before labour is happening. 

The real birth day. 

7/8/2025 Thurs 

Wed night already have regular contractions about one hour once. It’s the night…that I experienced so much contraction and couldnt sleep well . 

But I was happy because I know labour is approaching, and I manage the pain by taking deep breath. 

Woke up around 6am to get ready since my contraction also quite painful. ...and we also have been    quietly waited for 7am to get up and go to hospital to prepare for the labour (Since Icouldnt sleep well as the contraction is progressing. )

This is me changing into patient attire after admission for labour. 

The timeline 

7am - Departed to PPUM

7.45am - Went to basement car park together with husband instead of having husband to drop me at the entrance. Walked from car park to Level 2, getting ready for admission. I told the staff  nurse that I already had regular contractions.   

8am- ish - Checked in at Level 6 Prenatal ward. - I still had handphone with me at Prenatal ward. (Handphone is not allowed in Labour ward)

I slept coz too tired already. A doctor performed cervical examination on me. 

10am - Dilation 3cm already. 

12-2pm :  Husband visited me during visiting hour. 

1.30pm - The contractions are getting stronger and closer together. I really couldn’t handle the pain anymore, so the nurse gave me a painkiller (not an epidural) with an injection on my butt.

The nurse also explained, the painkiller wont stop the pain completely. As long as contraction progress, I can still feel the contraction (the pain). 

Checked in to Level 6 before dilation opens at 4cm. (Patient would be taken to labour ward when dilation is more than 4cm.)

In case i need any drip. 

5pm – I was already 4cm dilated. The hospital called my husband, and I could finally go to the labour ward with him. I was so happy to be by his side! (Actually, he was already waiting in the labour ward when I was taken there.

5:30pm – I got the epidural, and then the doctor broke my water. WS even saw the reflection of the water sac being broken. The doctor said once I’m fully dilated to 10cm, I can then start pushing already. 

THis is not me kissing to the camera. it’s me trying to cope with the regular contractions by taking deep breaths IN and OUT.  

With CTG and Blood pressure always on the check. 

6pm – The nurse called my husband because I could start preparing for the final push. She asked him to buy clear juice for me, so I could stay hydrated and save up some energy for pushing later. I had to fast, but still needed strength to push. 

6pm - I was given an injection… not sure if it is oxytocin , estimated will dilate 1cm per hour. 

In between - doctor and mid-wife checked on me and taught me how to push during the active labour stage. 

7.20pm - Dilated 9cm already, maybe can start pushing  at 8.20pm 

8.20pm -The doctors came in to check on me on and off. I also practise pushing for the first time. 

9.30pm - I was already 10cm dilated, and they asked me to try pushing. But I didn’t feel the sensation yet. So we waited for an hour, giving time for the baby to move further down, since I didn’t really know how to push.

While waiting, some doctors came in to empty my bladder. 

They inserted a tube into my vagina and used their fingers to press on my bladder.

 I could barely feel anything, not even the urge to pee. 

They explained that this was normal because I was on epidural—I wouldn’t feel the urge at all. That’s why they had to manually drain my urine. Wow.

CLIMAX 

10.30pm - Party time.  Dr Khairul, the main doctor entered and I  started to push. 

(As she enters, the whole labour room was then filled with a party of doctors and mid-wife. About 7-10 of them...including one male doctor. )

I asked one of the Chinese female young doctor to put her finger at my vagina so that I know how to push out the finger. 😂😂😂 

 I  kept coughing as I don’t have energy to push. 

When the contractions came, I had to take a deep breath and hold it for at least 10 seconds. But I could only manage to hold for  6 or 7 seconds.  

During the pushing, I pushed so hard that I coughed, and my saliva accidentally landed on the Chinese female doctor. 

Omg—so sorry, doctor! I really didn’t do it on purpose. At that moment, I could only focus on pushing and nothing else. 

Then the main doctor said: baby was able to be pushed downward whenever I cough.  

At this time, Daddy can already see the baby’s head from the outside. 

Then continue push 

Head is fully out.  Rest and waited for the next wave of  contraction

Final push – The baby’s shoulder came out, followed by the rest of the body. The baby was finally out of me completely.

When the baby was out, I wasn’t sure if I heard his cry at first. His whole body was covered in blood, and his head was a bit elongated after being stuck in the birth canal for about 20 minutes. 

With the umbilical cord still attached, the nurse placed him on my chest for skin-to-skin contact. His body was wet, slippery, and warm on me.

Then he cried loudly. I suddenly felt so energized and couldn’t believe I had just given birth to a real human—the baby I had been waiting to meet for 9 months.

Hello baby, welcome to the world! 

WOw , the feeling is so surreal and so unbelievable. 

Thank you to the dedicated doctors, midwives, and para-doctors who taught and guided me on how to push! Thank you for bringing him safely into this world for me.

After they cleaned the blood and wrapped him up, the nurse placed the baby on my chest again. 

Immediately, almost instinctively, my baby—eyes still closed—gave my nipple a loud, strong suck. Even with his eyes shut, he was so accurate, latching right onto the nipple and not the areola, upper breast, or anywhere else. (Even now at the confinement center, most of the time he still has to search for the nipple before sucking.)

That very first suck—the natural instinct—I can still remember the loud and strong sucking until now.

 

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PART 2 

And after Stage 2 of labour. (After baby is fully out, while baby was still lying on me…and both WS and I were still in the joy of our new born)

The doctors went ahead with the delivery. At this point, I hardly feel any pain, and contraction already. I couldnt remember was it me that I push out the placenta , or they just wait for the contraction, and push out the placenta by pulling the attached umbilical cord. (Since I couldn’t see what was going on down there. )

I guess what is happened after active labour is 

- Delivery of placenta 

- Cutting of the umbilical cord (Actually I wish that my husband is the one who cut it, but i forgot to tell them already)

- Checking my perineal area. Stitching.

 I heard the word like “豆腐花(Tou fu fa)” means my wound/tearing is very fragile, and easily tear out like tou fu fa. and swelling... at that point i was a little worried yet relieve because I gave birth to my baby safely.  

 

First degree perineal tear

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Immediately after the sucking and the excitement, I felt lethargic and sleepy. 

My husband waited until 1am ish with me. I could see him grinning from ear to ear. Holding baby like his hand is not tired at all. (Maybe I was just too tired after pushing)

and that's the end of my SVD story 

 (SVD : Spontaneous Vaginal Delivery )

I am so proud of myself for delivery it through normal delivery, not through ceasarean delivery. 

If there's one thing I wish I can do to improve, I would have LEARNING HOW TO PUSH Properly. 

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You can watch this video from XHS 👆👆👆 to know how to push when it is fully dilated. The video is in Mandarin medium btw. 

The first photo with elder sister 💗💗💗

 -1.30am - sent from Level 3 labour room to Level 6 Postnatal ward. 

The nurse showered the baby and ward in the baby right next to me and asked question for verification of baby's identity. 

- I asked for the nurse to look after the baby for the night because I was to weak to wake up and feed him if he cried. The nurse was friendly and willing to help out. 

6.30am - Second day after labour

Opened my eyes and recalled what happen to me yesterday. Feeling joy and relieved that I had given birth to a healthy baby safely! 

- I had the urge to pee shortly after, lying on the bed...I was thinking... should I go pee now , fearing that the pee would sting and strigger the pain. 

- But it is impossible for me to remain static on the bed until the visiting hour 12-2pm, so I just tried to come down from the bed. and walked slowly to the bathroom. I walked carefully and slowly, the walking was actually fine also.. like smooth and unburdened, perhaps because Ihad just unloaded at least 3.5kg of weight away from me?  

- Surprisingly, the first experience of passing urine after the delivery wasn't bad. 5.5 hours after birth...first degree perineal tearing... I thought it would be very painful. 

It was just a sensation of urine passing through the usual urinary tract.. and then sting a little.. (lesser painful than a needle blood test) then the pain gone. 

If you have read until here. Thank you so much for reading this long-winded post. 

You may continue to read part 2 here. 

Part 2 mainly discussed about perineum care and treatment.