Birth Story of Phebe Pang Kai Xin

Phebe was born @ 38weeks 3days.
EDD: 17th June 2012
Actual DOB: 6th June 2012

Went for various gynae appts to check if vbac was an option.  Finally at 37weeks appt, my gynae said, my cervix is still stiff, not opened yet.  Not even shorten or soften..  I was desperate.. Told Raymond I'm gonna regret if I can't successfully vbac this time.
I always believed that Ryan arrived earlier than expected, therefore leading to a failed induction.  Since my body wasn't ready, it was medically impossible for me to dilate prior to due date.

Dr Chris Chong mentioned serveral exercises that could help speed things up.  He mentioned going away from Sunday to Wednesday.  My next appt with him was scheduled to be on Friday after his return.

Before leaving the clinic on 1st June, he mentioned that my BP was on the high side. Plus my weight fell 2kg from previous visit.

He was almost insistent on admitting me that very morning.  But I told him I wasn't having issues.  So after strapping me on CTG for 20mins, he was finally convinced that baby was doing well inside with no signs of distress.  Apparently I was already showing signs of mild contractions of level - 60.

Next few days, I stopped exercises as I was afraid Phebe will arrive while Chris is away,  I restarted my exercise on Tuesday thinking just another two more days till Thurs and I'll be safe to deliver already.  That very night, I recall Ryan telling me specifically to wake up @ 1 o'clock.  For whatever reasons, I do not know.  I only remember telling him, 1am is still nighttime.  But he insisted on me waking up at 1 o'clock.

I went to bed at around 12midnight.  Woke up due to sharp pain in tummy. *Note: Clock was showing exactly 01:00*  I had to rush to toilet.  Then I heard a "pop" sound.  Saw yellowish discharge and streaks of blood.  I was like Oh No!!

After sitting in toilet for awhile, I went back to room and decided to sit on chair in case further liquids were expelled.  True enough, I coughed and my waterbag started to leak.  That is when I decided to wake my snoring husband...   Who was of course in a state of shock and in midst of lalaland, wondering if this is actual or practice...

We individually took turns to shower.  Packed bag and made our way to Gleneagles Hospital.  Funny thing, throughout the whole commotion, I was actually having real contractions of 3-4ins apart with duration of 1min.

After reaching hospital, we went to admission, did some paperwork and got sent up to labour room.
Upon reaching labour room, I was telling Raymond; look - the clock is 03:03am.  How nice to be in labour on 06/06/12 and being in labour room at 03:03am.
I walked to labour room #2 and was prepped into gown and laid on bed and CTG machine was being strapped on.

VE was done, I was 1cm dilated but baby is still very high.  Contractions levels were hitting a max of 147 already.
I was trying my very best to hold the pain the very best I could w/o any painkillers.  Nurses were offering epidural as if it was the best gift on earth!!
By 5.30am, I rechecked dilation and it was 3cm.  Very good! Progressing fast.  Being very pleased with myself, I was having very high hopes of vbac dream coming true.

By 6am, the nurses were still offering epidural like it's free.  Every moment telling me the wonders of having epidural, how it helps in dilation, how it relaxes the mom to ease contractions etc...

I finally gave in! ARGH!! Worst decision of my life.   Dr Yvonne Lim was the anesthetist giving me the spinal block.  She's fantastic.  Gentle and quick.  Happened that her birthday was 06/06/12 too   I was her first patient of the day.

Remember I mentioned having contractions of 147 and duration of 1min, with distance 3-4mins apart...
After epidural, contractions reduced to 40 and distance fell to 5-6mins apart.  I told the nurse I have to sit up to allow gravity to take place.  But stupid nurses say that no... With epidural you need to lie in bed and sitting up will not help baby get into canal.

Fine! I carried on lying in bed.  Finally replacement gynae: Dr Seng SW came to see me @ 7.30am.  He told me that I am dilated to 4cm only.  Oh how disappointed I was!  I was counting on dilations of 1cm per hour at least...
Dr Seng was confident I'll deliver by noon.

He mentioned that Dr Chris will be back by afternoon.  Though I recalled the nurses mentioning that he'll be back only at night.
Nevertheless, I was determined to get it through with.

By 2pm, Dr Seng came by to check on me and told me that there was little progression.  I was only 6cm dilated.  He wasn't confident that I was able to reach 10cm dilation within the stipulated time given by Chris Chong.  *Chris said that due to previous c-sec, I can only go for a max of 11hour labor before he will cut me to prevent wound rupture and distress to baby and myself*

Needless to say I was very disappointed.  Sensing my disappointment, Dr Seng decided to push me for another 2 hours.  4pm came, same results... By 6pm, Raymond decided to make a call that enough is enough.  By 2pm my epidural already ran out.  I was already on oxytocin to push the contractions and pain was fricking bad already.  I held on with the hope of vbac.
Refused to add epidural as I wanted to feel it baby was arriving.

By 6.30pm, I was pushed to OT for emergency c-sec.  Crying hysterically... By then I was already saying hate words and being mad at everyone around me.  Especially Phebe as I was wondering why in the world she won't enter my birth canal?? Being very high even at 6cm dilation.

Dr Seng told Raymond not to worry and that Phebe will be out by 7pm.  As it was classified as emergency, he wasn't allowed into OT.

I took GA as I was too distressed to take epidural anymore.  It didn't have effect on me though Dr Weng tried iinfusing 20cc of pure epidural into me.  My limbs were still moving.

By 7.20pm, Phebe wasn't wheeled to Raymond who began to fear the worst.  An incubated was wheeled into OT and a labor room nurse was rushed into OT and changing into OT gown.
No information was provided to Raymond and he began to worry.
By 7.45pm,  he inquired the nurse who said that complications arose during the c-sec.  But no further news were provided.
Imagine Raymond's mind.. What was running though his brain at that time.

By 8pm, Dr Chris arrived in time to stitch me up.  When I woke up at 9.30pm, I was told the entire story...

After cutting me open, they saw my bladder sitting on top of uterus.  Several organs were blocking the uterus entrance.
They had to push the organs away in order to cut uterus to deliver Phebe.  Upon doing so, the bladder perforated.  While trying to salvage my bladder and in midst of rescuing Phebe whose head was apparently halfway stuck in the birth canal *That's why she cannot descend further*  Stuck!!
Dr Seng said that she came out flat and limp.  Apgar score was only 3. *Ryan had a 9* Dr Weng - anesthetist had to resuscitate her while Dr Seng stitched my bleeding organs and uterus,

Dr YY Yip was called as there were communication breakdown of which PD to call.  Though we mentioned earlier that Dr Steven Ng CY was our selected PD.

Phebe was sent up to NICU for observation.  I was sent to maternity ward Bed 636.  Blood tests revealed that she was born with only 13.5 units of red blood cells whereas a normal NB was born with at least 20 units of red blood cells.

Dr Steven Ng feared that there may be internal bleeding somewhere.  MRI was conducted on her the following Monday after ascertaining that no blood back flowed to me via umbilical cord during pregnancy.

Results came out negative.  Dr Ng decided to give it another few days to see if Phebe will replace the cells by herself or if the level will keep dropping before proceeding with other tests.

Luckily, she passed the next blood count test.  Newborns after a few days will have a drop in blood count to a range of 13-14.  Phebe's results were 13.1.  Which is within normal range.  Therefore my blood count was done.

My results came out undesirable.  I only had 6.4 units of red blood cells against a normal person of 11.5 units.

Dr Chris Chong gave me 2 pints of blood for transfusion.  After transfusion, blood count went up to 8.3 units.  Still not desirable enough.  So 2 vials of liquid iron was infused into me.  After which I was instructed to consume red meat and iron pills to make up to balance requirements.

As my bladder perforated, I was stuck with urine catheter for 7days.  Since there were so many tests for Phebe and myself, we decided to stay there till catheter was removed.
Wednesday came by, bladder stress test was conducted under X-Ray.  Bladder was cleared of  leakage and I was free to go home. Finally!!