Introducing Amirah Aiesyah

Sunday, 7 Oct 2007 -

I took Nuaim's hand as we crossed One Utama's car park. Hubby had Nu'man in his arms. As we took the escalator down to the shops, I felt another contraction and noted the time. It was 11.15 a.m. That's 15 minutes since the last one.

Hubby had just arrived home from Sudan the day before, and we were buying for clothes for the boys. The plan was that all the walking about would help me deliver the baby easily - no induction or C-section required. Nuaim, of course, had his own agenda, which was to add an ambulance to his burgeoning toy collection. In between mild contractions, I managed to get him focused enough to at least pick out two shirts and a pair of trousers.

A last minute addition on our shopping list was a lightweight umbrella-folding stroller for Nu'man. We were in Toys'R'Us, where Hubby and Nu'man were each checking out their own preferences - Nu'man somehow zooming in on the more expensive, high-end brands (kids these days, eh?) when I felt my contractions growing stronger that I was almost bent double. It was 1 pm.

We decided to call it a break and go home for prayers, feed the boys, maybe put Nu'man to sleep and hit the shops again to search for Nuaim's elusive ambulance. However, after Zuhur prayers, the cramps in my abdomen were coming quicker and stronger.

"I think we should go to the hospital instead, Bang," I calmly said to Hubby. On hindsight, maybe I shouldn't have been so calm as he seemed to take it almost too lightly and was still reading the papers 30 minutes later.

After a bit of glaring and hmmphing on my part, we finally made it to the hospital's A&E section at 3 pm. I was taken to the maternity wards, where they took a CTG to monitor the contractions and the baby's heartbeat. Having to lie on my back made it more painful. At 4 pm, the midwife inspected me and said I was already 3-4 cm dilated. I was to go straight to the labour room.

The midwife also told me that my gynae had specifically ordered only Pethadine for this delivery. What, no Epidural?! The last time I took Pethadine it made me so drowsy but it didn't kill the pain at all. I'm going to have to rely on gas this time.

The hours passed by. The contractions were getting stronger, but strangely enough also further apart. As I was more comfortable lying on my side, the CTG somehow didn't pick up the intensity of the cramps, so the midwife allowed me to take it off to do my Maghrib and Isyak prayers. I still felt them though, and twice they struck just as I was about to sujud (prostrate). Oh God, the pain! It stopped me so that I just sat there on my knees for a full minute before I could properly bend over.

By 10 pm, my contractions were still only 10 minutes apart, so the midwife had me wheeled to the ward and have some supper. Funnily enough, the moment I entered the door, they started coming quickly. I was in the room barely 20 minutes before they wheeled me in again. And that's when the real business started.

CTG - on.

Pethadine - administered.

Doctor - finally I see her.

And the pain keeps coming. GAS!!!

Through the drug-induced haze, I see the midwives and doctor bustling about. Mak had told me to fight the urge to push until I was fully dilated, but there was no one there to really tell me how far along I was. Or maybe they did say but I just didn't register anything.

At one point, though, I just couldn't hold it in anymore. My mind was brought sharply into focus by the pain. Heck, where's the doctor? I panicked and started asking for the doctor, worried that the baby would suddenly fall right out of me with no one to catch her.

The doctor and nurses rushed in. I felt a sharp pain as the doctor cut me open, but my mind had started drifiting again. The contractions however, were coming quick and fast, almost without a break in between. On the crest of each one I took a deep breath of gas, and concentrated on pushing.

First push - nothing happened.

Second push - I felt a sharp pain in the most unlikely area and told my doctor, who seemed surprised for a split second.

11.32 pm - Third push (I think, but Hubby says at least 7 - whateverlah!) - and with such pain I thought I'd die, and cries of Allahu Akbar and Subhanallah and god knows what else (I so hope it wasn't gibberish) - I felt the baby's head bear down and break through, followed by her plump body.

I heaved back with a sigh of relief.

Earlier that afternoon, my husband and I had decided to store our baby's cord blood and had arranged for its collection at the very last minute. The blood was to be collected immediately after the umbilical cord was cut. The collection kit was ready since 6 pm, but I totally forgot about it now and didn't even witness how they did the collection. I was drfiting in and out of consciousness again, only gasping for gas as the doctor sutured me up.

After they'd weighed and relatively cleaned up the baby, I got to breastfeed her in the labour room, which funnily enough I never got to do with both Nuaim and Nu'man. There she was, all 3.25 kg of her, borne and delivered with grit and determination. Alhamdulillah.