02 - 04/04/2018 - last of hospital stay

The next few days in hospital was mainly:

For baby:
- learning to care for bb (practise bathing, changing diapers, feeding, handling her cries...)
- her to go through tests and more foot pricking to monitor her sugar level (we were so happy on 03/04 when her sugar level finally stabilised and the pricing can stop!). 
- lots of photos taking!
- just being a baby...

For me:
- started to eat all the diabetes forbidden food
- still pricking myself to monitor blood sugar
- daily checks on my wound and whether I can squeeze a drop of milk (sadly, nothing)
- foot still swell
- daily painkiller to reduce wound pain

For papa:
- being the "legs" 
- bottle feeding and burping
- buying any food I craved
- registering the birth of baby
- admiring his princrss

Although all was fine with baby, the lack of sleep and need for 101% attention start to tired us out. At times when we are struggling, is nice to just buzz for a nurse to help and wonder how they can solve the issue or simply calm baby down....

04/04/2018: 
Finally it was the day to go home! I was so bored to be stuck in the hospital and not went outdoor for close to a week??!!
It was a mad rush to care for the baby, pack up, baby to go through last checks, I to grab my prescription from gynae and husband to pay up and we managef to complete all by around 1300!

Husband was careful to push her princess home during the 10m walk home. And we were welcomed home to dirty laundry, lack of food in fridge and half set up baby space... well, still nice to be home..

Athéna, welcome to your home! 

01/04/18 - happy birthday Athéna!

After awhile epidural kicks in, I was basically pain free. Since I was in the delivery ward with 1 stool for Sitting, I told husband to sleep in our room and be back at 0300+. Then I fell asleep from 2cm to 8cm! only waking up for few minutes whenever the midwife came to check and helped me peed..childbirth is not so tough huh!

Sadly, I was celebrating too early about being pain less. Husband return about 0400 and i started to feel contractions like from 0 pain to 3 pain... and it proceeded quite quickly to 7pain at about 0500. However, midwife checked and told us that baby was not low enough so we need to wait 1hr before she called my gynae for delivery. What??? Means i need wait 1hr for her to call and wait again for gynae to come for delivery? I wanted to ask for more epidural but I guess they will adjust accordingly as pain increased. By 0530 I was really in pain so with urge to push and finally midwife decided to call my gynae.

I was kinda struggling with pain by then. Another midwife came and they prep the room for delivery and I was hoping to see my gynae soon. And nope, no one touched the epidural machine and so no increased in amount. I was so glad to finally see my gynae at about 0620 and she agreed it was time for delivery!

I don't really remembered the whole delivery process except I was in alot of pain, I was asked to push by the 3 ladies, I was exhausted from the pushing, I was crying from the pain and exhaustion and squashing husband hand all the time... and yes, I did wanted to shout "I don't want deliver anymore!" But it was in my mind... suddenly 1 midwife literally jumped on top of me to help me push and baby was out. 

I didn't hear any cry and husband was asked to cut the umbilical cord. Baby was then taken to the connecting room and husband followed into the room. Shortly I heard the first cries of baby. There I was with my legs while open and baby taken away..eh I thought supposed to have some skin contact immediately between baby and mama? I feel more like a surrogate mum who just sold my baby. 

Just when I thought the worse pain  was over.. the sewing up was really bad, makes me wonder where is epidural??? Anyway, no point to ask, I just suffer in silence at every poke and pull... Then someone told me baby is fine. Then pd came with husband and baby, I had baby on my chest for 5min and they took her away again. Someone cleaned me up and suddenly I'm just in the room alone? Husband came and told me that he wanted to come earlier but saw the room was full of blood like a crime scene so he decided to come later, haha.

Husband started tell me what happened during the delivery like baby's shoulders was stucked and gynae said if need, she will break her shoulder to get her out, how she is blue when born, cried only 3min later and all the checks they did for her in the other room. Shortly baby can return to our room so husband followed her and I'm in the room alone again.. at least I'm cleaned up? 

Anyway we are happy to have an Easter baby but was also April fool day. Easter changes every year but not April fool... hope she won't be bullied or laughed at in school! And she definitely will be reminded yearly that she is an Easter baby.  A bit off go if, husband and I had a conversation long ago about what soft toy will baby be attach too? And I conclude is what the parents wants for her because is parents who choose what to buy for her even before she is born. And being an Easter baby, I'll associate her w bunnies! And bunnies are so cute..  hehe.

I think is after 30m a nurse came with a wheelchair to push me back to my room w my tore surgery dress and underwear. I was told not to move from bed for few hours and to call them for my first pee pee. It was hard to adjust and finding a comfortable position on bed while in pain. Husband became my legs and constantly carry stuff including baby to me. Few hours later, I also managed to pee successfully and has a proper hot shower before bedridden again. 

It was hard to carry baby for her to latch because she seems so fragile. Anyway I didn't had any milk and midwives always came and squeeze my nipples pain fully to check. So around every 2h, baby has to latch for 10m before husband feeds her the milk bottle. After a nurse taught us how to change diapers, husband became the only diaper man because I'm suppose to stay in bed... he did well except 1x (during our hospital stay) there was a poo poo explosion when baby had no diapers on.

Crazily, I still had left over energy and we managed to received husband's family to visit the baby. Like Everyone, the main comment is the amount of hair baby has. 

The first night was always easy but it was hard to stay asleep with the pain, 2h feeding and a new human being in our room. Oh poor baby has to be pricked at her foot every 2h before feeding to check her blood sugar (her blood sugar is too low).. Finally, athena is here.. :)

31/3/18 - Yes or No

By right, I may feel contractions after the induce but I woke up feeling fine and had a great sleep through the night. Contractions started around 0800, I was happy that maybe today will be the day and contractions were still manageable. Finally, my gynae appeared and checked that i am still only 1cm dilated, argh! At least the contractions were good news that things are starting to move. She recommended that I am to be induce viaginally again tonight and we shall proceed to be induce via iv the next day if things are not moving fast enough..sounds like won't be the day for baby arrival.

Since nothing much is happening, except increase contractions pain, husband just bring me to climb stairs and walk around in hope that I will dilate faster. Nurse also informed that I can ask for painkillers if pain is unbearable. I think I'm a little paranoid that painkillers will be limited in strength to counter the pain, so I try to tahan as long as possible before asking for painkillers. Husband went home to bring more stuff for his stay and I managed to dose off in midst of the contractions..i guess the pain is manageable when I'm.lying on bed but I'm encouraged to move to help the process.

Dinner time came and pain was still managable so we guessed nothing will be happening tonight. It was 24hours after the first induce so I was sent to the room again to monitor baby and likely induce viaginally again. Strangely, the baby machine was beeping alot, either it was irregular bb heartbeat (crazily fast and slow). Nurse said that bb may be too excited so we just continue monitor. I felt a little guilty when she asked whether I ate dinner because we heard that our next door neighbour had so much contraction pain that she didn't ate dinner while me the greedy pig ate dinner and took a nice hot shower. However, it reached a point that the nurse got concern about bb heartbeat (not normal to be so excited always) and my rising pressure that she called my gynae. Suddenly, everything took a fast turn and i was to be induce via iv and be on epidural!

It was 2200 and i was only dilated 2cm. The plan was to start my iv induce then wait few hours for the anthesia dr to come and give me my epidural. Eh, i think just nice the Dr wanted to end his work so he came at 2300 instead and I had my scary epidural done. Although I know epidural is not the scariest moment of labor but it's still scary (esp when the nurse told the Dr about all the problems I'm having from high pressure to bb irregular heartbeat to the bb blood in my blood to gestional diabetes...is crazy that when I was first admitted, I was really quite fine). Finally all was done before midnight and I was just monitor. Nurse predict that I will probably still have a long wait before baby is here...

30/3/18 - staycation?

I woke up at 0700 by the nurse asking me what drink I wanted for breakfast and do I eat all meat? I was like what meat for breakfast?? Then I realise she means do I have any food preference for the rest of the meals..Haha, I was that half awake. Anyway, I probably will be discharge after seeing the gynae, what's the point of asking for the rest of the day?? 

Then the silly me realised that I took my diabetes injection tools but forgot my insulin. Thankfully husband decided to cancel his appt and brought them to me before breakfast and to hear some updates from gynae. 0800 to 0900 came and went, no sight of gynae and I did a blood test and blood pressure tests, all seems well. More nurses came and started doing my hospital admission?! We have no idea why they are wasting efforts to do all the administration when there is no update about whether I was going to be hospitalised. 

Next thing we knew, my gynae won't be here the whole day, so we will be seeing a replacement gynae. We were told as well that my blood pressure was high last night (14_) and needed monitoring. Eh ok, so am I going to be hospitalised or discharge today? 

Lunch came and went, still waiting for the imaginary gynae and hospital admission was done. I was looking and feeling fine that we questioned the purpose of staying. Husband even suggested that we go home after seeing the gynae to finish our half watched movie at home. Finally at 1600, the gynae is free!! He did a quick scan and said baby is big at 3.3kg but all seems fine. Then we recd new information again, there is a little bb blood in my blood test. And he will keep me hospital till my gynae return the next day to decide the next step. If im his patient, he will probably induce me now but he prefer to sms my gynae and let her decide what to do next.

This is crazy! Now we know why I am continuously hospitalised and no one gave us any information on what happened. Since tv rental was 6€ per day, I decided it's time to rent the tv.. it's boring on the hospital. I started googling all the scary stories about bb blood in my blood till husband stopped me and told me to stop scaring myself. Dinner came and this time we had the tv on....

Just as we thought nothing else for the day, my gynae informed the hospital to have me induced viaginally at 2100. So I was hooked on bb heartbeat machine for 2hours and need to fight my aching back. Finally all was done and I was sent back to room and husband stayed for the night with me... this starts our staycation in hospital...

29/3/18 - No warning

It reached the stage where I'm so bored and tired of being pregnant. Despite the big tummy, I moved more to get things done and hopefully help to dilate before the next gynae appt.
Everything seemed fine except that bb appeared to be moving more "gentle" and it took longer for her to reach 10kicks (she used to be doing karate kicks so often that she can reach 10kicks in less than 15min) but I googled and it's more about her having less space to move. According to forum, as long as she moves 6x in 1 or 2hr, there was nothing to panic. Since bb was still kicking 10x writhing 45m or 1hr, so I didn't panic. A part of me was secretly hoping that she will be coming out soon.. 

It was the last day to see the midwife and I was shocked to see that I had put in 5kg in a week (82kg!!), which is definitely not normal and I started to worry about pre eclampsia. My blood pressure was fine and had no other symptoms so sage femme didnt worried about pre e. I told sage femme about the slower kicks and bb was taking longer than usual to move while on bb heartbeat monitor. She told me to monitor bb movement and to go hospital if it continues. Before I left, she sms my gynae about these conditions- is the first time she sms my gynae about me but I thought because is my last session w her and she didn't appeared worried about my conditions...

Later in the evening, we recd a sms from her that my gynae will like to see us on 31/3 instead of the planned 3/4 for a closer monitor because of my conditions but nothing to panic about... I was more glad than worried to know we will see gynae earlier and maybe earlier induce?? Seriously, I didn't think that there was anything to worry about. 

As usual, before I went to bed, I started to count bb kicks... I was a lil panicking when it was already 1.5hours and she only kicked 8x. It feels silly to worry about it when she is already moving.. I couldn't bear it any longer and woke up husband at midnight. I needed him to call the hospital for advice. I predicted that the hospital will probably ask us to do something's to wake up the bb etc but instead they asked us to go in and stay for the night. I took a quick shower, my mummy bag and we took a slow walk to the hospital. 

Since husband has an early work appt the next day, i told him that i can stay for the check and he goes home to rest. To me, it was probably just 2hrs hooked up on the bb heartbeat machine then wait for some gynae to come see me in the morning that's why I needed to stay for the night. I was still joking that my dream delivery plan is to take a hot shower, have a good meal and slow painless walk to hospital and we managed to do it now(I didn't had a good meal because I wasn't hungry, haha).

When we arrived, the midwife checked my cervix and sadly still only 1cm...I was then hooked to the bb heartbeat monitor and bb seemed to be moving well and the midwife shown us how he moved my tummy to wake up the baby. After about 1hour, we were sent to my room to rest. We chose a single room since I'll be staying in a single room after delivery and it seems a good time to "try out" the room. And I was definitely not interested to share a room in the middle of the night. 

We were told that bb will be monitored again and we need to see my gynae in the morning..it was close to 3am, I chased husband home and hoped that he can end his appt early to see the gynae in the morning (supposed to be 0800 - 0900)... 

Maybe it was the bed, the room or lack of pillow..it was hard to fall asleep... 

Week 37 : 3rd trimester scan II

Baby is the size of small watermelon!

Everything is still going fine except that my ankles started to swell,

then it was my feet and calves.

It literally looks like pork trotters.

I was fearful that it could be pre-eclampsia,

since my sister had it

and gestional diabetes often goes hand in hand with pre-eclampsia.

Thankfully, my blood pressure was fine,

protein in urine is normal

and no other signs

so midwife and gynae just brush it off as normal water retention.

As planned previously,

this is the final scan to determine whether:

- Baby is still growing too big

- I am to be induced on the 5 apr

Good news is that baby is now 2.96kg

and she is only 80percentile for her size,

which means she is not too large!

However, due to my gestional diabetes,

gynae still suggest that wego ahead for the induce on 4/5 april.

The actual date will depends on my next appointment on 3 april.

If by then, im not dilated enough

I will need to be admitted on the 4 april evening

and be induced viaginally.

Problem for this induce method is that,

it will bring on intense contractions

but im not a1lowed to be given epidural!

So it will be bare suffering till im dilated enough

or im given induce via iv,

then ill be able to have epidural.

If by 3 apr, im dilated enough,

i will only be admitted on 5 apr morning

and to receive induce via IV.

It will also brings on intense contractions

but ill be able to receive epidural.

Definitely, this will be a much better choice than the previous.

Gynae informed that im already dilated 1cm,

so she is quite hopeful that i will be dilated enough on 3 apr

and be induce via IV on 5 apr.

Or that i may even be in labor earlier than the induce date

and i am to check in hospital if i have the labor signs.

As much as i hope to walk more etc to help dilate more naturally,

Im worried as well to do too much and deliver earlier!

I guess all i can hope and wish is a smooth delivery and healthy baby!

OCD mummy waiting for the baby!!

Week 36 : Baby Salon

Baby is the size of celery!

Every year in paris, normally in march or april,

there is the baby salon / expo.

Husband was unsure whether i will be up to it to visit

since i will be in my 36 weeks.

In order not to miss collecting freebies or buying baby things at cheaper price,

I still went ahead to buy the tickets online...

Because it costs 6eur/ pax online

and 11eur/pax if you buy on the spot!

Since it is a baby salon,

i expected it to be well catered for kids and pregnant women...

meaning lots of seats and toilets!

Crazily, there was not much seatings and toilet queues were a nightmare.

I think im 1 of the rare heavily pregnant women,

most were parents with kids

or women in early pregnancy.

Most of the booths didnt applied to my current pregnancy

eg pregnancy apps, maternity clothes...

so we skipped most of them

Luckily, the salon was not too big

and i already bought most of the required stuff 

so we managed to finish in about 2.5hours.

The happiest thing is collecting freebies!

As expected, I knew that we will probably receive freebies,

not as much as if we were in baby expo in Singapore,

but is still rare to receive freebies in Paris..

Anyhow, im glad that husband can be quite kiasu and kept asking for freebies

that we will probably collect less if he didnt kept asking!!