Yeah Double Stripes

Papa Koh booked ,  Dr Claudine Tan , She was my gynae for Royce. For those who have not heard the news , Dr Claudine Tan is with Thomas women's clinic , located at Blk 254, Seragoon Central Drive #01-219 .

A familiar face greeted us at the doorway, I was more than happy, as it put us at ease. With no 2 , there wasn't constant fear of the next step. And I know I am in safe hands , I am super relaxed.

I am at 8 weeks , Papa Koh and I were cite to see the heart beat. The terrible news we can't announce to the whole world yet. Being Chinese , the tradition was not to mention till the fourth month. The basis is if you announced it before the fourth month or the safety period , there is a higher risk of miscarriage.

With this test, a sample of the woman's blood is taken after 10 weeks of pregnancy. The test measures the relative amount of free fetal DNA in the mother's blood. The test determines the chance that the fetus has Down syndrome. It should be ok to do such test, but it cost *drum rolls * $1000. 

The other option is to do OSCAR or (1) ‘One-stop Clinic for Assessment of Risk for Fetal Anomalies’, is a test carried out in the first trimester to screen for the risk of fetal anomalies, particularly for Down’s Syndrome. I forgot what is the cost, but I will update in the next blog post.

I totally forgot that I had taken 'an tai yao' during my first trimester when I had Royce. Papa Koh requested for Dr Claudine Tan to pass me Utrogestan otherwise known as Progesterone.

(2)Progesterone is a naturally occurring female sex hormone which is essential for the function of the female reproductive system. It is produced in the ovaries during the second half of the menstrual cycle, and also by the placenta during pregnancy. The amount of progesterone a woman produces declines during the menopause.
You will have been prescribed progesterone to supplement your naturally produced progesterone

Till the next time . :)


Reference : (1)  http://pregnant.sg/articles/oscar-testing-in-singapore/#ixzz3CELweq5F
                    (2) http://www.patient.co.uk/medicine/progesterone

 21.03.2013 is a special day, it was two months before Royce's dad's birthday.
And we decided the date 21.03.2013 was the time for Royce's arrival.


All it takes was induction tablet to induce the labour.
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I was in the labour ward at 12am, with my husband beside me laid uncomfortably, on a stiff leather setting and metal armrest chair. To make matter worse, the aircon was super cold. The contractions kick start an hour later. I felt uncomfortable every 5 to 10mins.

The discomfort was bearable, and for someone like me whom can sleep easily anywhere. I couldn't sleep a wink. Each time I was about to sleep , the contractions woke me up. I was pretty stressed up because I knew I had to have a good sleep for the battle, but I couldn't . Furthermore, I had painful backache due to labour.

Good thing I and my husband, Ronald "survived" the hunger and coldness with free milo from the dispenser. (It was the start of my addiction of milo since then).

The first update was I was dilated at 3cm around 8am in the morning. Dr Claudine Tan broke my water bag. I have braved through the 8 hours of pain. I was about to put a pat on my back when I was told the pain was going to get worse. Scrambling for assurance that I was going through the child birth pain free. All these months of telling myself  I wasn't going to use the epidural was thrown to the back of my mind, without hesitation I agreed to using epidural.

The sensation of having to pass motion and nothing comes out, made me think that I needed the bathroom. However I was told that baby was pressing against my rectum. I was amused by the thought that the sensation was an indication that baby was coming out. The thought soon vanished when I couldn't cope with the increasing discomfort. I start crying , it was my way of finding a way to relieve the pain. It didn't go away!!

Poor Ronald had to witness my discomfort and attend to my wailings. Who says epidural is pain? For me, I didn't feel a thing...
And I thought Doctor will come in when my cervix was dilated at 10cm. Nah... the nurse calmly told me what I had to do, my legs was hoisted on the leg rest and wide apart. The monitor indicated when I had my contractions, each time when I had contractions, the Nurses asked me to push as long as possible. Ronald's role was to push my head , while the nurses cheered me on to push.

The funniest part is when it comes to pushing the baby out. I didn't feel the discomfort, but I still felt the sensation, and mind you I had epidural and it was supposed to be sensation and pain free. Well, lucky I could feel the contractions, they say it was easier to push if the mom could feel it . Doctor came at the crucial moment. Dr allowed Ronald to take a peek at initial stage of pushing and he could see baby's hair. Half an and hour into pushing, one of the nurses massaged my stomach hard so that baby could come out faster. You know the videos , you see mummies screaming while pushing? I was definitely was one of those. Not that I felt pain but I was holding my breath and the screams just came out naturally. "Pop" ! I felt Royce's head slide out. Yeah! I did a victory dance in my head. But guess what, it was only the head!

I gave one final push and baby was out !! They passed me the baby and I held baby and with my head turned, because he was so bloody and he felt slimly. I think I was a little stunned, and they took Royce to clean him up.

 With Dr's help, she digged my placenta out, and she sewed me up. I chit chat with the Dr while she sewed the three layers.  And finally we got to see him. :)

Royce's first contact with the world