Stretching my limits!

This confinement period is getting on my nerves. No showers, no shampooing, no cold drinks, no plain water, no air-conditioning, no going out.....


I need my daily dose of cold fresh milk for its goodness. I need the plain water because the weather is really hot when it's not raining. I need my daily shower and shampoo for personal hygiene, also because I need to keep my episiotomy site clean. I can't stand the giner-longan-red dates drink I have to finish everyday cos it makes me break out in perspiration after that.

Not to mention that every meal consists of tons of ginger and to make it worse, I have to eat liver almost everyday. YUCK! And drink that nasty smelling and tasting fish essence because everyone thinks it is good for surgical wounds. I'd rather have my birds' nest. I can't sit for a long time because the stitches are getting increasingly uncomfortable. And it is still a long way to go from complete healing.

Initially after the delivery, I couldn't move a single inch. The nurse had to help me turn on my side to remove the epidural catheter and then dress me in the hospital clothes. I even needed help just to sit on the wheelchair and be taken to the ward. Even though I had an air ring for support, it still hurt a lot.

Back at the ward all I could do was move the hospital bed if I had to sit to have my meal; and even then my back and wound ached and hurt like hell. I could only adjust the bed to its maximum height and lean on 2 pillows just to reach my food. I couldn't even get out of bed to visit the toilet. Whenever I stood up I found it difficult to breathe and could hardly talk although once I sat down I felt much better.

Giving birth to such a big baby really took a huge toll on me. When I looked at other mothers' babies, I could only wonder what was it I ate that nourished my darling Roy so well. Have I mentioned yet that I now weigh the same as when I wasn't pregnant? Yeah. Seems like I did not put on weight at all during the pregnancy. All the extra kilos I "put on" seems to have belonged to Baby Roy, the placenta, amniotic fluid and I-dunno-what-else.

The placenta looked huge!

For a while I actually thought it was my liver that I delivered after the baby. Just for everyone's info, the colour, shape and size of the placenta (from my point of view lying on the bed) looked just like a huge piece of pig's liver sold in the market. It felt very heavy too.

I exhausted all my energy pushing Baby Roy out into the world. Whenever a contraction came on, I pushed with all I could and when the contraction stopped, I would fall asleep until the next wave of contractions came again about 30 seconds later and the pain just made me feel like dying. I remember hubby helping to hold my legs and head up because I felt too weak to do them myself.

The whole experience can't be fully described in words, really. The doc who helped deliver Baby Roy told me that usually a baby his size would have to be delivered by Caesarean but I managed to deliver him naturally although it was assisted.

Thinking back on the whole process now, I'm glad that I didn't have a C-section; because then I wouldn't be able to experience the joy I felt when the midwife placed a crying Baby Roy in my arms, still coated in vernix and all I could do was look at him and say "My baby!" over and over again. The birth of Baby Roy has also brought hubby and I closer together.

I know because after the birth of Baby Roy, while the doc was stitching me up, hubby held my hand, kissed me and told me with tears in his eyes that he now understood why husbands should be with their wives during childbirth. Because going through the pain together to welcome the life they created together brings the relationship between them to a higher level.

As I grow closer to Baby Roy each and every day; and watch the interaction between father and son every night, I really feel glad that we chose to get married and start a family.

I love them soooooooo much!