Birth Story of Gabriella Ro and Surviving natural birth without epidural

On 27th December 2016 at about 4+am, my water bag broke in the middle of my sleep. It was a gush of clear fluid (watery and a little slimy) and I made a mess on my bed. I called out to my husband who was sleeping right next to me. Partially still in his dreams, my husband thought I was having my usual leg cramps and was asking me subconsciously which leg was having the cramp. When it dawned on him that my water bag broke, he rushed to the toilet to get a "cloth". In a state of a shock with little time for thought process, he brought a floor mat instead of a towel. :)

We made a phone call to the NUH Delivery Suite and the nurse asked if I felt any contractions. At that point, I didn't. So the nurse told me to head towards the hospital but no need to rush, preferably to arrive within 2 hours. So my husband and I took a bath, put the wet bed sheets in the washing machine for cleaning, waited for the laundry to be done to hang for drying, packed our bag, called for an Uber and headed down to NUH. The Uber driver was very kind and friendly. He told us his wife took 5 hours to deliver when the contractions were 10 mins apart. At that moment, my husband and I were thinking if we should go for breakfast first. But Coffee Bean, Mr Bean were closed and we decided to head up to the delivery suite first and check what is the status. At that time, it was 5+, close to 6am already. The nurse checked the cervix and it was about 4-5 cm wide. They told me estimated time of delivery was 12noon to 2pm. In my mind, I was thinking "Serious? I am going to keep feeling this contraction for another 6 hours?" About 20-30 minutes later, the nurse checked again. Then the cervix had widened to 8-9cm. The nurse started to panic and told me not to push till the doctor arrived. I wasn't really pushing. But I do feel this superb "da bian" feeling and probably my natural response was to push. Thank goodness the Dr Su arrived shortly after.

I made a total of 3 pushes when Dr Su arrived. During the 1st push, I wasn't really sure if I was pushing or pulling back. On one hand, I thought I was pushing but I was holding back as I was afraid that I was pushing poop instead of baby out. During the 2nd push, I pushed so hard that my right leg cramped and I screamed that my leg had a cramp and the nurse was massaging my leg for me, and I missed the cycle. During the last push, I recalled clearly that I breathed the laughing gas deeply and pushed, doing that about 3 times and then I had this great feeling of baby sliding out of me.

Dr Su proceeded to stitch the episiotomy. In my opinion that was more painful than birth as it was continuous for a few minutes, unlike contractions was on short regular times. At that time, I was probably also addicted to the laughing gas and demanded for it even though I was told that I don't need it any more.

2 Key Advises for those who want to take the challenge of not using epidural:

1) Right Pushing Technique:
Only push during the feeling of contraction. Each time you try to push, the hole gets bigger. The contraction period is a natural phenomenon to help you push out.

2) Right Breathing Technique:
Use the laughing gas only when needed. When contraction is coming, ask your husband to place the laughing gas mask to your nose and breathe really hard. Then remove the mask once the contraction is over.

Maybe because I did not use epidural, I recovered really fast and I was up and walking about the suite that evening. The most uncomfortable experience during the 1st 2 days post-delivery is episiotomy stitch and lochia. You just keep bleeding and you have to make sure you don't tear the stitch. I had some difficulty pooping too as my pelvic muscles were weak and I couldn't push hard, afraid that I tear the stitch.