At 38weeks, I had very strong contractions. It was progressing at every 7 - 10mins regularly and didn't change in pattern even when I sat up or lay down. Hmm....labour? I prayed. God didn't say to go in so I didn't. The contractions did not become closer. After 2 hrs, the contractions stopped. I was grateful that I didn't panic and checked myself into the hospital where I most likely would have been induced.

One day before EDD while reading in my bed before sleeping, I felt a strong pressure down at my cervix and with that pressure, there was a small leak of waters. Hmm....waterbag breaking? But it was such a small leak. Again, I prayed, asking for a sure sign. Then I went to bed. That was about 11pm. At 2+am, there was such a huge contraction and with that, a gush of waters came through. But, no, it didn't gush non-stop :) I immediately woke dh up and went to shower and change. After which I called my parents to come over and help with minding our #1.

By the time I checked into the hospital, it was about 3am. The nurse asked if I wanted a pethedine shot. Not knowing any better, I said ok. After the shot, I promptly fell asleep till the midwife came running in and shouting at me to not push! I was in a daze, being rudely woken up and almost immediately, I felt the bearing down sensation. They yelled for me to not push till the dr came in. It was quite hilarious. A few pushes, and the baby was out at 6am! IOW I spent only 3hrs in the hospital and I was not as tired as my first birth! Praise God! Now that was a supernatural childbirth! There was no pain! The recovery this time round was even better. The nurses couldn't believe that I had just given birth when they came into make the bed at 8am.

But I learnt something else - the pethedine shot I took with both #1 and #2 can cause a blue baby syndrome in the baby when administered too late. My room mate's baby had the condition coz her baby came out real fast. And the baby had to go into ICU for monitoring. After reading up somemore, I found out that all the drugs given to a mother during labour affects the baby somehow.

Much later on, I had friends who shared that due to the epidural they took, their babies were so sleepy, they couldn't nurse. I personally tried to help a friend to nurse her baby. But her baby was so drugged that he didn't even have the natural instinct of rooting that all newborns have! All he did was sleep! And even when bottlefed, he only took one bottle in the 3 days he was at the hospital!

Of course there are many women who took the epidural with no seen effects on either the mom or the baby but there are risks involved whenever the mum takes any drug during labour and the benefits need to be weighed carefully againt the baby's needs.