For births #2 and #3, my waterbag had burst before I checked myself into the hospital. So for #4, I had just assumed it would be the same.

Contractions finally started at 1.30am, early Thursday morning. They lasted 1 min & was 10 min apart. Very quickly it progressed to 7 min apart & I had a bloody show. Moved my bowels twice in that short span of time. I got up at 3am to shower & get ready. Told myself that I would only get admitted when contractions were 5 min apart coupled w/ water bag bursting. But it wasn't possible, the contractions were a bit too strong for me to hold back anymore & I really did not want to birth at home! I woke dh up at 6am (moved my bowels once more) & called my parents to come over to watch the older kids. My parents sure took the longest 30 min drive down to my place. I really thot I was going to give birth along the corridor of our apartment! Lol!

When I reached the hospital, the contractions were holding me back from walking normally so the nurses hurried to get me a wheelchair :)

Once in the delivery suite, I was (as usual) strapped to the CTG. But I was only 5 cm dilated!!!! Argh!!!! Everyone thought I was going to birth anytime soon since it was the 4th birth for me. So I wasn't even allowed to go to the toilet to relieve myself! I had to do it in the bedpan :(

From 7:30am to abt 9am, the contractions were moving along from 5 to 3 min & lasting really long. The midwife came in at abt 8am to insert an antibiotic IV drip in me coz I was diagnosed with a positive GBS infection at 38 weeks. I protested coz the dr had agreed that he would give me a jab or an oral dose instead. Unsure of what to do, she called the dr & I overheard her complaining to him that I refused the drip :) !

The dr arrived at abt 9am & told me that he would give me a jab but then almost immediately changed his mind coz he said I may still need the drip incase of excessive post partum bleeding. Sigh!!! the only "good" thing was that he only left the drip contraption on w/o the actual plastic drip tube, iykwim? Then he did a VE & said that I can deliver soon. He broke my water bag w/o informing me (grr!!!) & said ok - you can deliver now!?!?!?!!? I was placed "in position" & told to push!

Huh? I was quite irritated. I tried to push a few times with the contractions but instead of the contractions moving closer together coz of AROM, I felt them growing further apart! & on top of that I was getting tired & I could feel the bb sitting on my spine, unable to move down coz of the position I was in.

Dr then left the room (too impatient to wait?!) & left the midwives in-charge. They kept asking me to push & in the end I snapped at them - "I want to get down!" The older midwife was so shocked she said "huh?" but the younger one ran to check with dr coz I was getting down from that position regardless of what anyone says!

I got down and started to push on fours, then on my knees leaning forward, - doing whatever my body was telling me to do. I felt baby pushing down but I just couldn't get her out!

By then I was getting weary of this whole pushing thing I was soooo desperate that when the dr came back in I told him to just vacuum her out! He told me to get back on the bed & then to push again. Again I repeated - "please vacuum the baby out!" and he said "no lah! you want everything natural, including delivering your placenta out naturally. So how can you ask to vacuum the bb out? You must push her out!" Argh! Not what I wanted to hear! So I bargained with him! but he insisted and told me "you have forgotten your verse 'I can do ALL things thru Christ Jesus who strengthens me!' "

I got back up on the bed and praise God! I pushed twice and the baby pops out! BUT with the cord around her neck! So while her head was hanging out, the body had to be "delayed" while he unwinds the cord off her and then she came out! With no cry! She just laid on me while the nurse dried her & then she wailed only when they stuck the plastic tube to suction the stuff out of her mouth!

Meanwhile, I could feel the placenta sliding out of me easily. Woah! After having been pulled & tugged w/o any pain relief with #3, the natural birthing of the placenta this time was a breeze!!!

And then dh gets to trim the cord. His 1st time! And then we found out why the baby took so much more effort than the rest to come out. She was our heaviest by far - 3.5kg and her head circumference was the largest at 36cm!

Immediately my 1st thought was - next time, I will pray for a baby with a head circumference of 34cm! :)

What did I learn? That thought I wanted the waterbag to burst as a clear indication tro go to the hospital, God knew better. Being GBS positive meant that the baby was in danger of ingesting the infection if the waterbag had burst in advance. Keeping the waterbag intact till the actual birth was His way of protecting the baby from the infection. God is so good! I had no pethedine, no gas mask and I got to deliver my placenta naturally. It was awesome!

But I still felt that something was missing......