He's Finally Here!

 10 days overcooked but he's here and he's almost 3 weeks old already!!!

 Introducing....

  Eliyas Thomas Laidler 

Too happy!

It all started on Sunday night 3 weeks ago, when I started having contractions all night long. It was mild & bearable but painful enough that I couldn't get any sleep. 

The next day I went to the hospital for the appointment that we all thought I never have to go to. Cause you know, 2nd baby's supposed to come earlier, faster, easier bla bla. What a MYTH! 

The contraction stopped when I got there so the midwife, Gulseren (I was sent to see a different one because I was overdue) said what I felt before was just false labour. Isk..Sabo jek! I was scheduled in for an induction on Thursday but Gulseren thought that I would probably have the baby by then but who knows! 

As soon as we left the hospital, the pain started again (of course!) and it went on all night as well. More intense and more frequent than the night before. I wanted to call the hospital to check if I should come in but thought I should wait till my water breaks. 

See, I had the same night time contractions with Ayisha as well. It lasted for 3 nights before I went to the hospital. The first night was pretty alright but I didn't know what a contraction felt like at the time. My sister told me back then it's a combo of intense period pain + wanting to poo badly pain so when it happened the 1st time I thought to myself, "Is this it? Not so bad at all". So I started calling the hospital & of course they asked me to wait. Apparently they could tell from our voice whether or not it's time to come in. I called many more times after that especially on the 3rd night when it got so painful but only when my water broke that they told me to come in. 

So this time, as to not embarrass myself again, especially since this is my 2nd pregnancy, I held back from calling. I thought of waiting for my waters to break but it never did. 

The next day, Tuesday, I was in pain all day and come night time it got really bad. I thought to myself there's no way I could go through another painful sleepless night nor could I wait for Thursday to be induced. I called and was asked to come in straight away. I must've sounded like a crazy woman in pain!  

I wish I could tell you how pretty straight forward it was from this point onwards. You know the story where you get to the hospital at the last minute and once there, it was time to push and 2 mins later the baby's out?

Did NOT happen. 

To cut the story short, I was in labour for 9 hours. Nothing happened the first 5 hours so they decided to break my waters. The contractions got much worse after that but still nothing happened.

2 hours later I was given syntocinon - a hormone to speed up the labour process by intensifying contractions. Part of me was glad because I had it with Ayisha as well. It worked straight away and 2 hours later I was ready to push her out. 

Another part of me was just so terrified because I remembered that 2 hours being THE MOST horribly painful part of it all. I was in labour for 17 hours with Ayisha but those 2 hours were the ones that I remembered most. 

This time, I was given not one, but 2 doses of syntocinon. The pain escalated after the 1st dose but the baby's still not coming out, so they gave me another one about 2 hours later. It was out-of-this-world, how-could-I-not-remember-how-painful-this-is, almost-crushing-Michael's fingers extreme pain. I was having contractions 1-2 mins apart I didn't even have time to think and gather my strength for the next one. 

3 people were responsible in helping me that night. There's Michael of course, who tried really hard to make me feel better and helping me with the pain by letting me abuse his fingers. He helped tremendously in getting me to stay focus, not leaving my side & reminding me to breath & say my prayers especially when I felt and probably looked like I was going nuts! 

Then there's a midwife, who coincidentally, happened to be Gulseren that night. She was excellent. She was full of encouragement, praises & positive comments like saying how great my breathing was and how it will be over soon and just constantly saying the right things all the way through. Even when she's giving me the syntocinon and we both knew how much more painful it would be, she kept stressing how this would help me and how I've been doing so well with my breathing there's nothing new that I can't do etc etc. In times like this, those empowering words meant so much to help me persevere for just another contraction, and another, and another.

Then there was a medical officer, Jasper (Twilight moment anyone?). Doctors normally come in just for the delivery of the baby but Jasper was with us from the start, all night long. He's learning from Gulseren a lot but he seemed pretty confident and was quite a big help too, encouraging and positive and saying all the right things. 

By the time I thought I was ready to push, they kept telling me to wait, it was just so frustrating. By the time they thought I was ready, I just couldn't do it anymore. I was so tired from the pain I almost gave up.  

Then Gulseren whispered to me with a teeny bit of excitement in her voice, 'Come on Yan, bubba's ready to come out now. He's ready! You HAVE to push'.

I don't know how I managed to take another breath and continued on but I did and 10 mins later, he was out.... ..

And OH MY GOD, nothing beats the feeling of when it was all over!!! WHAT A RELIEF!!! 

I was glad that it only took 10 mins to push him out considering it took me 1 hour to push Ayisha. Gulseren said that this was because it's my 2nd one. This is probably the only true part of the 2nd baby 'myth' because it was definitely easier even though he came out 3.85kg (I still couldn't believe it!) and Ayisha was only 2.9kg.

However a big part of this is truly attributed to Gulseren & Jasper who in those short 10 mins, tried really hard to guide me every step of the way on how to do it right - how to breathe, where to push etc.  It was definitely easier, quicker, less painful and less damage done to myself.

I was so glad it was finally over. All I could think of at the time was that no way I would this again.

Anyways, so it was all good after that. I stayed at the hospital for 4 days. What I remembered most about the hospital stay with Ayisha was how good the food was. It was still pretty good. I was given a halal menu option to choose from and was served 6 times a day. I had yummy desserts with every meal like chocolate mousse and yummy cakes for morning tea like orange cake with cream cheese icing. I was still getting no sleep because newborns wouldn't let you that first few nights. They sleep soundly all day and I was too exhilarated during the day to have naps. But I was very well fed.

So the last 2 weeks I was pretty much trying to get as much rest & sleep as I can while recovering from the aches & pains of childbirth. And OH MY GOD, the after birth pains? Why didn't anyone tell you about it? I barely felt it with Ayisha but they say it's worse when you have your 2nd & more babies. It was REALLY painful I was high on painkillers most of the time that first week.

Ayisha is taking all this extremely well so far. She lovingly calls him Baby Eli (pronounced Ee-Lai, she's pretty much responsible for the name that we've chosen actually). She's not overly lovey dovey towards him nor was she overly jealous. Just pretty cool about it all. I noticed that she's more caring & affectionate towards him when we're not looking. She'd climb on the bed to see him in the cot and talk to him, sing to him or just to say 'I love you'.

Or sometimes when she's relaxing on our bed watching TV and the baby's 'interrupting' her with his grunting noises, she'd call out 'MUMMY!! baby Eli's awake!!' Yep, very loving :p She seems so much bigger now too. I didn't think this was possible but I love her so much more than ever before.

He loves her voice!

Sometimes she'd feed her teddy too when Eli's feeding...too funny! :p

Michael has been great as well. Apart from almost losing his fingers in the labour room, he was there with me and for me all the way through. He stayed home for 2 weeks and took really really good care of us all. He's been extremely great with Ayisha, a big reason why I think Ayisha's been doing quite well with it all. I didn't think this was possible either but I love him so much more than ever before too!

Now I have 2 heroes!!

 

..who love to sleep!

Eliyas has been pretty good too. He's sleeping & feeding well. He doesn't cry much. He doesn't squeak either. But he grunts! Sometimes it's kinda cute but the angry ones are pretty freaky lah. :p

I forgot how tiny newborns are. The little fingers and toes and nose and mouth. Gerammmm!! :) I also forgot how responsive they can be even at a few days old, like eyes following you around the room and  imitating you when you stick your tongue out. Such a thrill! People say they only really smile from 4 weeks onwards but I swear he's smiling back at me the other day and it's not just his tummy or wind! :p

The 1st week was hard, what with the no sleep and him wanting to feed all night long. But now things are getting much better. He's sleeping less during the day and more at night and although it still means waking up 1-2 times a night for who knows  how long, at least I am getting more sleep than before. Man, I LOVE my sleep!!!!! :p

Michael's back at work, which sucks so bad. I was terrified at first with the thought of dealing with 2 kids all by myself but I think I'm doing ok. Especially now that I'm almost fully recovered - not so sore & aching too much, so I am functioning much better even with the lack of sleep. Though by ok I mean most days I'm still in my pyjamas and didn't get to shower till about noon and Ayisha's hair is getting wilder than ever. :p But everyone's pretty happy so I think we're doing ok lah :)

Last but not least, I do want to thank you guys for all the well wishes & prayers sent our way, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!