Seeing Reyes the 1st time

Hubby came to the hospital about 10 am today, he mentioned that the neonatal docs called him past midnight last night to ask if he is still around in the hospital as they have already settled Reyes. That made me kind of anxious to see him.


I was feeling fine even though I just delivered last night. We proceed to the the NICU at about 11 am, but only managed to speak to a nurse and not see my baby cos they are kinda strict with visiting hours. 12 noon to 2 pm and 6 to 8 pm are the visiting hours and only parents and grandparents are allowed.


So I went back to my ward, finished my lunch and went back to NICU again and this time I saw Reyes! He is small and boney as he has not plump up yet. We were taught how to sanitize our hands before opening the doors of the incubator to touch him.


Was told by the attending nurse that there was high level carbon dioxide in his body so an extra oxygen tube was administered to him the night before. But because he was getting better today, it was removed in the morning thus it left a bit of a abrasion redness on his nose.


Both maternal and paternal grandparents also had a chance to see him today. There was even a tiny episode of Regan throwing tantrums not being allowed to see his brother due to his age but that soon blew over.

These are some of his pics we took:

The blue and white tube going to his nose is called CPAC (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) - Oxygen (or air) is delivered under a small amount of pressure through prongs that fit into the nostrils. Delivering oxygen under pressure helps to keep the air sacs in the lung open.

There's also 2 tubes running into his umbilical code. After the umbilical cord is cut at birth, newborn babies have the short stump of the cord remaining. Because the umbilical cord stump is still connected to the baby's blood and circulatory system, a catherer (small flexible tube) can be inserted into one of the two arteries or the vein of the umbilical cord. After placement of the umbilical catheter, x-rays are taken to check the location in the baby's body.

The umbilical venous line is used to give the baby medication, glucose water and parenteral nutrition.
The umbilical arterial line is used for blood sampling and blood pressure monitoring.

*extracted from Parental Information on Important Procedures Carried Out in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Department of Neonatology, KK Hospital

Arrival of Little Reyes

It all happened too quickly for me.

On the 15 Mar 09, I was experiencing contraction pain throughout the day, after having been discharged from KKH just several days ago and still on Addalat (medication to stop contractions), I didn't think much of it. Tried calling my Gynae in TMC but its out of office hours for her. sigh!

My little one is only 28 weeks and 5 days gestation and its certainly too early for him. But deep down somehow I know the time is near. My parents and sister came over to visit and we had dinner but the contraction pain was getting from bad to worse. Went to the toilet and realised I'm already having a "show" (show = blood signifying onset of labour).

Told hubby and he went on to pack and drove me and with my sis to KKH while my parents drove Regan to Woodlands to leave him with my in laws.

Upon reaching the delivery suite, I was examined by a doc and was told that I was already 4 cm dilated but they will still try to delay the labour by putting me on a drip to stop the contractions. So I was admitted to delivery suite 31 at about 9:30 pm, coincidentally it was the same one I was in the week before. I was immediately put on the drip and it helped a little. The pain was not as intense and the contractions gets further apart. Doc also warned me of racing heartbeat as a side effect of the drug taking into consideration that my heart has a pre-existing condition of having extra beats, my pulse and BP had to be monitored rather closely.

There's one point I thought my water bag had burst as I felt trickles of water, Docs came in to check and was told that they can see the membrane still intact but I'm probably 5-6 cm dilated already.

But at about 5 am, I feel the contractions coming back and at about 30 mins interval and is still bearable. I tried to get some rest but the drug was making me uncomfortable, I was feeling a little breathless, my chest felt congested and I'm generally weak and tired. Hubby was with me all these while sleeping by my side on the couch. We called in the nurse and asked if anything can be done, after consulting the docs, they decided to turn off the drip temporarily. This happened at about 10 am.

I did contemplate on the risk of turning off the drip, I guess it would probably means the contractions will come back and true enough, the contractions came back!! At a interval of 20 mins now! I didn't recall having so much pain for my last pregnancy. Hubby had to make a trip home to shower and to pick up some stuff. After he left, my contraction intervals reduced to every 15 mins! I tried to sleep away the pain but was to no avail. I ask for options to numb the pain, was told by Nurse Ailine I could go for a jab on my thigh so I went ahead with that. The jab made me sleepy but still the pain is there. Hubby came back about 4 pm and by 5:30, I was already having contractions at like 5-10 mins interval and I have this bad urge to wanna push or should I say poo?

Nurse Ailine went ahead and prepare the necessary apparatus and I guessed they gathered I'm delivering. I was asked to use the Entonox and I hate that, it gives me the groggy feeling. Docs starts rushing in and everything was in a trance, I remembered telling my hubby I can't hold on any longer and I pushed and out came Reyes!

Everyone was kinda taken aback as I think they didnt expect it to be so FAST. Reyes was then carried to the little incubator and the neonatal Docs are not even here! But soon enough, abt 1 min or so they too rushed in to take a look at him. I thought I saw hubby shed a tear. I didnt have a chance to see him and he was already sent to NICU. I delivered him at exactly 1820hr and he weighs 1180g.

I carried on with the rest of my procedures and proceed to rest in the ward. In my mind I was thinking how is the little one..