Delivering A Miracle

Once I delivered my baby, I understand that every delivery story is a story of miracle. Here’s mine.

My estimated due date was 6 June, but no signs of delivery was felt on that day. I did not worry at all because after all the date was an estimation, and most women deliver the baby either before or after the date anyway. Friends and family members were more concerned about it, they kept asking whether the baby boy had come into the world 🙂

At the end of my pregnancy, I was busy moving things from the previous rented house to a new one, much closer to my in-laws’ house. It was a strategic decision as I must go back to office after three months of maternity leave, and since my mother lives in another city, what better option did I have but the in-laws? They’re really kind and as retired teachers, they have proved to be excellent carer of grandchildren, as their first grandchild (from Yoga’s older sister), who hangs around their house almost every day, is very sweet and smart. Daycare is never a good option anyway for almost-three-months-old babies, no?

After the move, I still loved to go to malls to eat and sightsee and that was what I did on the 9th of June. I met Ibu (Mom) in one of the confusing myriad of malls in Jakarta to have lunch together. We even browsed the furniture store and Ibu bought me a cabinet for the upcoming grandson’s clothes. I went back home using the commuter train and motor-taxis (a.k.a. ojek). Later that night, my aunt and her family came to shower me with some gifts for her future grandson.

Right after my aunt went home, I got the first sign of delivery: bloody show and the fall of mucus plug. But since it could take hours or days from that sign to real delivery, I stayed calm and went to bed.

I first felt the contraction in the wee hours of th 10th of June. It came like once every 30 minutes so I could still sleep in between the contractions. After I took a shower (well it was more gayungs of water hahaha) at around 7 am, contractions came more intensely, about once every 5 minutes, so I told Yoga, “I think we need to go to the hospital soon.” My obgyn actually had said that I would need to go to hospital once I felt 4 contractions in 10 minutes with duration of 1 minute each, but considering the distance and traffic, I thought we’d better go sooner than later.

Yoga took a shower too and called the taxi while I sat on the gym ball, trying to get rid of the pain. The taxi came and to our surprise, the traffic was pretty empty although it was still in the rush hour. We arrived at the hospital at around 9.30 am and were ushered to the maternity ward.

I changed into the hospital gown, let some blood and urine go to be checked at the lab, and lied on the bed. Yoga sat next to me. One of the nurse put on the cardiatography (CTG) machine to measure the baby’s heartbeat and the strength of contractions. The contractions interval became shorter, the duration longer. After about half and hour, the nurse said, “Bu, sudah nggak bisa pulang nih, hari ini melahirkan ya (Ma’am, you can’t go home now, you’ll deliver today).”

She checked my cervix and found that it was dilated for about 2 cm (“bukaan dua”). More minutes passed and the contractions interval became even shorter, the duration even longer. I started to squirm around, holding Yoga’s hand, as the contractions became stronger and stronger. Somehow I kept saying Allah every time the contractions pain hit me. Now that I think about it, I never called Allah’s name that much in such a short duration of time…

I forgot which one came after that: when the nurse said that the dilation had become 7 cm (“bukaan tujuh”), or when I threw up and simultaneously my water (“air ketuban”) broke. Then, I went back to the bed and moaned louder as the contractions hit me, squeezing Yoga’s arm, because the sensation was so strong and my body already wanted to push the baby but I was prohibited to push before the dilation become 10 cm. The nurse helped to thin my cervix to ease the delivery, in between calling Allah, I called her again and again and told her that I want to push-I want to push-I want to push…

The next minutes were more of a blur: my mom came at 11.10, dr. Fachriantini the obgyn came either before or after her, the obgyn told me that in a few minutes I could push, she cut me down there – I barely felt the episiotomy as the contractions became more violent, she told me to push and after three pushes, baby RK came into the world at 11.32.

The paramedics quickly vacuumed the mucus inside the baby’s mouth, wiped him, and put him on my chest for breastfeeding initiation. What a miracle! My eyes were transfixed on the little boy who’d been inside me for so long but now lied on my chest; my hand held his small head that wore a hat given by the nurse to keep him warm (along with the towel on his back). My child, my baby, was there!

I delivered the placenta and the obgyn put it on a metal plate that Yoga held – I asked delayed cord clamping for at least 3 minutes, in line with WHO’s recommendation. The obgyn shot local anesthetic so when she sewed me down there, I barely felt it, although the breastfeeding initiation helped to distract me. His cord was cut after 30 minutes, and the nurses put him back on my chest to continue the breastfeeding initiation.

Alhamdulillah, the delivery process only took around two hours from our arrival at the hospital to the boy’s arrival. It was very swift compared with friends who must endure hours or days of cervix dilation, and it was very easy compared with friends who need caesarean surgeries. In a few hours I already walked around, cleaning myself and tidied up the delivery room a little bit as we waited for the treatment room to be ready. Yoga, I, and baby RK spent two nights at the hospital and glad that both the baby and me were healthy and recovered pretty swiftly – another miracle, I can say…

Yoga, I, and our family are overwhelmed with happiness and would like to thank all the best wishes given by family members and friends. May the wishes come true!

We’re trying to limit baby RK’s pictures on social media platforms, so here’s a picture of another newest addition in our bedroom since his arrival 😀