I was at CVC on Friday the 13th of June (12 days prior to my due date) preparing for the Spiritual Growth Seminar when I had a leak of amniotic fluid. I told my mum, who asked me to go home to rest. That night, I had my show and I knew it was the first sign that the process of childbirth had started. I called Serene (Bro Henson’s wife who has had 6 children!), and she gave me advice and kept me calm.
I was concerned because my doctor, who was the only pro-natural doctor I knew, was away for the weekend. I had heard many stories of doctors inducing labour without the knowledge of the patient and I didn’t want any intervention in my pregnancy at all. I had to exercise faith and to put my trust in God and not in the doctor. If my doctor was not around, I had to believe that God would orchestrate everything for me.
Throughout the next day (Saturday), I experienced contractions on and off. For quite a while I wasn’t even sure it was contractions because there was no pain at all. By dinner time, my contractions were 5 minutes apart. It was about time to go to the hospital. I had actually booked my delivery at Mount Alvernia Hospital (Mt. A), but I had found out that my doctor’s replacement doctor at Mt. A was also on emergency leave! I had to go to Thomson Medical Centre (TMC) where a replacement doctor was available. I had no booking with the hospital and had to go in faith! Praise God, when I went to TMC at 10pm, they had a bed for me.
When I was admitted, I was only 2cm dilated. The nurse told me that I had a long time to go so they brought to my room to rest and wait. I fell asleep for a while but woke up at 1.45am with more intense contractions. The nurse then brought me back to the delivery ward at 2am. After a check, I was still only 3cm dilated. In theory, it would take one hour to dilate one cm, which meant I still had 7 hours to go. Because it was the wee hours of the morning, there were delivery suites available and so I was brought to my delivery suite at 3am for the rest of my labour. My husband James and I stood in agreement and asked God to speed the process up.
From the time I was admitted, the nurses kept asking me if I was aware of the pain medication available. I was so sure I was not going to feel any pain (I hadn’t felt any pain so far), that I told them I didn’t need any, and every time they asked me if I wanted any pain medication, I politely declined. Soon they got the message.
It was my conviction that God had created our bodies to labour naturally and so I didn’t want anything artificial such as induction performed. I especially didn’t want the doctor to break my water bag to “speed” things up. We prayed that my water would break naturally and at the right time and when I went to the toilet at 5.30am, my water on its own. I knew that it would be really soon before I would see my baby.
The nurses came in and checked me again at 5.45am and that was when they realized I was already fully dilated so they paged for the replacement doctor. The doctor appeared at 6.15am and by that time, I was already pushing. After 30 minutes, at 6.45am, our baby John Ch’ng made his entrance into the world with a bout hearty screams. He was a healthy 3.2kg and was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. God bridged time for me and what would typically have been 7 hours of active labour took only 4+ hours. And I had a pain-free supernatural birth! I didn’t need any pain relief… no gas, no epidural, nothing. And because I didn’t have any medication, John was really alert when he was born, and after being cleaned up, he was able to breastfeed right there in the delivery suite. It was the most amazing feeling.
In my birthplan, I stated I did not want an episiotomy and I thank God that the doctor didn’t see a need to perform one. I did have some minor tearing, but it was not painful and it healed well within a few days. I hardly even took any pain medication at the hospital.
John was born on the 15th of June, Father’s Day! What a present for my husband James!
It’s been 7 weeks since John’s arrival and I have not experienced any post-partum pain or cramps that we are “supposed” to feel when the uterus contracts. I still have all my pain medication the hospital sent me home with!
I want to thank God for this wonderful experience. He indeed answered my prayers and I am able to testify that He is an awesome God! Truly, Jesus had bore all our sins when He went to the cross so that we can live in victory. He is our wonderful Saviour. Hallelujah. I also want to thank my husband who was by my side throughout supporting me. Thanks also to my family who were praying for me. And special thanks to Serene (and Henson), who encouraged me long before I even conceived.
I will be writing my birth story shortly and I promise it will be exciting... I experienced no pain and I delivered completely naturally. On top of that, my gynae was on leave and I delivered at a hospital in which I had no booking for! But for now I want to thank God for a supernatural childbirth. Indeed, we were redeemed from sorrow when Jesus died on the cross and He is a faithful God who hears our prayers and meets us at our level of faith. All glory belongs to Him and Him alone. :)
Oh yes, and I had a haircut! Finally! Weather's just been waaay too hot and I get grumpy when I start to sweat. Now when I get complements that I'm glowing, I just attribute it to the droplets that form on my face (especially on my nose) the moment I step out of anywhere airconditioned. I guess I can take comfort that I'm burning off the extra calories I'm consuming. But for now, i'm just downing the H2O to keep as cool as I can get. 
For those who can't read the scan... it's his head and he's looking towards the top of the scan. Oh, and he's got his hand on his mouth. It looks like a tiny hammer of sorts. See it? See it? :) 
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