Week 38 - C-Sect Delivery at HUKM

Long delay in my post about the crucial part between being pregnant and having a kid or two. In my case.. I had two.

 

Because I was expecting twins and the doctors were not able to allow me to go on medical leave, I requested the doctor to schedule me fot C-Section as soon as my twins were matured enough. That was Week 38.

 

My C-Sect was scheduled on a Monday because I was under that group of doctors. And I admitted myself to the hospital the evening before as instructed. The interesting part was.. I was wheeled to my ward despite me telling the nurse I could still walk at way reduced speed. Special treatment?

Dinner was served. 'Hospital grade' food never tasted good anyway. Hubby brought me dinner and since it was past visiting hours, we dated at the bench outside my ward.

 

After that.. from midnight onwards, no more food and drinks. Time to fast for the big day.

 

By about 8pm or so, a young handsome doctor came and told me that he had to put the drip chamber on me already. Ouch.. but my operation was scheduled tomorrow. He insisted, so, okay.

 

Next day came.. my twins birthday. Doctors came for their morning rounds and I asked one nice lady doctor about my C-Sect time. She said I was scheduled before 2pm.

 

Not too bad.. 2PM. I used to drink at least 3 big bottles of water a day but since I had to fast for the operation, I had to just forget about my thirst for water. By noon, no signs of me being prepared for the operation and the lady that was scheduled before me was still there opposite me in bed. BUT.. the doctor had already inserted the urine tube for me.. how uncomfortable.

 

By dinner time.. I was still there in bed and by that time, I was already feeling really weak and lifeless. No water and food.. I was just feeling tired and hungry and so thirsty. My twins were probably feeling them too.. just lying in there quiet and not moving alot.

 

I kept asking the nurses and doctors about my 'turn' and poor them, too many emergency cases to handle.

 

By 9pm, a lady doctor came. She asked if I woild like to reschedule my operation but after a second thought, she was afraid that if I waited any longer, I might need to go for emergency C-Sect which would definitely put us 3 in danger. So, the next option was to get my permission to be operated on by the next shift of doctors.  I was so tired and blur at that time.. anything was fine as long as my twins would be fine.

 

So.. 9.10pm my twin boy was delivered and my twin girl followed by 9.11pm. The operation was smooth and there a few doctors around.. for me and my twins.

 

Happy beginning to 'twinhood'.

Week 33 - Pre-Natal Check Up at HUKM

Yippie! Hubby managed to take leave from work and he could accompany me for my check up this time! Easy, he just dropped me at the entrance and meet up with me after parking the car. We reached early with our McDonalds breakfast in hand.

Needed to pay RM40 again this time for the check up and ultrasound scan. As usual, got my waiting number, took my Blood Pressure, Weight, Urine Test and then waited for my turn to do the ultrasound scan.

The waiting took quite a while but it was okay since we took our breakfast while waiting for it. Read a bit of the newspaper and then it was my turn. A young man did the scan for me this time. Hubby was allowed into the room with me. Little boy was head down whereas Little Girl's head was at the top of my belly. They were both about 2.1kg each now.

After a short while, it was my turn for Doctor's consultation. This time, Doctor commented that the level of amniotic fluid for my little girl was okay whereas my little boy a little more, borderline. The shocking thing at this appointment was that, the Doctor asked if I would like to consider vaginal delivery. Never came across to me since my first appointment with my Gynae at the Pantai Cheras Hospital that I would consider vaginal delivery. He told me from the very first appointment that I would have to go for C-Section for my twins' delivery since my 1st Little Jen was delivered via C-Section and the fact that I was carrying twins made it riskier to consider vaginal delivery. However, of course, I was delighted at the thought of having a chance to deliver my twins vaginally.

The Doctor scheduled me for my next appointment 3 weeks later which would be the 36th week. Hmm.. carrying twins.. I thought appointments shold be closer now but he scheduled to see me only 3 weeks later and that week, he would look forward to an answer from me on my decision to either deliver vaginally or through C-Section.

Week 31 - Pre-Natal Check up at HUKM

This time's check up, I had to go on my own again. That meant driving to the hospital and go through the check up and then drive home on my own. Too bad Hubby could not accompany me since he had to work. Okay, I thought, I could do this, not a problem. I woke up early, sent my Little Jen to my mother in law's place and drived through McDonalds on the way to get a set of breakfast meal with an additional ala-carte egg mcmuffin. Planned to take my breakfast while waiting at HUKM.

Unfortunately, it took me A WHOLE HOUR to look for a parking spot! I finished the Hash Brown in the car since I was already too hungry to wait. I was basically stuck in a merry go round in the parking lot for the whole hour looking for parking spot and the whole area was jammed with cars!

My appointment was at 10am and i reached the parking lot at 8.45am. Usually, the patients will arrive half an hour to an hour earlier than their scheduled appointment to drop their appointment book and wait for their turn. I arrived on the dot this time.

Paid RM40 for the check up and ultrasound scan, got my waiting number, took my Blood Pressure, weighed myself and took the Urine Test. While waiting for my turn to do the Ultrasound scan, I took one of my McMuffins. This time, a young lady did the scan. She asked me to lie down and then, she went out to speak to her colleague on something. I had to sit up while waiting since I could not lie down for long, my belly was just too heavy and I could feel cold sweat on my forehead already. That was not too nice, by the way. Oh.. and no ultrasound pictures for mummy too..

Waiting for the check up after the scan took really long. Finished my other McMuffin while waiting since I was already hungry. It was already past noon and I was still waiting. The Doctor said that I had too much amniotic fluid and that might be a sign of diabetes. So, despite having a negative glucose test in the previous check up, I had to go through another round of glucose test. Both my twins are at about 1.7 and 1.8kg now. Very close to 2kg! Great.. just hang in there for few more weeks..

As they were worried about my high amniotic fluid level that they said might lead to premature labour, they scheduled my next appointment 2 weeks later.

Week 28+ - Detailed Scan at HUKM

Interesting day today. I shall be able to see my twins again.

UNFORTUNATELY, Hubby could not take leave from work and I had to go on my own to HUKM. I went early and reached slightly past 8am but by the time I reached, there was a heavy downpour at HUKM. I wanted to use the Valet Parking service but it was full. So, I had to go for the normal parking. Looking for parking slot took a little time and effort since I had to stop my little car at a spot and hope for a car to leave. Finally.. managed to get a good spot. BUT then, my umbrella was at the car boot! Oh, gosh. I had to push my driver's seat to the back and then climb out of my seat to the back passenger seats to reach for the umbrella. Imagine me with my big belly doing that!

Walked through the heavy rain slowly and went up the long flight of staircase at the parking area as carefully as I could. By the time I reached the building, I was feeling damp all over. My feets were soaking wet.

I waited for about an hour for my turn to scan. Luckily I brought the newspaper along.

When it was my turn, the Sonographer told me that he would have his trainee to scan me for about 15 minutes and then he would do the scan again for me to re-confirm. However, in less than 10 minutes, I was already feeling hot flushes in my cheeks and cold sweat appearing on my forehead! The Sonographer realised that I was too quiet and asked me to take a break. He said that normally for twins pregnancy, Detailed Scan would be done at week 21 and never later than week 24. He had a twin mummy passing out during the scan itself once and he understood very well the burden that I was carrying. It was just too heavy for me to bear while laying flat down.

After the short break, he did the scan himself - Thank God for that! And, he allowed me to lie sideways with raised back instead of flat. He first scanned my little twin boy. My boy was so cooperative, he managed to get all the required details at one go. He even gave me a 3D picture of my boy's face! He looked so much like his Daddy!

Then, he allowed me to go for another break since scanning each baby would take about 30 minutes. Throughout the scan, he kept asking me if I was feeling uncomfortable and needed a break. I was his last patient that morning and he told me that was why he could take his time to finish the scan.

My little twin girl was not as cooperative. The Sonographer tried and tried and even spoke to her but she just refused to turn over him to have a good look at her. After a total of about 45 minutes, he gave up. He said that she was just too active and shy at the same time.

Overall, they were both healthy and actively moving inside. Mummy had too much amniotic fluid which meants Mummy would have to suffer carrying the big belly with extra weight but they were both having fun inside due to the extra space. Hmm.. :)

Week 27 - 1st Prenatal Check Up at HUKM

On 1st of March, 2012, I went to HUKM Obs & Gyn Unit for registration and to make an appointment with the Referral letter from my Gynae. The Nurses seemed quite helpful and set my appointment on the 15th of March, 2012 at 10am. She gave a form for new registration, told me to fill it up and come back again on the 15th of March for my first appointment. She told to come 30 minutes earlier than the appointment time at 10am so that I would not have to wait for too long for my turn. Usual waiting time can be as long as 3-4 hours and if we are lucky, it can be as short as 1 hour only.

15 Mar 2012 - Went to HUKM for my first appointment with Hubby. After dropping my registration form and waiting for about 30 minutes, I was requested to make payment of RM50 for new registration and given a number. Immediately after that, I sat at the area where they measure the blood pressure and weight. Soon, it was my turn. Blood pressure good.. Weight.. Hmm.. 69.5kg. Then, went for urine check. Had to take our own container from a small window before the toilet, pee in it, bring it to the small window again to be tested. Glucose and protein okay. Washed the container and threw it into a bin for 'Hazardous Biological Waste'.

After that we waited for my turn to do the Ultrasound. Since this is my first time at HUKM, I was asked to do ultrasound. After about 30-45 minutes, finally it was our turn. Hubby entered the room with me. The sonographer kept asking me if I have 1 or 2 placenta and I kept telling her that I am having a boy and a girl. Should obviously be 2 placenta then. Till the end, she was still unsure and had to ask a colleague in to confirm. Laying down flat for the ultrasound was really difficult for me. I was already having cold sweats and gas was building up in my tummy. I just had to let go some gas in the worst manner possible immediately when I stood up. Hubby gave me a weird look (>.<).

Another long wait outside the Doctor's room. Since Hubby was allowed to go in for the ultrasound, we thought that he could also join me in the Doctor's room BUT NO. There were 2 Doctors in the room, each with their own patient. So, for privacy, Hubbies were not allowed into the room. The Doctor seemed pretty young. She asked me a few questions and then examined my belly. Then, requested that I take the Glucose Test and do Detailed Scan. These are so-called standard procedures for twins pregnancy. Glucose Test was scheduled on the 26th of March and Detailed Scan on the 27th of March. I am to see her or her team's Doctor on the 12th of April, 2012.

Overall experience? Not too bad, all staffs are friendly and helpful so far. They are also willing to explain patiently whenever I ask any questions. Just too crowded but.. no reason not to be crowded, it is a government hospital. Why not?...