Surprise: Mango is here!

During the night of the 23rd of February to 24th of February, I started having some contractions. Not too strong and rather spaced out. I did not think much of it and figured they would die down on their own. Although all was ready for Mango - I still had not finalized my suitcase (yet again) so in the morning, I packed up my suitcase "just in case." Things seemed better though so we met up with some friends at their place (friends I felt comfortable retiring on the couch with). As the morning progressed, however,  the contractions seemed to only get stronger and closer together. Last time with Noah, I had not experienced any contractions (my water broke and I had strong constant pain but no contractions. Noah, with his head still up, was then taken out via c-section) so this was all new to me. Once home, I tried to lie down for a while to see if things would calm down but they didn't so we called the hospital. The nurse suggested I come over for some monitoring. We called all our friends in the condo and sent Noah over to play with his little buddies Luna and Bink. Noah was super excited and kept telling his Daddy that he hoped Mango would be born this evening because he had already waited sooooo long for her! 

Once at the hospital delivery suites (with suitcase and all "just in case"), they monitored the contractions and my doc came by to see me.

As I was barely dilated and as Mango was only at 35 weeks, my doc tried to stop the contractions with various drugs. She seemed optimistic and went home. Seth also went home to put Noah to bed (Noah  had been picked up by our new helper Eleonor and was happily playing at home by then). A few hours later, the contractions had gotten worse (and by then I was more than 5cm dilated!) and finally my water broke... doc came back and Seth came back and... baby Maya was born at 1:38am on February 25 2013!

She was quite small - 44cm for 2.110kg and looked a bit scary because she had some contusions on her face which was quite blue at first. The doc surmised that she had rammed into my uterus during the contractions --- poor little girl.

She cried out after being born but then seemed to have some water stuck in her lungs and had some trouble breathing. Once that was cleared, the pediatrician brought her over to cuddle with me for a bit. Given her size though the pediatrician thought it would be better to keep her in the NICU for the rest of the night to monitor her oxygen level and get a little glucose into her (by then her oxygen level was 100%).

Seth went with Maya to the NICU, after which he was summarily sent to the billing department to pay for the NICU admission (gotta love the insurance system here: no insurance for newborns!). He wasn't allowed back in the NICU for a while (as they were putting in an IV, as a precaution).  Hence he wandered about, waiting for me to be released from the recovery room. We met up back in my room a little while later.  

It was so strange that first night knowing I had given birth (at 35 weeks no less) but not having my baby with me. She was not allowed out of the NICU and I was not yet allowed out of my room. The whole thing felt surreal as Seth and I, wide awake, talked the rest of the night away. For some reason, I was not able to sleep - too excited  (the same had happened to me after Noah's birth - I could not sleep that first night).

The morning of the 25th, I was told she could leave the NICU if she was able to nurse well. They wheeled me into the NICU and Maya immediately started nursing sucking very, very strongly. So they released her from the NICU.  

Maya in our room in her little bassinet 

After my amazing experience at the private clinic in Switzerland, I was a bit worried about how things would be here in Singapore.  Our room, however, was great - more of a hotel room than a hospital room. Plus, I had a view of the courtyard garden with its fountain and tropical plants... and the food was good (I generally had a choice between a Chinese dish, an Indian dish, a Malay dish or a western style dish - you got to love the diversity in Singapore!).

Maya - already a little less blue.

Maya eating...

Early that morning, Seth had gone home to take Noah to school.  Seth napped for a couple hours, picked Noah up, and brought Noah over to the hospital to meet his new sister. Below Noah inspecting his little sister. 

He, of course, had many many questions.

Most important of all, he wanted to know when he could hold her. So we set things up and brought Maya over for him to hold. He proceeded to shower her with kisses and loving stares :)

The boys with little Maya.

From the time when Maya was about 30 weeks in utero - Noah had started "reading" goodnight moon to her almost every night. He knows the book by heart and recites it to her while flipping through the pages at the appropriate times. He had asked to bring the book to the hospital to read to her - below, Noah's first reading of Goodnight Moon to little Maya. 

After that, Noah and Seth went home (visiting hours ended at 8pm).  They had dinner at the Wisma Foodcourt, before heading home for bed. I remained cuddling with my little Maya. Thus ended the day of Maya's birth.