I'M A BIG SISTER NOW! (10 DEC 2007)

At 10 am on 10 December 2007, Mommy awoke with amniotic fluid trickling down her thighs. As she had yet to pack her "hospital bag", she went about calmly putting together a few things to bring to the hospital. An hour later, she was at Thomson Medical Centre, which is round the corner from our house.

In movies, we always see panicky pregnant women being rushed to the hospital and getting wheeled to the delivery suite in a frantic state. It sure wasn't like that for Mommy. The hospital was abuzz with activity when Mommy got there, so she approached the Information Desk for assistance. The lady at the counter looked lost when Mommy informed her that her water had broke, so she told Mommy to get a queue number. Mommy got her queue number, and was standing around waiting for her turn when she ran into an ex-colleague. They started chatting. It was a good few minutes before a hospital staff realised that Mommy really needed to be admitted to the hospital and directed her to walk to the Nurse's Station outside the Delivery Suite.

Once there, Mommy was put in an Observations Ward, where the nurses got her cleaned up and strapped her to various machines to monitor the baby's heart beat, the frequency and intensity of the contractions, etc. Mommy's gynaecologist (Dr WK Tan - who incidentally delivered Mommy when she was a baby and delivered me as well) checked on Mommy. She said that Mommy's cervix was 2 cm dilated (had to get to 10 cm for birth) and she put Mommy on a drip to induce labour.

At 1.30 pm, Mommy was transferred to the Delivery Suite. Business was brisk at the hospital, and all the suites were full before that time. As Mommy had opted for epidural at the start of her pregnancy, the anaesthetist came by to give Mommy her jab. At that point, Mommy still had not experienced any pain even though contractions had commenced.

At 3.30 pm, a nurse came by to check if Mommy's cervix had dilated further. It was 9 cm dilated, and the nurse said that if Mommy were to push really hard, she would pop any minute. Daddy had stepped out for a bite, so the nurse asked Mommy to ring Daddy whilst she went to get Dr WK Tan. Daddy rushed back to the Delivery Suite when she received Mommy's call and Dr Tan arrived at 4.00 pm. After 5 giant pushes by Mommy, my baby sister (Choo Su Ann) was born at 4.23 pm. She weighed in at 3.77 kg, heavier than my 3.445 kg at birth.


I visited Mommy and Su Ann at the hospital with Ah Gong and Ah Ma on the evening of 10 December. I held a newborn for the very first time in my life! Grandpa Eddy, Grandma Nancy, GuGu and Uncle JB came to visit as well. Everyone thought Su Ann was a "good size" baby, except Uncle JB (the eating champ from my previous post). Uncle JB commented that Su Ann was small. Everyone was puzzled and asked him how heavy he was at birth. His response: "5.8 kg." Omigod.

After 2 nights at the hospital, Dr Tan gave Mommy the greenlight to be discharged. However, poor Su Ann had jaundice and couldn't be discharged. As Su Ann was on breastmilk only, Mommy stayed a third night. When Su Ann still couldn't come home after the third night, Mommy discharged herself and returned to the hospital every 3 hours to breastfeed Su Ann. It was very tiring for Mommy, who hadn't slept much since 10 December.

On 14 December, Mommy and Daddy received news from the hospital that Su Ann could be discharged. They were elated, and rushed down to the hospital immediately to pick Su Ann up. After several days of phototherapy, Su Ann had a tan.

Mommy had used the BabyPlus system (http://www.babyplus.com/) during her pregnancy. The system comprises of a device which pumps out a series of beats to the developing foetus from the time it's 18 weeks old. Mommy had always wondered if the system would have any effect on Su Ann. Mommy observed that when Su Ann was born, she let out a loud cry and thereafter, she was pretty much silent. She seemed to know how to self-soothe. Mommy had her BabyPlus system in the Delivery Suite, so Daddy played the last lesson to Su Ann. Su Ann opened her eyes as wide as she could and looked like she was thinking hard. She seemed to recognise the lesson.

Su Ann is now almost a week old, and we are all convinced that she really knows how to self-soothe. She doesn't cry incessantly, but will let out short, purposeful cries to signal her needs to us, then stop. Coupled with the lessons from Dunstan Baby Language (http://www.dunstanbaby.com/), it has been possible for us to decode her needs. I've shared my bedroom with Su Ann for 2 nights now, and her short, purposeful cries have not once roused me from my slumber.

How does it feel to be a Big Sister? Well, Su Ann's still too young to play with me, so it hasn't been much fun. With her around though, I feel much more fortunate to be a Big Girl. There're so many things which I can do, which she can't. I wish she would grow out of her helplessness soon though, so we can do things together.