My younger sister, Sofia is about 32 weeks (8 months) pregnant with her first child. That's her in the picture. She looks a lot bigger than that now. Hehe. Anyway, she's carrying a lil baby boy - now weighing in at almost 2kg. Now, lil baby boy isn't due to come out until the 11th November 2008, but Sofia keeps saying she really can't wait that long. I can totally relate to how she feels - me having gone thru two pregnancies myself.
In most pregnancies - the final trimester is the most trying. Your tummy expands to a size you'd never expect your tummy to be; your boobs become heavier too, everything else starts to become expand too - your hips, your thighs; on and off - you will start getting the braxton hicks contractions - to familiarise you with the actual contractions during labour; just as you'd have trouble carrying the extra weight - you'd walk as slow as a turtle, at night, you'd also have trouble finding your sweet spot on your bed too as you can no longer just lie on your back, whatmore on your tummy - so sleeping is almost always sideways.. and sleeping in this position for 8 hours or so, results in you waking up exhausted with half of your body aching.. You also start getting heartburn daily as your stomach is now pushed upwards - to accommodate your growing baby and so sometimes as gross as it may sound, you can still taste what you had for dinner last nite. Asides from that your baby's movement is also a lot more prominent now and their boisterous lil kung fu moves in your tummy can at times hurt you too. Sigh..
So I can totally understand how Sofia feels. Now that she's nearer to her due date - she's also been worrying as to whether she should undergo normal delivery or a c-sec. Having experienced both (Zarif normal delivery and Nina a C-Sec) - I'd personally recommend a C-sec. Yeah, it'd hurt the first few days they cut you open, but by the 4th day and with some pain killers - I was fine. Even my dad and Mek (Grandma) was surprised. I was walking at a good pace, climbing up the stairs, much to the disapproval of my Mek who had warned me not to. I was taking out the trash, cooking my own pantang food. All was good. Of course, you'd have a visible scar on your tummy from the op and cost wise, a C-sec would cost a lot more too, but I had recovered soooo much faster with a C-sec compared to when I had given birth to Zarif.
With Zarif, I had refused to walk anywhere, I was just bedridden and if I had to walk it was at the pace of a turtle, I had sitting down too as you'd need to sit properly to avoid it from hurting and going to the bathroom hurt, too. What's worse was that I also had to battle an infection too which was awful and everything had hurt so bad. I remember crying for days and breaking down. So much so, that recalling my experience giving birth to him still makes me cringe til today.
So anyway, that is what I had told Sofia. I mean I didnt want to scare her, but she was there to witness how I was when I recuperated from both experience and I know she's anxious. I had told her to speak to her gynae about her options and she has, but the thing about Malaysian Hospitals is that patients don't get that option of choosing whether it's a C-sec or normal delivery they're having. Here, they will try as much as possible to put you thru labour and thru a normal delivery unless circumstances would demand otherwise - then only they'll wheel you into the OT and cut you open to take your baby out.
I had problems delivering Nina normally (her heartbeat was too weak), which was why my gynae then decided to put me thru an emergency C-sec. All it took was half an hour and the damage to our pockets was a lot more compared to when we had Zarif, but it was all worth it.
Anyway, Sofia concluded that she still hasnt decided if she'd go for a C-sec and according to her gynae, it's still too early to determine if she needs to go for a C-sec. So I guess it's going to be a normal delivery for Sofia's first and hopefully all goes well. I am sure she'll be fine, since she won't be delivering in Putrajaya Hospital where I gave birth to Zarif. (She'll be in Serdang Hospital). I pray that her experience giving birth normally will be a lotttttt better than my own. I also pray that all will be well for her during her delivery and I wish her all the best. I love her lots and can't wait to welcome my new lil nephew..
As for my next babies - I guess I'd still opt to go for a C-sec. So my hubby had better start saving from now. :P
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