Heidi's Birth Story - Part 1

It is 9.20pm (22nd April, 2012) when I am typing this blog entry. I just managed to find time to sit down in the room and go online. Angeline is downstairs watching TV while Hannah and Heidi are both sleeping. Both of us have been busy the whole day welcoming our relatives that came to our house in several batches and at different times throughout the day. Of course their purpose was not just to visit us but they were here to see our 2nd princess, Lim Heidi who was born on 8th April, 2012. We really thank them for their visits, gifts and ang pow for Heidi. THANK YOU!!!

I just realised that neither Angeline nor me has blogged about this 3rd pregnancy and this would be the first blog which is relating to the pregancy with Heidi. Yes, it was Angeline’s 3rd pregnancy as the 2nd pregnancy had resulted in a D&C around 8 weeks of pregnancy sometime in September 2010 due to a blighted ovum. We were indeed very sad and disappointed at that time but we always believe that God already has a plan for us and children are always God’s gifts. We were indeed very blessed that we didn’t have to wait long to receive a positive result through another pregnancy test sometime in July 2011 once we started trying to conceive again. 

Alas, around 7 weeks of pregnancy, just after our first visit to the OBGYN, Angeline spotted a streak of blood which caused us to be alarmed as the situation was exactly like the 2nd pregnancy. We immediately rushed to the hospital and the OB told us that baby’s heartbeat could be seen, so she injected progesterone in order to stop the bleeding (spotting) and Angeline was put to bed rest. After the injection, the bleeding (spotting) did stop the following day but it was not for good. It came back few days later and Angeline was given another injection. The OB told us that this was the best she could do and hopefully the bleeding will stop eventually. It was indeed a nerve-racking situation for us as we were facing with such uncertainty in the progression of the pregnancy. We even went to consult another OB’s opinion but we were told the same thing. Other than bed rest and praying, there was nothing much we could do at that time. All in all, Angeline was on bed rest for almost two weeks (accumulatively) and the bleeding (spotting) became less and less and eventually stopped completely. 

We finally made it through the 1st trimester which according to our research, the risk of miscarriage has gone down to 2% by that time. Angeline had more nausea compared to when she conceived Hannah during the 1st trimester. In fact, her nausea lasted until mid of 2nd trimester. Hannah also noticed why her mummy kept vomiting on a frequent basis in the drain behind our car park lot before we went up to our house. She would sometimes point to the same spot and said “This is the place mummy always vomit”. We kept telling her that there was a baby in mummy’s tummy in order to prepare her mentally to accept the presence of her sibling when the time came, and also to let her understand why her mummy could no longer carry her at all. Thereafter, whenever she saw anyone with a big or bloated belly including me and herself, she would say that there was a baby in the tummy. At one point, my mother who looks after Hannah during the day also told her that she had a baby in her tummy whenever Hannah insisted to be carried rather than walk! 

Throughout the 2nd trimester everything was fine until we did the triple A blood test when Angeline’s pregnancy was around 15weeks and the result turned out to be “high risk of down syndrome”. We were hit by another nerve-racking situation! When Angeline was conceiving Hannah, we also did the same test and the result came out to be “low risk of down syndrome”, so this time it was rather unexpected. The doctor advised us to go for an amniocentesis test to confirm the risk of down syndrome as the triple A blood test has the tendency of showing false results. We took the advice and did the test which cost us RM1,700 ++, though expensive but the situation necessitated such test otherwise we would keep worrying throughout the whole pregnancy. The amniocentesis test only lasted for 15 minutes and Angeline was given MC for two days to rest at home after that as such test possesses 2% risk of miscarriage. We were thankful that Angeline was fine after the test. So after the test, a stressful waiting game had started as according to the doctor, we would only know the result in two weeks time. The two weeks appeared to be very long at that moment and other than praying and praying, we also kept calling the hospital hoping the result was out early. When the two weeks period was up, we still did not receive any call from the hospital and that made us even more frustrated. We then immediately called up the hospital but was told that they could only contact the lab in Singapore on Monday as the Friday at that time was Singapore’s public holiday and the lab is closed on Saturday and Sunday. So another three days stressful waiting game! On Monday, when I was at work, I received a phone call from Angeline and I knew she must have known about the result and I was hoping that it was good news, and true enough it was indeed good news as the hospital called her and told her that the test had revealed a low possibility of down syndrome. What a relief!!! Phew.....................