Entrance into the world

Name: Tautinoga Felicity Chu Ling

Born on: 18 November 2005 at 2:10PM

Weight: 7lbs 14ozs

Height: 56cm

Where: MedCen Hospital, Vailima, Samoa

Proud Parents: Nydia & Cheeku Chu Ling

I was admitted to the hospital on Thursday 17th November. During my pregnancy I was diagnosed with pre-eclempsia, a pregnancy disorder characterized by high blood pressure, edema (fluid retention) and kidney malfunction. Yes I was one big sick momma. The scan predicted my birth to be on November 21. However, Dr Emosi Puni (my obstetrician) was worried that my condition might create difficulties during birth so he told me I would be having an induced birth.

I was given an IV of some sort which would speed up the labour process. This was at 12PM on Thursday. I waited until 6PM and I was having a few pangs but that was about it. Emosi came and checked how far I was dilating (don't ask how he checked). Hello, 1cm and I'd been sitting there for 6 hours. I was running up the bill in my head. I knew I should've gone to the public hospital but then again, the doctors were on strike. I waited some more. At 10PM they wheeled me into the delivery room to have my tummy monitored. Still no change. I was tired and frustrated and pretty much terrified. 1AM...2AM...dammit still nothing. So they took me back to my room to sleep until morning.

At 7AM on Friday, Emosi increased the dosage of my IV. At around 12PM, I was starting to feel stronger pains. Erika and Des came in to visit and see how I was doing. We chatted and every now and then I'd take a deep breath while a wave of pain rushed over me. Clearly I was in labour. Not long after they left, I was taken into the delivery room again. This time it was for real. I was so scared I wanted to cry. The pains were getting longer and closer apart. I was 5cm in dilation. Emosi came to check on me and told me that by 6 or 7PM I should have had baby by then. It was farking 1:30PM. I told him, "what about 2?" and he just laughed.

The pains were killing me. The midwife went off to have a chat and I was about to die. My whole body was wracked with extreme pain and my back felt like it was shattered to bits. Cheeku was so worried. He didn't know what to do and I was too incoherent by that stage. And then WOOSH! My water broke. It felt like I'd peed ten times over. It was warm and sticky. I immediately jumped off the bed and screeched at Cheeku and the nurse to change the bedsheets. I felt like I really badly needed to take a crap so I made a dash for the toilet, Cheeku running after me carrying the IV connected to my hand. I sat on the toilet and pushed as hard as I could and only blood and water came out. At this point I was crying and whimpering and had the worst back cramps I had ever experienced. The midwife, probably back from her smoke break, fucking-bitch-couldn't-she-see-I-was-in-pain-ahhhhhhhhh, rushed in and dragged me back on the bed.

It was 1:50PM. How do I know? Coz while I was trying to rid myself of the pain and think rainbows and ice cream, my eyes were fixated on the big clock on the wall across from the bed. I desperately wanted to push baby out. The midwife was like "sela! sela! aua ke oogo e lei oo i le kaimi e oogo ai. Sela!" Easy for you to say, dammit! I didn't know what to do. I was in agony and Cheeku was almost in tears, beside himself with worry. I felt like kicking the bastard for doing this to me. The nurse told me it was finally time to push. She said to take a deep breath and push as hard as I could. I did. And I let out a scream as I did it. The nurses and midwife were like "se e le lava ga kamaThe nurse said that as I pushed the second time, she was going to cut me to allow passage for the baby. Oh farking hell no. I was more afraid of being cut than anything. So I pushed. Hard. And the pain was excruciating. I wanted to die. "Think of the baby, think of the baby", a voice in my head reminded me. So I pushed with all my strength, and with a woosh, water gushed out, and so did baby. The midwife was soaked and almost didn't catch the baby in time. I don't know who was more surprised - the midwife, me or the baby.

And there she was, Tautinoga Chu Ling, bawling to the world, wondering where her warm, safe haven had disappeared to. She was placed on my stomach, while I pushed for the afterbirth. She was a dark red, pinky colour, all fuzzy with soft downy hair. They wrapped her in a warm blanket and handed her to her father, who was by this time, mentally exhausted, physically hurting from the punches I threw, and relieved that our baby was perfectly fine.