“Well…” doctor answered. “I think I’m the only one who do this test in Malaysia. Actually this test is not included in our standard test procedure. Before this, I followed the same procedure used by other maternity doctor in our country. We only do selective testing. That means we only perform this test if the pregnant woman has symptoms related to this infection.”

“In medical field, we regard this test as not cost effective. The chances of baby getting Streptococcus B infection from mother is very low. So we don’t do this test on all mother.”

“However with medical advancement, USA and Australia started to do this test as their standard procedure. Not many doctor do this test in Europe. And in Singapore, I think only half doctors do this test.”

“Since we have the solution to this infection, why not test for it? Even the chances are low, getting this infection may bring fatality to baby.”

Changing test procedure

“Before this,” Dr Lim explained. “In case of any baby complication, I often blame the mother for not bringing their newborn earlier to me for inspection.  Some mother brought their baby to me after 3 days of fever. Some brought to me after 3 days of gasping or coughing. If they could bring in their baby earlier, our treatment may give better result.”

“But in year 2000, I had this case right in my maternity center. And that was the first time I saw it in my 30 years of experience. A mother smoothly gave birth to her baby. Everything was alright. Baby was healthy. So the next day, they prepared to bring their baby home.”

“At around 11am the next day, my nurse saw her baby’s face was slightly red. A temperature reading for the baby showed 38°C. So I told the mother that her baby’s temperature is slightly higher. Maybe it is caused by wrapping the cloth too tight around the baby since they are going home soon. I said we will monitor her baby’s condition.”

“About an hour later, baby started to gasp for breath. Her baby’s condition was not good. So we sent her to children specialist. An X-ray on baby’s chest confirmed a lung infection. So they continued with antibiotic treatments for the baby.”

“This dragged for nine days when the baby passed away. And this started right from my clinic. All standard tests showed the baby was alright. And complication started on the second day when they were about to go back. I couldn’t blame the mother for not bringing her baby to me earlier. The baby was in my place when the problem started.”

“Well, the baby’s parent couldn’t sue me because I have followed all the standard procedures. It wasn’t the negligence on my part. However, I don’t feel good about this. I thought it was not enough for a private maternity hospital to have this kind of result”

“So I decided to change my test procedure. Now, I’ll test all pregnant woman for the infection.”

So this is Streptococcus B

The nurse picked up the phone and told me, “Your baby has bacteria infection. Doctor will explain in detail to you.”

This didn’t sound good. Why our baby couldn’t come home smoothly? I told my wife about this. And she looked disappointed too.

She even blamed herself for not having labor pain much earlier for enough time to get her intravenous antibiotic treatment.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “Maybe it doesn’t look so bad as it sounds. Maybe the infection level is very low. Let’s hear the explanation from doctor first.”

To maternity center

Today is also our scheduled appointment with doctor who will check my wife’s condition. So we went to Batu Pahat town again this afternoon with my parents. We haven’t seen baby for 3 days. And my wife missed him very much.

After arriving the maternity center, we went upstairs to see baby. He was receiving photo therapy with 7 short fluorescent lights on top. He wore a protective cover on his eyes for protection from the strong light.

When we went into the room, baby was pooping the golden cake. A nurse helped to clean him up. And that will be my job when baby comes back. Opppsss…..

Meeting the doctor

Soon it was our turn to meet doctor.

“Your baby has no infection at his ear, nose and mouth,” doctor said. “He only has infection at his navel. But this is a common and less dangerous infection. It’s the E.Coli. There is no GBS (Group B Streptococcus) infection.”

Wow… I was very glad to hear that 

“So your baby can go home now,” the doctor continued. “Oh… he still has to do photo therapy.”

“Can we do the photo therapy at our hometown Kluang?” I asked.

“Well, it’s only for one more day,” he said. “You can pick up your baby tomorrow afternoon.”

“Okay” I agreed. “Do we have to test for baby jaundice tomorrow?”

“No need,” doctor said. “Your baby’s level is not very high, only 13 mg/dL. So his jaundice is not very serious. After 3 days of photo therapy, he can go home.”

Dr Lim (right) and us - Baby has no infection

Continue at Why Streptococcus B test

After labor, the doctor still had works to do. He helped to remove the umbillical cord and placenta. Then he stitched up the vagina cut area. I guess it took around 20 to 30 minutes for all these after labor procedures.

My wife was very tired and glanced at our baby once a while. The baby was lying on a small cushion with a yellow lamp on top to keep warm.

Once a while, baby would cry for a few seconds. His fingers were close to his mouth. And he tried to suck his fingers.

After doctor finished his job, he washed his hands and came over to the baby. He turned the baby around and baby moved both arms up and down.

Baby’s reaction

“Can you see your baby sucking his fingers?” he said. “This is actually a normal baby reaction. Just now your baby cried before I hit his buttock. And now you can see him moving both his arms up and down. All these show your baby’s reaction is normal.”

“Some elderly said baby moves up their arms because of feeling shocked. This is not true. If the baby moves only one arm up, then it is not normal. We studied all these baby reactions.”

At last the doctor moved toward my wife. He covered both his palms on her cheeks, just like a father caring for his daughter. He smiled and said, “You’ve done your big task.”

Then he turned to me and said, “Congratulations.” And he shook my hand.

I smiled to him and said, “Thank you.”

Baby just came out - sucking his fingers

Then, the doctor came in casual clothing, wearing short pant. After checking my wife’s condition, he came out and explained to me. He said, “Your wife’s vaginal opening is 3 to 4 cm now. She will definitely give birth today.  And it will be very fast.”

“Just now she vomitted again,” he added. “But we’ve given her medicine to reduce vomit. If you see her vomit again, do not worry. Some women experience that during labor.”

On the labor bed

Doctor brought me to the maternity room. I saw my wife lying on the labor bed receiving drip through her finger. She seemed calm. I walked to her bed side to accompany her. Then, the doctor went out after checking everything was in order. There were 3 nurses in that room.

Then, my wife experience the pain again! She held my hand tightly. And the pain went away after a few seconds.

After 2 or 3 rounds of pain, a nurse came to check her condition. She said, “The membrane has broken. Do you feel like pooping?”

“Yes I want to poop,” my wife answered.

“Ok! Ok! Just poop it out!” the nurse said while rushing to call the doctor. Then I saw those nurses walked back and forth the maternity room to gather all the necessary tools. They were quick.

Doctor came in

In a short while, doctor came in. He then wore a transparent shield to cover his face. It looked funny. But his face looked serious and calm.

“When the pain comes again…” he said calmly. “Just push hard at your bottom.”

And he went on to clean the area around her vagina with antiseptic solution. Later, he covered her abdomen with an antiseptic cloth.

Giving labor

Soon, my wife experienced the pain again. “Push!!” the nurse shouted. And push she did. A nurse helped by pushing her stomach area downwards. I held her head up by supporting her pillow with my hand. She even bite a small piece of cloth the nurse gave.

After a few seconds, the pain went away. Everything settled down temporarily. The doctor examined her vaginal opening and said, “You didn’t push well just now. But I’m not blaming you. Maybe you’re too nervous. Remember concentrate your energy at your abdomen, not your chest or stomach.”

“When the pain comes,” the doctor continued, “take a deep breath, hold it and push hard. Don’t breathe while pushing.”

Push again

Soon, the pain came again. “Push!!” the nurse yelled. “Push as if you haven’t poop for a long long time! For how long you haven’t poop?”

“Open up your eyes!” Another nurse said. “Look at the doctor!”

For me, I would repeat all their instructions to my wife in Chinese. The doctor just kept silence and watched her progress all the time.

After this round of pain, the doctor said, “For this time, you pushed well.” And all of us waited for her next pain. My wife was very tired and wanted to close her eyes. It may be caused by the anti-vomit medicine she got just now. A nurse helped to massage her abdomen while we were waiting.

At one time, the amniotic fluid spurted out toward doctor’s face! Luckily he had the transparent shield. Now I know that the shield is for.

Push, push, push…

After 2 or 3 more rounds of pushing, the progress didn’t look good. At one time, the doctor mentioned again, “Hmm… this time you didn’t push correctly. Last push was better.”

My wife was nervous too. For about twice she jerked up her back and twisted to the side when she was in pain. And we held her back to lie down flat. At first, she exerted her force on her chest and stomach. She didn’t know she should push as if she was pooping or passing motion.

When she wasn’t in pain, all of us waited silently for the next round. This made her even more nervous. Opening both her legs wide apart and letting the doctor and 3 nurses see her vagina made her uncomfortable too.

Doctor’s help

At last the doctor said, “Okay, I will help you now. Dragging this for too long is not good.” So they decided to use vacuum suction to help pull out the baby. The nurses prepared the devices in a short time.

In one or two more pushes, baby’s head was out at last. “Okay, everything is fine now,” the doctor said. “Baby’s head is out.”

Baby came out

One final push and baby’s body came out. “Uwaaahhh….” our baby cried. The doctor smiled and said, “You see, your baby cried before I hit his buttock.”

My wife was gasping slowly for her breath. She seemed to laugh and cry at the same time. (I don’t know how to describe it)

“Our son came out…” she said. She continued her laugh/cry for about half a minute. Looking at her, I was touched and almost cried. “Yes, our son has came out,” I said.

Continue at After labor

Our doctor told us to arrive at the earliest labor sign. My wife needed intravenous antibiotic injection for her Streptococcus B bacteria. If she can receive 5 antibiotic shots within 12 hours before labor, our baby can avoid antibiotic jab altogether.

The doctor said, “First sign of labor is short abdominal pain happening in interval. At first, you may feel painful for 15 seconds.  Then the pain stops for a while before coming back. Gradually, the pain duration gets longer. You may feel the pain for 25 seconds and later, for 35 seconds. But the pain seldom last for more than 45 seconds.”

“If you continuously feel painnnnnn….. , that is not labor sign.”

“Second sign of labor is bloody show (red) discharged from vagina. And third labor sign is amniotic fluid (clear) discharge. If you have either one of these 3 labor signs, you must come here immediately. Some women still forget these signs even though they had given birth a few times before!”

Labor signs

It was the first day of Chinese lunar new year, 26th January 2009. My wife woke me up early in the morning. She said her abdomen was in pain. She thought she had stomach pain due to the food she took last night. But she already felt the pain a few times.

So we took an alarm clock to count the pain duration. It was around one minute. Was this the pain our doctor told us?

Then the pain stopped for a few minutes and came back again. This should be it! I called the maternity center to ask the nurse about this condition. And the nurse told us to go over there.

Suddenly my wife vomited and I catch it with a dustbin. It was the Propolis water she drank just now. She always take Propolis to sooth her stomach pain. But now, she vomited all out. After that, she still felt the pain coming in interval.

To the maternity center

So we quickly packed our stuff to go to the maternity center. Luckily my wife had prepared a bag with her cloths and baby cloths. I just took some bathroom products and also some oat for her breakfast in the car. She even insisted taking a quick shower before going out.

And off we went to the meternity center. Before going out, her uncle told me, “Don’t be nervous. Drive carefully.”

I said, “I know.” Actually I wasn’t nervous at all.

On the road

On our way to Batu Pahat town, my wife took some oat for her breakfast. Then she vomitted for the second time. Luckily I had prepared a big plastic bag for her. This time, she vomited the oat she just took.

After that, she continued to experience the pain in a few minutes interval.

In the early morning, we had a smooth journey. Not many car on the road. And finally, we arrived safely at the maternity center in Batu Pahat town…

Continue at During labor