Carrying Micah - Shortest Pregnancy Ever!

Micah was like a miracle baby for us.

About a year before conception I had checked with a gynecologist and was told I have polycystic ovarian syndrome, apparently very common among women. That explained my irregular period since a teenager (of which was so convenient for me to do sports etc.), but it meant a very low chance of conception. We prayed.

Anyway, I started a new job after I got married and had decided I should give myself one year to adjust to work before thinking of starting a family. It was near the end of my second year when I conceived Micah.

The funny thing was that I was feeling not my perky self, and I thought it was due to stress at work. It was about September through November 2003 that was a very busy period. We were preparing for 3 camps (one for a particular college, one inter-college and one for my church's Sunday school) for the students and a retreat for our own staff. I came back everyday feeling exhausted and nauseous. I thought it had all to do with work. (Mike was also doing some travelling to India and Bangkok around this time.)

At work, I was not able to function normally and me colleagues kept asking if I was ok. I just said I'm trying to work somethings out with regards to work, plus recovering from previous camps. At all the camps we actually had a lot of very physically challenging things to do and enjoy. We went thought some army-like obstacle courses and also jungle trekking and stream trotting (more like climbing over rocks and logs going up-stream, most of the time soaked from waist down.)

Then one night while resting on the couch with Mike, we had just turned off the TV when I exclaimed: I want lawng-yoke with bread. I don't know why but I feel I must have it now.
After I said that, there was half a second of silence, and he bursts out a "What?!!" It was just too abnormal, as if there was a pink cow in the room. I felt desperate and let out a whine. "I don't know why, but I've been thinking of it the last few days and I feel like I must really have it."

This was too abnormal for my ever anything-will-do composure. It was a cue to take a pregnancy test and so after 2 days, with a home test kit, we had a confirmation that I was pregnant. I called a gyne friend posted in Melaka GH then, and she called me in to have a proper scan.

The drive down was too exciting for my nerves. I had fasted from the night before to do a sugar test. The whole thing was going to take a couple of hours. Mike parents took the drive down with us. We left them at Jonker street for a morning stroll while we went back to the hospital. When it was our turn, she explained she'll do a external scan first to see if she can see the fetus. If not then the internal scan. When she put the scan on, she announced, "There: it's 14 weeks."

"What?!" Mike and I looked at each other and burst into laughter. I wonder if the clinic had ever had such a reaction from expecting couples before. I had thought it would at most be 8 weeks, and Mike thought maybe 4. 14 weeks!!

So we had only 6 months to prepare for a baby. A pretty short wait for a baby!
We had gone through our first trimester without knowing it. (So that was why I was feeling tired and sleepy all the time, and evening sickness!) I had to cancel a conference to the US which I had been looking forward to in November/December in Urbana. We didn't want to risk losing the baby over a stressful journey, snow and heavy luggages.

By January we had settled on a local gyne in a hospital closest to our home.
Micah was expected to arrive 24 May 2004.

It seems that he had decided since then that he wants to be close to mommy all the time. By 30 May, we went in for a post-edd* check up and the doc said,
"No dilation at all. I would suggest surgery. If you want to, we can try to induce, but looking at it, with the baby still far up, it's maybe only a 20% chance of success for natural labor."

I freaked out. I had psyched myself all the time for labor pain, to push and scream. I had imagined what to do should my waterbag burst or if see blood when I go to the bathroom. Nothing had prepared me for surgery. So we were given a few minutes to decide when we want the baby out, or if we still want to wait, of which I'll have to go in for a check every 3 days (too much a hassle for me.)

So we decided on 2 June. Our Wedding anniversary. Our 3rd wedding anniversary to be exact.

It was actually nerve wrecking going in that morning, but everything went so smoothly. It was really a breeze. The only pain I felt was the jab in my spine for the epidural, and the most uncomfortable thing was the shivers that came after the baby was delivered.

Micah Foong Zi Min, born 2 June 2004, 9 days over due, 3.8kg.



*edd - expected due date