Journey with You

April 28, 2009. I was 40w1d and no sign of labor. I went to have my routine prenatal appointment and had another non-stress test. Everything was normal. However, the doctor insisted to schedule the inducement in a week just in case I did’t go in labor simultaneously before I reached 41 week mark. I didn’t want to be induced at all so I wasn’t exactly happy with the arrangement. Deep in my heart, however, I felt the baby was coming soon. According to my ovulation date, my due date should actually be 4/29/09.

I was planning on keeping working until last minute. I had a lot of braxton hicks that night. I double checked my hospital bag and went to bed.

5am on 4/29/09, I started getting contractions. Not too frequent and not too painful. I was considering taking the day off. I lay in bed for another two hours. Based my last experience, I felt I still had about 12-24 hours to go. DH didn’t want me to take a chance and thought I should just stay home. Cyrus was going to school anyway and DH had an scheduled appointment. I told him it’s not going to happen in a few hours so go ahead.

To help the labour progress, I decided to run some errands after I dropped Cyrus off at the daycare. When I was cashing out at the COOP, the cashier asked when the baby was due. I told her probably tonight!

I then watched a movie while I kept track on my contractions. It lasted about 40 seconds and 10-15 minutes apart. After DH came back, we went to a coffee house for a lunch. I also took a walk with my old neighbor who I happened to bumped into after lunch. The contractions were more frequent when I was walking but the walking motion actually helped reduce the pain. The breathing and relaxation techniques I learned from the Bradley Method also helped a lot.

In the evening, the contractions lasted about 45-60 seconds and about 10 minutes apart. I felt a little annoyed that my contractions came closer together if I was standing up but fell farther apart if sitting and laying down. I wasn’t going to head to the hospital until my contractions were 5 minutes apart. That’s what my doctor told me to do anyways.

I had a bowl of soup for dinner only, not having much appetite. We decided that it would be a good idea for my father-in-law to stay with us for the night just in case. I was watching Obama’s speech on TV at around nine o’clock with Cyrus and I need to really concentrate to get over the contractions. They are about 6-7 minutes apart.

Time to get Cyrus to bed. DH was rehearsing everything with my FIL and I got into PJ myself and lay down. I didn’t think I could sleep but at least get some rest, I told myself. Thinking about my parents were boarding the plane soon and all the news on H1N1 flu, I decided to give them a call. My mom’s first thought when she heard my voice was that the baby was born. I told her not yet. I didn’t tell her that I was in labour because I didn’t want her to worry too much. I guess I was doing a pretty good job offering calming voice.

At this point I really needed to moan a little bit ever time contractions came. I asked DH to keep track the frequency and also gave me back rub. After an hour like this, my contractions were still not quite consistent: sometimes lasted more than 1 minute, other times less.  5-10 minutes apart. I wasn’t sure I was confident enough to go to the hospital but DH thought we shouldn’t wait any longer. So I got dressed and we left for the hospital around midnight.

It took us a while to find the street parking. When we got to the Labour and Delivery, they told us we had to wait outside in the guest waiting area for a while because they were really busy tonight. I sat there with all other people around, feeling the urge to moan when the contractions hit me but was embarrassed to. DH got quite mad at the staff for letting us wait for 10-15 minutes out there.  I thought he was making a big deal. But it turned out he was right. THE BABY WAS COMING.

After they finally admitted me, I was taken to the exam room to get changed and put on monitor. I went to bathroom first and the contractions were getting less and less bearable. After getting on to the exam bed, it took them like FOREVER to find the tools. There were two of them and neither of them seem to know what they were doing. Contraction hit again and I turned to the side to ease the pain. All a sudden I heard a pop and a lot of warm fluid running out of me from below. I knew the amino sac had broken. Wow, didn’t that hurt? The pain seemed to double after that and I was begging DH and the staff to give me epidural but the resident told me it’s too late for that. They examined me and I was 9cm dilated!

Now they finally realized how urgent the situation was and quickly moved me to the birthing room. I had to scream at this point whenever the contraction hit. They told me to move from one bed to another and no one helped me. I said “I can’t. I am too tired.” but it did it eventually.

Now they wanted to get my blood and asked me the routine medical questions. I refused. I couldn’t even sit still. They wanted me to turn to adjust the monitor. I refused too. They finally gave up.

I knew I must be like a mad woman, screaming and screaming. “I can’t. I can’t do it.” “It hurts. It hurts so badly.” “Too much pressure.” I realized I was surrounded by a lot of people but no one seemed to have a clue what to do, or what to tell me to do. Only DH encouraged me: “You are doing great. You are going to have a natural birth. That’s exactly what you want.”

I knew you are supposed to wait until 10cm dilated to push or you may tore the cervix. However, I simply had the urge to push. I said: “I need to push. I need to push.” No one dared to answer me until finally my doctor came and she said go ahead if I felt like it.

I pushed and pushed and heard DH said he could see the hair. I felt the doctor massaged and felt the muscle being stretched. Someone said: lots of burning and doctor said: half push. I finally felt the relief and heard my baby’s first sound: crying.

Nurse told me the time of birth: 4/30/09, 1:29am. An hour and half after we left the house. I asked DH if it for sure was a girl He said: There is no doubt about it.

Nurses was cleaning up and weighed the baby and the doctor was stitching me up. I didn’t have episiotomy this time but had 2nd degree torn. However, the pain afterward was nothing compare to last time. I went to bathroom by myself a couple hours later and it was no big deal. I didn’t even need the Motrin.

When I finally get to hold my little one and nursed her, my first thought was: she looked just like her brother! She weighed 7#12oz, 20 3/4inches long, head measured 13 3/4inches. A bit bigger than Cyrus when he was born.

Because I had gestational diabetes, they had to monitor her blood sugar. Her heels got poked so many times due to this. Poor little one. Her blood sugar was a bit low when she was first born so we gave her a little formula to help out. It was normal after that. After nursing, the nurse took her to have a bath and DH went home to get some sleep. I also finally got to get some rest, get the blood drawn, and finished up some hospital paperwork.

Even though I was hoping for another boy, I instantly fell in love with my little girl as soon as I saw her face. I am so blessed!!