Dan Dan is already 16 months old and yet I still haven't written his birthing story. I've been meaning to do so for the longest time. After reading a tragic blog of another January 06 Mom from BabyCenter, I decided to open this new blogging account and write about my dear Dan.
I first felt the contractions on the early morning of January 8, 2006. I think I felt some minor pain at around 1 or 2 a.m. I was able to sleep a little, reminding myself to sleep on my left. That morning, the contractions became more painful and frequent. I tried to use the big yoga ball that I got, lean on it on our bed to reduce the pain. Hank tried to massage me, but the pain would not go away (of course, doh!). At around 11 a.m., I called Kaiser and told that I was in pain. They told me that if the contractions were between 2-3 minutes, then I might be ready. From then on, we started tracking the frequency of the contractions, while trying not to go crazy. I think I actually did a pretty good job in not screaming and hurting Hank. I internalized my pain and just made some grunting sounds when the contractions came. Hank tried to comfort me, but was pretty helpless. We were all packed and once the contractions were close enough, we'd head to the hospital.
At around 1:30-2:00 p.m., I called back Kaiser and said my contractions were getting close. That walk from the Kaiser parking lot to the main hospital was definitely not fun. I had to stop and wait for the contractions to come and go before I could walk again. I hope that walking helped with my labor. I remembered walking through the hospital lobby to the elevator, and a woman was whispering to the man beside her that I was in having contractions. Damn right I was! We got to the hospital, waited in the waiting room for a brief time and was checked into the Labor and Delivery room. Everyone at at the hospital was very nice, especially, the nurses. Even though they had different Dr. interns during my stay there, everything was fine. I think I was only 4 cm dilated at the time and they gave me Pitocin (without me asking or telling me). I remembered asking for an epidural as soon as possible! haha Getting the epidural was an interesting experience. I had to wait for the contraction, once it's gone, then they insert that into my spine. I don't remember if that was painful or not since nothing can beat the pain of a contraction, right?
Afterwards, I just laid in bed until it's time. Hank was there with me the whole time. I called my parents to let them I was in the hospital and I bet they were nervous. I also called Lolita and told her to make me some ginger fried rice and bring them to the hospital. My mom said that I had to eat that after the baby is born. During this time, a few residents came in to check on me and see how's the dilating went.
Finally at around 10 p.m., I got to 10 cm and they were ready for the baby to come out. They first had to stop my epidural because I was supposed to push when the contractions came. I couldn't really feel any contractions with the drug. After that, I kept on pushing and pushing and pushing. We tried holding onto the bar, holding onto the towel, and yet Dan Dan's head was still stuck! Hank was on my left and Lolita was on my right, encouraging me along the way. I could feel I was working all the muscles that I had, yet the baby has not come out. During this time, they were monitoring the baby's heart beat and making sure baby was getting enough oxygen. At one point, the nurse gave me an oxygen mask. The resident doctor continued to encourage me to push and didn't really want to slit me open for the baby. It was getting so close that they could see the baby's hair. I guess I should appreciate her belief in my ability to push. They asked if I wanted to feel the hair, I refused. I just wanted to get this over with. Finally, after 2 long hours of pushing, Aidan was born on January 9, 2006 at 12:02 a.m.
Since Aidan was stuck for a while, a pediatrician was on standby to make sure he's doing ok, and draining some of the poopy stuff (I forgot the medical term, meconium?) out of him. They made sure he was ok. Hank was over there watching Aidan and cutting the umbilical cord. I knew he was a proud dad. I, on the other hand, was so dead tired. The doctor continued to get the rest of the placenta and all the bloody stuff out of me. Sewed a couple stitches, and I was fine. I have yet to hold Aidan at this time. At this point, I didn't really feel a lot of emotion towards my newborn baby. I think it's the hormones, the high and low of giving birth.
When Aidan was finally all cleaned up and healthy, I got to hold him for the first time. My precious baby. He's so cute. I was so glad he's not one of those ugly newborn babies. He's adorable! We then spent time taking pictures and videos and rested. I ate some of the ginger fried rice, but oopsie, I threw up all over. It's that epidural acting in my stomach. I wasn't feeling very hungry, just sore from my 'full body workout' for the last 2 hours.
I didn't have the initial happiness of seeing my newborn. All I felt was, "I am glad he's finally out". However, after a while, that overwhelming feeling of LOVE came to me. It kept on growing and growing. You never knew you could love someone so much until you become a parent.
16 months later, I am still so in love with my Dan Dan.
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