Birth Story

I am not sure if anyone is interested, but I thought I will share my birth story anyway. At the very least, it will serve me as a detailed record of the day he was born.

My due date was August 26 and when I had my routine doctors appointment on the 21st, I was not the least bit dilated. Doc said if nothing happened by my due date, we would talk about getting something done. Anyway, Monday morning at 7:30 I got my first official contraction. I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for a long time, but I knew instinctively that this was different. It wasn't very painful and I had another one at 7:50. It was 20 minutes apart and since I figured there was plenty of time, I didn't wake hubby. Then there was another at 8:10 and 8:30. By then, my parents had dressed and were ready to go to the hospital. Mom has a history of fast labors and she wanted me to get to the hospital fast. I was more inclined to wait a little more, but I finally woke R up and at 9, we headed to the hospital. We got there at 9:45 and by then, the contractions were coming every 5-6 minutes and lasted about 30-40 seconds. They put me in triage and a nurse checked me. I hated the nurse (and I usually love the nurses) they had at triage. Her name is Blair and at the end of our stay at triage, we named her "Blairwitch Project" She had the worst bedside manner and I had horrible bleeding ever from her cervical checks. I was terrified that she would be the nurse for labor, but thankfully there were other people at the L&D unit.

When they first checked me at 11:00 am, I was only dilated 0.5 cm! They asked us to go home. We had no plans of going home, so we waited at the hospital cafeteria and front lobby and finally went back at 3:30. When they checked me again, I was at 3 cm and 100% effaced and since I was really miserable by then, they decided to admit me. The doctor came and did an ultrasound and saw that he was posterior and a little transverse as well. She said that she was going to break my water and start the pitocin to speed up the labor. We neither agreed or disagreed and we had to wait another two hours before admitting me. By then, I was really getting miserable and unable to talk. Initially, we had resolved to wait until 6 cm to get the epidural. We figured that getting an epidural might slow down the progress of labor. But, at that point I was really in pain and yelling for the epidural.

They had not checked for dilation for a while figuring that I had a long way to go. At 6:00 pm, my water broke naturally and when they came and checked, they said I was completely dilated and it was too late for an epidural. Hubby got livid at this point since we had mentioned about the possibility of labor progressing fast and they had not taken that seriously. The main reason I had decided on an epidural was to avoid the "ring of fire." I had to calm him down since I didn't want to get the nurses back up at that point. Thankfully, another nurse came and checked and said I was at 9 cm and there was still time for an epidural. In spite of the pain, I felt good because I didn't feel as much of a wimp as I was actually in transition stage when I was moaning and groaning and not 4 or 6 cm as we thought I was.

But by the time the IV was in the system and the epidural took effect, it was time for pushing. Even with the epidural, I felt every contraction, and that helped with the pushing. I pushed for 45 minutes and they gave me rest for 1 hour and then again pushed for 45 minutes and finally he was born at 10:53 pm. I didn't need an episiotomy, but tore naturally. But, because he was in a transverse position, he had a hematoma when he was born. The size has reduced now, but the doctor says it will be 3 months before it completely goes away. He also had slight breathing problem and was taken away for observation immediately after birth, so I didn't get to hold him immediately.

I was in labor (including early labor) for almost 16 hours, but when I held him in my arms for the first time, all the pain and tiredness was just magically swept away! It is truly the best feeling in the world!!

I also should mention this as an aside:

When I was in the L&D room in a lot of pain and waiting for the epidural, hubby decided to figure out if I was in real labor or not. He asked me what 25 times 7 was. I answered 135 and then 165 before saying 175. He says that the fact that I actually multiplied in my mind was enough evidence for him that I was loopy and truly was in labor! Normally, I would just subtract 25 from 200.

They didn't teach this method of labor detection at Lamaze though.

Daily Life

1. Facebook is great and all, but almost all my blog friends are on facebook, and now I hardly feel like blogging at all. I love the fact that I have had personal communication with almost all of those I met through the blog. And few of them I can call friends for real. Isn't that great?

2. Tomorrow I start my maternity leave. I am 39 weeks today and according to the doctor, anytime now! I have finished all the work related tasks on my plate and things at my job are really slowing down for our group. My boss was saying it is a great time for me to be out since billable work is less anyway. I see it as God's perfect timing.

3. My hands and feet have swollen a bit more, and yesterday I had a headache, but I am doing much better. I guess there is the emotional aspect of having my parents around that really helps.

4. Mom is just getting used to the machines and mechanisms here such as dishwasher, washer, dryer, so I am not completely free of work, but the fact that I don't have the responsibility of cooking is a great relief!

5. I finally did the baby clothes laundry and when I left for work this morning, Dad was sitting and folding itty bitty baby clothes. It was really adorable!

6. I am hoping baby holds off for a couple more days until I get R to finish setting up the pack-n-play at least. I have given up on anyone putting together the crib for me, but the little one needs somewhere to sleep!

7. Those who are on my facebook know, I had a meltdown yesterday, but just having the baby clothes laundry done was a huge weight off my shoulders. It made me feel so much better!

8. Last day of work before leave starts tomorrow and I am looking forward to the time at home with Pa and Ma and getting things done around the house. Hubby is holed up in his man cave as he is very busy at work. Both of us are relieved that I can go shopping for stuff with them and just get things done. He is happy he doesn't have to come and I am happy I have someone to go with.

9.Bill, please stay away.

The food bit me back

So tomorrow my parents should be here, God willing. They are starting from home in a few hours and it is a LONG flight which should get them here midnight tomorrow. I am very excited about their coming, but am also ashamed to admit that I am very much looking forward to all the food they are bringing. It is not really a pregnancy craving, just general home food craving. I have them all the time.

I had a rough Sunday with food poisoning. It was the most sick I have ever been in my life. Even two days later, I am still feeling kind of weak. I don't know what the culprit is. I am thinking it is a doughnut I ate Sunday morning. But apparently, no one else who ate that had any issues. So, who knows? I lost 7 pounds in the last two days. At 37 weeks, I am at 118 pounds. I am keeping myself hydrated all the time. Hopefully, I will bounce back soon.

So the anticipation of all the food is also a result of deprivation, I guess. Or, that is what I keep telling myself.

In a nutshell

1) Work:

I finished all my deadlines for today and I am feeling so relaxed. I have work to do, but I am in the euphoria of having finished all the critical stuff I was supposed to.

2) Home:

Well, house is still filthy, but finished a lot of handyman stuff around the house. I had given up on getting all that work done, but the person who usually does the work for us (who is also someone we fellowship with at the chapel) was out all summer. But a change in plans had him home for this week and we got all this stuff taken care of. It is a great blessing to us!

3) Materials:

We had to have a new exhaust put in for the kitchen and Mr. G bought a white one for us. I didn't want the white since all appliances in the kitchen is black, plus we wanted one with a removable filter. With our kind of cooking, nothing else would do. So we went to Home Depot in the night and was looking around for one. The one with two removable filters were close to $230 and it was only available in stainless steel or white. And then we found one for $250 which was black, had two removable filters, AND was marked down to $60 since they were discontinuing the line. Praise God who is faithful even in little things.

4) Pain:

I loathe to talk about it since it is just bad everyday. Sleeping is torture. The slightest housework sets off pain alarms throughout. I am surviving though.

5) Friends:

An Indian couple we met at the church we visited invited us to their home last Friday for Bible Study and Prayer. Hubby and I went and there were about 30 people there. It was a nice time, they are great folks and at the end of it, the host said that there was some light food that they wanted to serve. And we went to eat the "light food", and there was Paratha, Chicken curry, Chicken fry, Mutton Biriyani, and Raita Salad. Except for the Paratha, everything was cooked from scratch for 30 people.

Yeah, it was real light and didn't fill me up at all.

I don't think I have written a more sarcastic sentence on my blog so far.

6) Family:

One. More. Week. My Pa and Ma are coming and I am beyond excited. I have a list of things I want Mama to cook for me. Please don't think I am all stomach (actually, I AM, so never mind). I hope there will be some days before the baby comes so we can take them around a little bit.

7) Baby:

The little one seems to be doing well, and my church friends are throwing me a baby shower this Friday. The room is painted, bedding has been bought, crib needs to be assembled and I am working on a couple of small projects for the room. I will show the pictures as soon as I am done. Which I really hope would be before the baby comes!

8) Hubby:

A friend was supposed to come and stay with us for a while. He is a missionary on a visit here and will be going back in less than a month. R was suggesting that he can come stay with us starting that night he arrived. Our house is a filthy mess as of now. (See No: 4) I am not saying it coyly, like Number 5 above. I am no June Cleaver or whatever. It is actually a sad, pathetic, dirty mess. And it makes me want to cry every time I see it. Hubby said "it is no big deal. He is a guy, he wouldn't mind. Just relax". I then realized this is one of the times I would cheerfully break a frying pan over his head.

I am just kidding.

Why would I waste a perfectly good frying pan?

Why I am not posting much

Because if I did, it would be like reading a letter from your 90 year old grandmother complaining about the aches and pains.

I wish I was a dog so I could make whining noises. That would be a relief.

A new normal

It has been a fairly eventful couple of weeks to say the least. First of all, I apologize to all my non mom, non pregnant readers who has to put up with all the pg related posts. But when you are so big and fat that you can't see your toes and you wake up to go to the bathroom 6 times in 4 hours, it is kind of uppermost in your mind. As for the 3 men who read my blog, they might want to skip this post completely.

July 4th, I woke up with very bad pain in my lower abdomen and since I had no idea what in the samhill it was, we decided to go to the hospital. I had Braxton Hicks the night before and well, the money spent on childbirth classes paid off. I could recognize it for what it was and I wasn't alarmed. But this new pain was concerning and we went to the L&D unit of the hospital. The doctor came and touched the area below the navel and it was very very painful. So she told me that I don't have preterm labor (I knew that!), but what I have is diastasis recti. But, let us not get fancy schmancy on this lil blog. What it means is, my stomach muscles have separated due to the growing uterus (Sorry guys, but I did warn you). It affect 30% of pregnant women. Here is the funny part. It is not supposed to be painful, but it is for me. Very much so. Getting in and out of couch is difficult. As for the bed, it is torture.

The good news is that it is not affecting the baby in any way. The bad news is that other than a tylenol, nothing can be done about the pain at all. I have 6 weeks of this to look forward to. I can't say I am thrilled, but there is this. It was really bad yesterday. I suffered till about 4 am and then for the first time in 34 weeks, I had a Tylenol and the pain subsided.

The verdict from the doctor is that I should really take it easy. No bending, no lifting. I need to get by with doing the minimum necessary. My to-do list is mocking me. Hubby has taken over laundry and dishwashing. I have hired people to paint the nursery and clean the house. Even with all that, there is still things for me to do. The hardest part for me (aside from the pain) is to sit still. Sitting still is not part of my nature. It is no fun to be almost helpless either. But there is a season for everything. It is a season of quiet and slowing down for me. Maybe the Lord is preparing me for the time to come. I also don't know at this point if this will affect labor and delivery. I tend to be a little concerned until I remember who was and is in control. In any case, what a comfort it is!

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

List-PG style

The closer I get to the due date, the more terrified I am. And that is the truth. Sometimes I think I want to try it without epidural, but then I think - Who am I kidding? I pass out during blood work.

Yesterday I was browsing a baby website and for fun took a test. I scored 1/10. I have never scored that low in any test in my life. As you can imagine, it did wonders to my confidence. Hubby scored a whopping 3/10. The good news is between the two of us, we made a passing grade. Maybe that is the reason why I dreamt yesterday that I failed History in school. The better news is we BOTH know that we should not give baby a bubble bath until 3 years old.

I had given hubby "The Expectant Father" for his birthday (in my defense he had requested for a "father book") to read so that he can get an idea of what is going on. He started reading and felt sorry for what I was going through. Thus, he never woke me up Monday morning and I slept till 9. I was supposed to be at work at 9. And today morning as I was waking up and still in bed, he was describing episiotomy to me. He can't help but share his new found wisdom with me. I am wondering now if it was a mistake giving him the book.

We briefly thought about cloth diapering the baby. And by briefly, I mean about 15 seconds. My philosophy for dealing with poop is that I would like to minimize contact to the maximum extent possible. I know that I have to deal with it of course, but I am thinking cloth diapers will require more of a "hands on" experience than disposable.

We never had a Costco account and never really saw the need for one. For the two of us, it was just too much. But our car needed the tires changed and they had the best deal even if you included the membership fees. So it made sense. Then we read somewhere that a baby goes through 10 diaper changes a day. That clinched the deal.

We attend a childbirth class every Thursday and hubby and I ask the most number of questions and we take notes. I think we are certified geeks. In our defense, we have no friends or family close by, so we try and get as much information and help as we can from other sources. We had only one class so far and the instructor asked how many were planning to try natural childbirth. There was not a single person. I felt bad for our Lamaze instructor.

You have heard of people asking permission for working from home. I am thinking of asking my boss if I can work from the bathroom. I pee 14 or 15 times in a given 24 hour period. So, it makes sense to take my laptop and work from there. I think my baby has found a comfortable perch on top of my liver or bladder.

A photo from a week before.



PS: It is dangerous to read some of the points in this post without a sense of humor.

Then there were three

This post is actually long overdue.

I have thought of a thousand cute ways to say this. My friends in real life know already. Some of you have figured out from various subtle hints over time in this blog. For various reasons, I kept postponing saying this.

In addition to my parents, we are joyfully anticipating an addition to our family end of August. Unlike my parents who are thinking of staying 4 months at the most, this one is here for the long haul.

After three years of prayers and tears and heartbreak, we are counting down two digit days for the arrival of our baby.

This is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.

It has been indeed the Lord's doing and I am thankful everyday for the answered prayer. For privacy reasons, I don't feel quite comfortable sharing all aspects of our journey. But I can say this. The Lord has been good to us. He has been faithful when I have been faithless.

This verse has comforted and ministered during the difficult times and is going in the baby's room in some form or other.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory

To him alone be the glory. Amen

Officially entering my third trimester today.