birth story

Posted on January 21, 2007

caution: a very long read

So I guess most of the people who know that we took childbirth preparation classes would want to hear how it went. Well, it was a relatively easy delivery because it didn’t really take me that long but due to several factors, Ramil and I weren’t able to do Lamaze.

Sunday, 1/14/2007, 7:30 am - As I’ve mentioned in my previous post, I had the bloody show when I woke up. So we walked for 30 minutes in the morning and another 30 minutes in the late afternoon.

Monday, 1/15/2007 1:30 am – I woke up with the desperate urge to go to the bathroom to urinate. However, I haven’t reached the bathroom yet when I felt fluid, which I thought was urine, flowing out of me. A lot more came out when I reached the bathroom. So I washed up, not thinking that my water bag broke already. I went back to bed and after around five minutes, I felt pain in my tummy and lower back. It felt like mild diarrhea and dysmenorrhea at the same time. I decided to just wait it out. Since Ramil was already nervous since I had the bloody show, I opted not to wake him and to just wait until I’m sure that labor is underway already. The contractions were coming regularly so I got up from bed and walked around our living room to hopefully hasten it. I also started monitoring the duration and interval of the contractions. They were lasting for only 20-30 seconds each but they were already around 5 minutes apart! I didn’t know which stage I was in already because they’re supposed to last 45-60 minutes each once they are that close together.

Monday, 1/15/2007, 2:30 am - I finally decided to wake Ramil up and I gave him a narrative of what has happened so far. We decided to just also wait it out. We went back to bed and tried to go back to sleep.

Monday, 1/15/2007, 3:00 am - I would wake up every time a contraction would hit me. They were becoming too painful to ignore. I would find myself making small sounds every time I feel a contraction while Ramil would gently knead my back in an effort to make it more bearable somehow.

Monday, 1/15/2007, 4:00 am – I got up and told Ramil that maybe we should go, although the contractions were only 30 seconds long, they were still 5 minutes apart and they are so much more painful.

Monday, 1/15/2007, 5:00 am – We arrived at the delivery room of St. Luke’s. I was examined and told that I was 3 cm dilated and 70% effaced. I was given a non-stress test and the resident on duty told me that I am to be given an enema and then hooked up to an IV.

Monday, 1/15/2007, 7:00 am – I was still in the delivery room and very frustrated. Because of my change in OB, the residents couldn’t quite seem to understand that Ramil and I are going to do Lamaze. Since I was still 2 weeks away from my due date, my new ob wasn’t able to give me any admitting orders and people seem to be content to just let me lie there and wait for my ob.

Monday, 1/15/2007, 9:30 am – The contractions were so much more painful now, I would find myself moaning and holding on to the hospital bed railings whenever a contraction would come. My new ob finally arrived, did an IE on me, found out I was 4 cm dilated, 80% effaced. She told me she’ll just give a light sedative so I can sleep and deal with the contractions better. I wasn’t really able to tell her we’re still doing Lamaze, I guess it was too easy to just agree with her because my coach (Ramil) wasn’t with me (he wasn’t allowed to go inside the delivery room) to help me cope with the contractions.

Monday, 1/15/2007, 10:30 am – I fell asleep but would wake up from time to time because of very painful contractions.

Monday, 1/15/2007, 1:40 pm – Mateo finally came out. The timeline wasn’t very clear to me, it’s not like there was a clock I can refer to. The pushing was relatively quick but hard. I was given a saddle block, something very similar to an epidural block but give intramuscularly instead of through an epidural catheter. I was given a dose that would let me participate more in the pushing, just enough to help me deal with pain. There was a time during the pushing stage when my ob was telling me not to hold it in, to just push more and I answered by shouting at them ‘masakit nga!’ Hehe! I even had the strength to try to stop one of the nurses from pushing my tummy down. When Mateo came out, he was immediately brought to my chest and upon seeing him, my thoughts were ‘he has Ramil’s mouth’ and ‘why is his hair curly? Ramil and I both don’t have curly hair’. It seems that he doesn’t have curly hair, it was just because of the wetness and all. He was brought to my breasts to suckle and I remember feeling so relieved that we are both ok and feeling so happy to finally see him and hold him.

Monday, 1/15/2007, 4:00 pm – I woke up in the recovery room and kept on asking any nurse who would check on me if I could be brought to my room already.

Monday, 1/15/2007, 6:30 pm – I was brought to my room. Ramil and I finally saw each other. I was still a bit groggy from the anesthesia so I immediately fell asleep.

Monday 1/15/2007, 11:00 pm – I was finally allowed to go to the nursery to try to breastfeed Mateo.

Wednesday 1/17/2007, 1:00 pm – I was discharged from St. Luke’s. Ramil and I started our first day as hands-on parents (more on this on another post).

So there, that was how my delivery went. We are very thankful that I was able to do a normal delivery. Good thing also that Mateo decided to come out at 38 weeks. If he stayed inside for another week or two, he might have been too big for me to delivery normally. Although Ramil and I were disappointed that we weren’t able to do Lamaze, we realize that it might have been a blessing in disguise. If we pursued it, maybe, we could have done it also but it might have taken me until Monday night or the whole experience might be too traumatic for me to think about after. We don’t really know but while I was carrying Mateo in my arms when we were going home, it didn’t really matter to me. The delivery is just like how a wedding is to a marriage. The more important thing is what comes after.