Monthly Archives: January 2007

birth story

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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 fe
eling 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.

Mateo’s friends

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Despite our baby being a boy, some people find it appropriate to give him a stuff toy. Mateo now has 3 stuff toys:

Pam-pam the elephant

This cute elephant was given by a student last Christmas season. I initially wanted to name it Pinky the elephant becuase of her pink ears, hands, and feet. Ramil, however, strongly disagreed with the name until we decided on Pam-pam (a name my crazy sister thought of).

Ula the koala

This koala was a pasalubong from the grandpa (my dad) from Australia. He was able to come home last December 31 and one of first things he gave me was this toy – for his first apo.

unnamed bear

This unnamed bear was given by an aunt last Christmas also. Not much personality to the bear, hence the difficulty in naming it.

We haven’t actually bought any toy for Mateo. Whatever toy he has now (he has several rattles), were all given by very generous people in our lives. Ramil and I wants a crib mobile for him though (*hint*) so he has something to look at while lying on his crib the first few months.

bad colds

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I have been suffering from colds and cough for about a week now. Bad. My ob was very concerned because she doesn’t want to risk any bacterial infection. During the whole duration of my pregnancy, I’ve had more than 3 occassions where I seem to be developing bad colds. These started at around November of last year when the weather started getting cold. We’ve actually considered getting a humidifier. The weather is getting colder and it’s even wreaking havoc on my skin stretched by pregnancy, making it dry. With the worsening cold, especially in the morning, I’ve found my pregnant tummy getting itchy again.

Nowadays, I wake up with a sore throat, a clogged nose, and an itchy, dry tummy. Thinking that Mateo might not appreciate such conditions, we are thinking of doing something about it. Since a humidifier is not a very popular equipment in a Philippine household, I decided to do a little bit of researching on it. It seems that there are several types of humidifiers. I was able to get very helpful information discussing and comparing different types of humidifiers. According to a site I visited, we can choose to have a whole house humidifier or only a single room humidifier. Since our house is pretty small, I think a single room humidifier would do. Now I just have to check out prices of humidifiers the next time we go malling.

come out, come out

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The waiting game is getting too long for me. I am currently on my 38th week and am so eager for Mateo to come out, I don’t even think about the pain I will be feeling during delivery. Unfortunately, my ob, Dra. Olympia, is already scheduled for her eye operation to correct a retinal tear next week. Which means she might not be around when I give birth! I had a check-up (my last with her) last Friday and I brought the pelvimetry result she requested. According to the pelvimetry, the size of my pelvis (or the opening) is below normal but above LOW normal. Still has a good chance for a normal delivery as long as Mateo is not an extra huge baby! After explaining the results to me, she wrote the referral letter to her reliever and Ramil and I proceeded to Dra. Cathy Lim.

My new ob is also great. She’s younger, explains things a lot also, and does a painless IE. She also happens to be Tintin Bersola’s ob which prompted my mom to comment that she might be an expensive doctor, haha! According to her my cervix is still closed (to my disappointment) and I might definitely be back for another check-up after a week. After the check-up she informed me that I might experience a bit of bleeding for the next two days because of the IE she just did. Also, after numerous free check-ups we’ve had with Dra. Olympia, Ramil and I finally had to pay for one. Hehe!

I had no bleeding last Friday, no bleeding yesterday, and then when I woke up this morning I discovered a brownish-reddish streaks on my underwear upon urinating! Of course, I was excited but confused at the same time. Is this it, the ‘bloody show’ that precedes labor? According to What to Expect When You’re Expecting:
“This show usually means labor will start within 24 hours – but it could be as much as several days away.”
Ha! Very helpful! I already know that I can give birth anytime, thank you! So the waiting game is still on. After discovering the ‘show’ I urged Ramil to walk with me around our subdivision, in the hopes of getting those foolproof-labor-is-starting contractions. We walked for 30 minutes…nothing but the feeling of heaviness. I don’t know who is more makulit, Mateo or me.

on parenting

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I took a leave today from my maternity leave to conduct PCTC (Parent-Child-Teacher Conference) with my former TIC class. PCTC’s have always been somewhat of a dreaded thing for me and my co-teachers. We always get all sorts of parents. Good thing though that my class’ parents are mostly nice parents. Not to mention that they feel obliged to be nicer to a very pregnant teacher, hehe!

My experiences so far with different kinds of parents has brought confusion as to how parenting should be. We discovered that we have good kids with crappy parents, makes one wonder how such parents could raise such great kids. There’s also another side to this coin: crappy kids with great parents, makes one wonder why such kids turned out to be lacking when they have great people for parents. Makes me wonder what kind of parents we will be like and the kind of kids we are going to have.

dry run

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I have been officially on maternity leave since this Monday. Which actually means I’ve been home alone also for most of the week. With no one to talk to, I found myself thinking about how it would be like if I am able to push through with my plans to be a stay-at-home mom. Since Ramil and I are living on our own (with no househelp!) and our families a far 1-2 hour drive away, our home situation has been a constant inquiry from other people aware of our situation.

I originally planned to work until contractions start coming. Since Ramil and I work together, it sounded more sensible to continue going to work rather than being alone at home. However, I overestimated myself as a teacher or rather I underestimated the work of a teacher. I found myself very stressed during the latter months of ’06. The physical demands of a teacher was nothing to me but the emotional and mental demands were another thing. I found myself being so stressed because I had so much work I wanted to do, both at home and in school, that I couldn’t seem to do. I wasn’t as fast and as sharp I guess because my body and mind were too preoccupied with the pregnancy. So by December ’06, I finally told our Center Director that I wanted to take my leave by January. So now Ramil’s cellphone is his constant companion even while conducting a class, hehe!

Whenever people ask me what our plans are when the baby comes, I always tell them that after giving birth, we plan to spend 2 weeks in my parents’ house in Quezon City and then we are going back to our place in Taytay. They would usually ask me who will be staying with me and the baby. I always get an open-eyed look whenever I tell them that we don’t plan to get any help (and a lot of unsolicited insights/advice that it will be difficult not to have anyone with me). Very encouraging! I realize how big an adjustment it would be but I’ve always been the type who likes to try out things for myself first. Both future lolas are almost insisting that it is NOT so okay to be left at home with just the baby with me. I think they are just trying to brainwash us into moving back to QC, sometimes telling us outright to move in back with them, ha! I always tell my mama that I would ask for help if somewhere along the way, I feel the need to.

So the past few days have been a trial period for me, a dry run. I would spend the day doing household chores: doing the laundry, cleaning the house, cooking, etc. I would also walk around the subdivision for around 30 minutes after Ramil leaves for work. I am also able to find nap time (1-2 hours) during the day. I still find myself physically tired but relaxed, emotionally and mentally. And I now feel optimistic about being a stay-at-home mom. I know a baby takes up a lot of time but if I enjoy being a wife-at-home surely, it would be more enjoyable having Mateo with me.

patience is a virtue

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Patience is not one of my strongest aspects right now. After 36 weeks, 30 pounds, I am just so very eager for this pregnancy to be over. I don’t even think about the delivery anymore and the pains I would be feeling, I just want Mateo out.

Add to the discomfort of a so much bigger tummy the ‘torture’ I kind of went through this holiday season. I have to confess though that I also gave in to temptation on more than one occassion. It’s so much harder to eat healthy when everywhere you look you see holiday treats and sweets. I’m due for another check-up this Saturday and I am dreading the time when I would have to step on the scale. Before I go to sleep every night, I reflect and think that I am not being a very good mother by not watching what I eat. Hehe!

According to my ob’s computations, I could give birth as early as January 10. I actually want to target the first two weeks from January 10 onwards, don’t want any chance for Mateo to grow too big for me to deliver him naturally. We’re really eager to see him already. My mama bought him an Irdy playpen as a gift. Ramil and I have almost all the things that Mateo needs (we think). Been doing a lot of walking and thinking of ways for me to go into labor early. So our countdown is beginning, just hope and pray it doesn’t take too long.