more bites... and then no more.
Angela - the awesome doula, dad and Becca! First visitor :)
After 12 hours of labor....Here he is!!
Sleeping... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
After the baby didn't arrive on Valentine's Day like the doctor and some friends predicted, I decided to relax and just enjoy my time being pregnant. So on the morning of Feb.16 at 5:30am -ish, when I got slight cramps after going to the bathroom several times, I thought I had just eaten something bad that day and thought it would go away. I warned Jon, but he didn't seem to think of it too much either. It kept coming back - and Jon started timing it. Not surprisingly, it came at regular intervals - and got closer and closer until they were 3:30min apart. It didn't hurt that badly, just like small menstrual cramps. (I only occasionally get cramps, so this was no different than from the other ones when I'm on my monthly cycle).
Jon calmly called the doctor after about an hour and a half, while I sat on the exercise ball and leaned on our bed. She said to wait until I couldn't stand it anymore and then head to the hospital. At 7am, I texted my friend (and doula), Angela, telling her that I think the contractions had begun. Jon and I were pretty calm about it, but she had gone through a birth before and felt that it was more urgent for us to get to the hospital as soon as possible.
Jon started packing his bags and was working on downloading songs onto his ipod. As the contractions kept coming on every 3 min, it started hitting me that the baby was coming!!! I told Jon that we probably wouldn't need the songs.. and that he should probably pack his bags. We weren't sure exactly what to put in the bags... or what we needed to do to prepare. Following the doctor's instructions to just hold out, we just kept timing the contractions and waiting to see what would happen. Jon called my parents in Cupertino around 7 to let them know that I was in labor and that we needed to go pick up the car before heading to the hospital so that we could have the carseat and everything ready (we had left the car there the night before when we visited... thinking we would get it in time before the labor began). This would mean an extra 20min travel time to the hospital. We'd need probably an 45min- an hour to get to Palo Alto if things got bad. But somehow.. we just took the doctor's advice and calmly recorded the contractions as they came not thinking too much of it.
15min later, Angela arrived at our door step and strongly encouraged us to leave immediately in case he was coming fast! She thought there might be a possibility of him coming in the car. Jon and I were pretty relaxed about it --- since we were naive and didn't know too much about the possibilities. We heard that the first birth usually takes 12 hrs+ (which is true). Anyhow, we went directly to the hospital, instead of taking the detour to my parents house leaving us without the carseat or the packed bags of food/toiletries/etc. that all the pamphlets and class notes told us to bring (oops. My parents ended up bringing them for us later.) More importantly, we realized while we were on the freeway, that we forgot the exercise ball!!!! 0_0 That was the worst part.
When my parents arrived at the hospital, that was the first thing that Jon requested them to bring - and thank goodness they did!! I spent half of my labor on that thing - and the other half in the shower.
On the car ride there, the traffic wasn't bad (it was good we left around 7 before traffic hit). Jon took his time and didn't even bother with the carpool lane. The contractions were a bit stronger, but definitely bearable.
When we arrived, the security asked if I needed a wheelchair, but I thought walking might be more effective (as we learned in class). The contractions were strong enough now so that I had to stop and wait for it to end before continuing down the hall, but they were still manageable.
When we arrived checked in, the nurse checked on how dilated I was (I think I was 5?) Here's when things get a bit hazy because the contractions were happening so often I don't remember much of when things happened.
I drank some OJ and ate half an apple that morning. Took 2 bites of an egg sandwich and decided that I couldn't take in anymore food with the contractions. It was making me sick. I sat on the ball for most of the time (unless the nurse came in and made me lay down to monitor the baby). She came in every 1/2 hour I think - so that was a bit inconvenient. The monitor was strapped in so when I had to go to the bathroom, I had to unhook myself. Whenever I unhooked myself, there would be this loud beeping noise. For some reason I became really sensitive to sounds when the contractions got stronger - I had Jon turn off his cell phone and asked my parents to leave the room so I could concentrate on the breathing.
Somewhere along the way of switching back and forth from the ball to the shower, to the bed (just to get checked), I got stuck at 7cm. The contractions were pretty strong and it was pretty painful - I think at one point I considered getting an epi - but they told me I could be close too and once I hit 8-9cm, it would be fast. Being indecisive, it took me a while to think about and every 3 min, I had stop thinking and focus on breathing. By the time I would have decided (assuming I had the time), I probably would have been beyond the point. They didn't push me to take the drugs though. Just offered it. Angela told me I could do it :) Jon was sympathetic (which I really appreciated) and told me to try for 5 more min. and if it was really bad, he'd call for the drugs. I threw up 3-4x at some point (great catch Angela with the bathroom garbage can!), went to the bathroom a few times and finally at some point recognized and surrendered to the fact that all decency had to go out the window. I told Angela we had to best friends after that because she'd seen everything by then. Even Jon had never seen me in so much pain.
My water broke after the nurse checked me at 8ish I think and this is when the insane pain came in. I screamed like they do in the movies, but realized I should probably focus the energy elsewhere. Sure felt good though to tell the world how much pain I was in.
I got stuck again at 9.8cm, which was a bit frustrating. At this point, though a neat thing happened with my body. It suddenly would switch from contractions to pushing automatically (what it feels like is going from having menstrual cramps to needing to go #2). God made our bodies so perfectly - it's a switch went off. It was weird at first to push (or poo) on the ball or in the squatting position because my brained had been conditioned to think I needed to be on the toilet in privacy for these types of feelings.
The doctor (really nice and supportive btw) came in and told me to get on the bed. He helped me push aside the cervix the rest of the way. The nurse assured me that it was going to be soon and sure enough, after only 20min of pushing, he was out! Pushing felt like a ring of fire, but probably because I ripped 2 degrees. It wasn't bad compared to the contractions after my water broke.
To be honest, when the doctor put him on top of me, I was actually happier that the pain had stopped and that everything was finished. I was even happy to see my feet for the first time! The placenta delivery was not painful at all and I don't remember much of that. Getting stitched was not so fun, but they used local anesthesia and it was fine. Really, nothing compared to the contractions so I was pretty numb.
So - 12 hours later - at 4:40pm, 8 pound Noah Hsiao-Lun Guan was born!!! Jon was an awesome dad and did everything instructed to do - followed the baby to the nursery and immediately fell in love with the little man. It was crazy - like his dad switched turned on. He was amazing throughout the process (even if I didn't treat him right :T) but even more amazing afterwards in taking care of all the logistics of getting home, getting what I needed, being available and filling out all the paperwork. He was a superdad and superhusband - taking care of all the house stuff and concerns too when we returned home. I was definitely amazed and felt super blessed. I was so glad I married this man! :D
Jon says he was traumatized, but amazed that I went through all that. I just thank God for all the prayers that my small group at church said for me because I think it's a miracle I got through all that. It was like going through war. I've never endured so much pain - but glad that I can say that I know what it's like! When I think about my next kid, I might consider an epideral, though. It was pretty bad. Although, they say that the second is quicker - so who knows. Maybe I will have forgotten by then or gotten stronger!
Since then, breastfeeding is our next hurtle - but slowly we are learning and progressing every day. Can't wait until we can take him out!
Labor quotes:
"Eve really messed up - to make us have to hurt like this." -Jen
"Stop breathing!" - Jen to Jon (cuz I couldn't keep his calm pace and was breathing out twice as fast while he was coaching me to inhale)
"Get them out!" - Jen (shooing parents out... too many ppl in the room)
A BIG THANK YOU!!!
To Jon - my awesome hubby and life partner.
To Angela - accountability, friend and best doula ever! She's a natural - call her up if you need someone ;D
To parents - for bringing me food and doing all THIS for me 26 yrs ago.
To Becca, Iris and Grace - for being first visitors :) and bringing me an awesome breakfast, cookies and yummy food so I didn't have to eat the yucky hospital food.
To my small group and others who prayed and supported me throughout the pregnancy and childbirth.
whole family napping on a twin bed...
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Angela - the awesome doula, dad and Becca! First visitor :)
After 12 hours of labor....H
