Say Hello To River!

     So my good friend Jacs  suggested that i start this blog with my children's birth stories. As i try to recall the moments leading to the birth of my kids, i cant help but chuckle. Let me start with my daughter.

     It was around 11 pm when i felt my waterbag break.. I didn't get that dramatic giant gush of water (like that in the movies) but rather a slow trickle.  I wasn't really sure at first so i waited an hour or so
before i told Jim. As soon as i did, he stood up, dressed hurriedly, looked for our hospital bag and headed straight for the door. Instead of going with him, i went to our washroom and proceeded to do my makeup and curl my hair. My darling husband couldn't believe what i was doing. I was fat and swollen but ill be damned if ill look ugly.Yes I'm a bit vain but hey, it paid off. I looked semi-decent in my delivery room and post birth photos.

     Anyway, after i was satisfied with how i looked we then went to the hospital. We chose The Medical City because it was near  and it looked modern AND clean. We went to the emergency room and a nurse brought me to the labor room. A doctor did  an internal exam and found that i was 5 cm dilated already. (Sidenote: Having an Internal Exam is like having menstrual cramps multiplied by 20. It was one of the most painful experiences ever.)

     I was then wheeled to a bed and two types of monitors were strapped to my tummy.One to check the strength of contractions and the other to monitor the baby's heart rate. I was told to relax, get some rest and tell them when i cant bear the pain anymore so they'll give me an epidural. Yes, i did ask for one eventually. Not gonna lie, no matter how high my pain tolerance was, at the very end, it was painful as hell. It felt like being sucker punched every 10 seconds. It was a good thing Jim was there with me because i don't know how i could've survived it. The moment the epidural kicked in, i felt instant relief.

Jim entertaining himself in the Labor Room

      They gave me Pitocin to speed up my contractions and at around 8 am, they decided i was finally dilated enough. They wheeled me to the Delivery Room where my OB was waiting for me. There were about 8 people in the room and normally i would just die if anyone sees my private parts, but when you are in pain all sense of  shame goes out the window. So there i was, lying down with my legs wide open and my OB calmly coaching me through the whole process.. I did as i was told and on the fifth push, she said she was going to use forceps to help the baby come out. I got a tiny bit distracted when i saw my husband taking lots of photos. Again, vain person that i was, I told him to shoot the photos from my good angle.

Tired but happy :)

    My OB told me to push one more time and out came my River. As soon as Jim cut her cord, she was immediately placed on my chest. Nothing could have prepared me for the sudden rush of happiness and love i felt for my baby.

A family at last..

     It was an incredible feeling. She was so soft and warm and even though she was still covered in that white film, she smelled so good.  I looked at Jim and i could'nt stop smiling. The three of us were finally together.

First latch..

     Jim kissed the top of her head and it was just so beautiful. I tried to keep her on my chest as long as i can. She latched on beautifully. Our first breastfeeding. Unang Yakap. It all came so naturally. I cant help but think that i was made for this.

River Gow

       My little girl was born at 9:11 am. She weighed 6 pounds 4 ounces and measured 22 inches long. she scored 9.9 on her APGAR test. She was healthy, beautiful and well, looked like her dad. I labored for about 7 hours and pushed for less than 15 minutes. My OB, Dr Annebelle Aherrera was amazing. The nurses were the best. They made me feel extremely confident in myself and my ability to give birth to my baby. I could not have asked for more.

Inside the Recovery Room. 

      They whisked us to the Recovery Room but not before attaching bands on me and my River. They called it Hugs and Kisses and it alarms the hospital if mom and baby are more than 300m away from each other. After an hour there, we were eventually moved to our room and left to settle in with our baby. I spent most of the time just holding her, breastfeeding her and gazing at her with amazement. And changing her diaper..

Happily changing her diaper..

     Finally I'm a mother. The most important job in the world was mine.