Our Little Guy is Here!
Jacob Marcus
February 17, 2006. 9:03 am. 6 pounds. 13 ounces. 19.5 inches
I can’t believe our little bunny is actually here. The whole birthing process was a painful, yet surreal experience. All throughout the entire thing, I thought “I can’t believe this is it!”
All day last Thursday, Feb. 16th, I was at work and was experiencing some cramping. I thought I was experiencing “fake labor” pains (aka Braxton-Hicks contractions) because our childbirth instructor described labor pains to be something that sort of emanates from the back, rather than in the lower abdomen. So throughout work, I was in slight pain, but thought it would go away. I had a check-up with my ob-gyn that night so I figured she’d tell me what was up.
7 pm, doc’s office. Everything was fine. I was exactly 38 weeks and she examined me and told me I was 2cm dilated just like the last time. She said the baby can go anyday now. I told her I was experiencing some cramps but that they come and go. She said it was normal. So we went home.
After dinner, the cramps got worse, but I just walked it off. By 11 pm, the cramps were quite painful. Up until that point, I still thought they were just cramps, but then I also figured, why are they so consistent? I figured they were coming about 10 minutes apart. Still, I think I was in denial and tried to go to sleep! The poor hubs tried to hold my hand whenever the cramps came because all I did was toss and turn and did my Lamaze breathing techniques.
Around 2:30 am, my water broke! Talk about gush of water! So I told the hubs “we’re going to the hospital!” I called my doc, told her my water broke, and she told me to report to the hospital after I gathered up my stuff. Well at that point, I had no hospital bag ready! Heck, I didn’t even any baby clothes washed or anything! We had nothing prepared because we didn't think he'd come 2 weeks early! So we scrambled, threw stuff in a suitcase and headed to the hospital.
While in the car, both the hubs and I said “so I guess those were labor contractions after all!” They were coming in at 4 minutes apart and they hurt. I did my breathing, but realized there was no way I going to do this without an epidural!
3 am – hospital. I was in the labor and delivery room. In pain. I told them “epidural please!” We had to fill out forms and do blood work first before I got the ok for the epidural. By the time I got the epidural, it was about 5:30 or 6 am. By then, I was already fully dilated to 10 cm. Can I just say that the epidural is the best invention ever? Instant relief from the pain! And to think I was considering going “natural”! But by then though, I was almost at the pushing stage. The doc arrived shortly thereafter, and at 7 am, the nurse said “it’s time to push!” and both the hubs and I were looked at her in disbelief!
And so I pushed dammit. Pushed for 2 freaking hours. My epidural dose was low so I still felt the contractions coming (without the pain part). We pushed each time the contraction came. The hubs held me up, the nurse held me up, and each push was a team effort. I was ready to pass out. The hubs was ready to pass out! In fact at some point, he got a little light-headed and he had to sit down! The nurse had to give him some juice to revive him while I was pushing away! But then he recovered and we persevered.
I kept looking at the clock and saying “for the love of God dear baby, just please come out!” Each time I pushed, the doc and nurse kept saying they see the head and that’s what I visualized –that the baby was almost there. At the same time, I still couldn’t believe that this was it! Finally, a little after 9 am and very little of my strength left…. the baby finally came out!
After that, everything was a blur. Someone said “it’s a boy” but we don’t remember who. They placed him on my belly, the hubs cut the cord, and then they brought him to the side to get wiped up. The hubs hovered around him as he got cleaned, while the doc took care of the “after birth” and all that other fun stuff. Oh man, the carnage! But you literally forget all that pain once you hold your baby in your arms! Instant euphoria I must say, and the rest is history!
And now baby Jacob makes three....to be continued... For more pics, click
here.
Random Blurbs and Weekend Updates
- Let It Snow! So my neck of the woods got a record-breaking 26.9 inches of snow this weekend! Both NYC and Connecticut set all-time records for single-storm snowfall. This past Friday, they were only predicting about a foot of snow; but come Sunday morning, we all woke up to a veritable winter wonderland! All this snow and I can't go snowboarding! Today would've been the perfect day to do it too since I didn't have work. Alas...next season it is!
- Cabin Fever: The hubs and I stayed in all night Saturday and all day Sunday since there was a snowstorm and all. We were very productive though and worked on moving furniture out of the nursery-to-be and into our room. This is what we did: 1) Move our TV and stand out of our room; 2) Move our bed to the middle of the room to make space (this meant taking out the spring box, mattress, and pushing the frame); 3) Move a 9-drawer dresser and mirror into our room; 4) Clean the furniture involved and vacuum the floors; 5) Move back the TV to where it was, and then 6) Put the bed back together again. I felt bad for the hubs who had to do most of the heavy lifting (of the TV and the dresser), but I was happy to help. We also used furniture moving discs which worked great. The only time the hubs had to lift the dresser was to go over certain floorboards.
- Baby Shower: My co-worker organized a "surprise" baby shower for me at work last Thursday, Feb. 9th. It would've been a great surprise, had it not been for the fact that she had to tell me about it because I actually had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon of Feb. 9th! Since I was planning to be out of the office, she had to tell me to reschedule my appointment! Haha... The shower turned out to be lovely, though it was a bit intimidating to be the center of attention at work. There was cake, drinks, and other goodies and there was a big turn-out. I received some very lovely presents including a kick-ass rocking horse from another co-worker of mine. I love it! And yes, I even sat on it already as did the hubs! It's the coolest thing, and I'll post a pic as soon as my Adobe Photoshop stops acting up.
- What the Doctor Said: So during my latest visit last Thursday, the doc informed me that I was almost 2 cm dilated! Being 2 cm dilated doesn't really mean anything --you need to be a whopping 10-cm dilated for the baby to come out! So for me, there is no rush to go to the hospital yet. I have had no contractions (not even the “fake” kind aka Braxton-Hicks contractions), no pain yet, and am definitely not in labor at the moment. Most docs will advise you to go to the hospital for 2 main reasons: 1) when your water breaks and 2) when your contractions are about 5 minutes apart for about an hour (barring any other type of emergency, of course). Unlike in the movies where it seems water-breaking is common, only about 1-in-10 women have their water break spontaneously. Most women experience contractions at home and then go to the hospital. Yikes. I am so not looking forward to the pain! So I'm definitely on track, but who knows when I'll actually go into labor. Since I am 37 weeks preggo, the baby can definitely come at any point in time now --my family thinks I'll deliver a bit early. Let's see what the doc says again this coming check-up on Thursday.
- Only 17 More Days to Go! According to our baby counter, it's only going to be a little more than 2 weeks before the little bunny comes! Physically, I'm pretty ready to have the kiddo. It's really feeling very tight in my belly --whenever the kiddo moves, I feel like my belly is stretching to the limits and the kid's going to come out Alien-style! Plus, getting a good night's sleep is harder to come by since I'm just not comfortable and even switching sides is a big production. Emotionally ready? Hm...that's another story and another post altogether.
- Shopping Spree: Since I was cooped up all weekend, I went out today for a little shopping spree. So far, the shopping I've done for the past 5 months or so was dedicated purely to the little bebe. I'm still intent on getting stuff for the nursery and baby clothes. I've been meaning to get a rug for the kid's room and today, I actually found a decent one for a great price! Man, I love Target! To think I was actually going to shell out $300+ for a rug at Pottery Barn (I was willing to splurge a bit). I also bought a Valentine's Day present for the hubs today, and I splurged on a new bag for me. I don't know why, but I really dig the new tokidoki line for LeSportsac. I got me the Buon Viaggio style tote which I figure I can also use a diaper bag since it's roomy enough. I think it's cute and whimsical. Very non-grown up and very anime-ish (I'm a big anime fan).
- Happy Valentine's Day! I baked some chocolate cupcakes today and bought candy to give out to my co-workers tomorrow. I also wrapped up the hubs' present. We're not actually going out to dinner tomorrow, but we are going to have dinner together this coming Friday at L'Ecole. I can't wait!
Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
