...birthing story

April 30 2008, 11:30 AM: It was my special request to give birth on May 1. May 4th was my actual EDD but my OB said it can be done. A couple of days before this, I've already been experiencing a bit of brownish bloody discharge after a weekly IE(internal exam aka fingering) so i'm quite paranoid on going on labor earlier than expected. (so i'm pretty much just lying around and watching TV.. ehehe what else is new, trying not to do anything strenous) After hearing stories of dry labor, etc..I was worried I wouldn't feel if my water broke or something.. Anyway, at this checkup, my OB did this procedure to induce labor called 'stripping'.. I was already 2cm dilated.. I didn't know what the hell she was doing at that time but it sure felt she had her whole hand in my you-know-what. She warned me there would be more blood and told me to have myself admitted at 10pm that night. I remember hugging my Dad and saying "Mamaya na!" My dad said "Bakit 10? May basketball (PBA) mamaya eh". L O L.

April 30 2008, 11:00 PM: Arrived at the hospital. (dad waited for the game to end.) I wasn't feeling anything anyway. Prelabor room was packed but I was able to get in after about 10 minutes. The resident OB there said I was already having contractions, 7 minutes apart, but still 2cm dilated. I was feeling quite pompous at this time, cause they kept asking me if it hurts but I wasn't feeling anything so I was even standing and walking around, while waiting to be wheeled to the Labor room. I was even thinking.. "eto na ba yung contractions? eh hindi naman masakit eh!". BOY.. WAS I DELUDED. LOL.

May 1, 2008, 12:00 midnite In Labor room.. still wasn't feeling anything. Nurses/Resident OBs would check my contractions every now and then, or do an IE on me. Tsugtsug was still moving a lot, so sometimes the nurses would have a hard time timing my contractions.

May 1, 2008, 2:00am Got hooked with oxytocin.. think its the chemical that induces labor.

May 1, 2008, 2:30am My OB got in, was already feeling contractions. On my mind "ahh eto pala yun..parang dysmenorrhea nga". The nurse was timing my contractions but she was reading her OK magazine and she said my contractions were 3 minutes apart to my OB but I said "no, its 2 minutes" nyahaha. I told my OB "nararamdaman ko na po. Eto pala yung contractions".

May 1, 2008, 3:00am "Nararamdaman ko na po" OMG. what an understatement. I was trying to be brave and everything (I've heard that once you get epidural, your dilation(?) slows down) but OhMYGOSH it friggin hurt. as in imagine your worse case of dysmenorrhea times 1000. As soon as someone checked on me I said "HINDI KO NA PO KAYA!!" Also, what surprised me was the farting. bwahaha. I would sometimes fart with the contraction. I even asked a nurse if she could smell something. I told her, "Parang nag-UST ako". lol. There was also a time I totally farted right at my OB. nyahaha. All I could say was "oops. sorry po." My OB just said "It's okay, ganyan talaga." (ganun naman pala eh! hehe)

May 1, 2008, 4:15am The friggin anesthesiologist finally came in. Waaah. My contractions were coming in every other minute. And gawwwd.. the pain, the pain! Tama lahat sila.. parang humihiwalay balakang ko sa puson ko. HUHUHU. At first I would do the breathing thingie (like you see in movies) but then it would be really painful all i can do was grit my teeth and cry through the pain. One nurse who checked on me said "OH, meh nageemote na dito" LOL. BWISET! While waiting for anesthesiologist, I was thinking what (profanities) I would tell him ("Where the f*ck were you?", "Bakit ngayon ka lang!?", "Finally!" or "Took you long enough!!") but all I could do was helplessly look at him through squinted eyes due to the pain pain pain I was feeling. Getting epidural was weird. First they position you on your side (knees near your chin).. then i felt this coooold jet spray of alcohol on the whole of my back.. twice or thrice i think. then the needle which didn't feel like anything. Imagine you had to stay completely still while you're having the painful contractions. (On my mind.. ei.. this guy is sticking something on my spinal cord..paralysis?? waah) After about 10 minutes more of pain... it finally took effect. I was shivering but I didn't care. Later on, shivering would be a welcome sign that the top-ups were taking effect. Waah i was in heaven. I was already drifting to sleep when my OB checked on me and asked how I was feeling. "Okay na po. Masaya. LOL"

May 1, 2008, 5:30am-8:30am I was back in HELLLLLLL. the epidural would lose its effect after every hour and I was asking for top-ups. good thing there was a change in shift and i got a different (more punctual) anesthesiologist. He would come in after only a few minutes once I request a top-up. (bring on the drugs!) I asked how many times I can ask for a top-up (I was wondering if every hour was too frequent) but he said since I'm 6cm dilated already (this was like.. at 6am) it was okay but he would only do half a dose or something so I won't be too groggy once it's time to push. During these times I was praying that I would get fully dilated already. One episode of waiting for the top-up, I was just crying and grimacing when I noticed the nurse checking on me was also sniffing. I dunno if she just had the colds or was sympathizing with me nyahaha. I must have looked pretty pathetic haha. (or she's a newbie nurse). Anyway, these hours were the hardest. Everything was going thru my head "BAKIT BA AKO NABUNTIS!" to religious "My god, my god why have you forsaken me?" to rebelious "NEVER AGAIN! never never again!" then back to sanity with a lot of praying.

May 1, 2008, 8:30am I was feeling the contractions again. I was debating on whether to ask for a top-up or not when my OB came and did an IE on me. (IEs after the epidural didn't hurt anymore. I could be gang raped and not care. All that was hurting were the contractions) At first she said it was just 9cm but after checking again after about 10 mins she said "I think we're ready". Then they asked me to do a "mock-up" pushing. Someone taught me how to push. "Inhale, then push! 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. Slowly exhale. Yung parang nagjejebs ka uh!" So I did what they asked. My (punctual) anesthesiologist was also there and said "You're really good at pushing!" and all I can say was "Madalas kasi akong constipated". LOL. At 9 a.m. I was transferred to the Delivery room. This is friggin IT!!!

May 1, 2008, 9:00am More pushing tips. They said "Never inhale between 1-10". And my anesthesiologist said he would help by putting his weight on me and pushing the baby. And for me to only push through contractions. So it was good I didn't ask for a top-up, I could tell when my contractions were coming in. First contraction I was like "eto po meron na!" then the ritual. It was a full house in the delivery room (probably 7-8 people) and everyone was chanting, "Inhale, push. 1,2,3,.." Then OMG the anesthesiologist put his weight on me and gawwwd it hurt. as in! they said i shouldn't inhale but honestly.. I couldn't even inhale even if i wanted to! It felt like an elephant was on top me. I was pushing with all my might and then he would put his whole weight on me and I would be grunting like "eeeerrrgggggggggh" and he would say "walang sound!" and I was like "whatthefuckpanongwalangsound". My throat would hurt with the grunting. After 2 pushes, they "prepped" me. (shaved my thingie, prepared their equipment) Someone has a videocam which everyone kept on saying "Oh, still picture lang uh, baka mayou-tube tayo!" (videocam turned out to be ours, raymond handed it to them) Then the pushing again... after about 5 or 6 pushes, someone shouted "Baby out! 9:40 AM!". waaaah. When tsugtsug was brought to me I just looked at him and I was so tired, I couldn't even cry. (but believe me, i was crying inside, hehe.. dunno from relief or from happiness, maybe both) I just stared at him and the camera for the photo-op. I was so out of it, I couldn't believe I was staring at this little thing that was once moving inside my belly. Now I want to put him back inside again with all the crying he's doing. bwahahaha joke lang tsugtsug.

And that's it. I remember dreaming of water and coke while inside the Recovery room, I was so thirsty. I even begged the attendant there to give me a sip of water but they wouldn't let me because they said it might cause me to puke. When I was finally brought to my room, I saw Pangs finally after 3 long months. My family and relatives were also there and I still had some morphine in my system that's why I was able to chat a lot and joke about my labor.

Here are some pics in the Delivery room:


bloody baby gavin


me and gavin.


1 week in the making ang post na toh. wahaha. I'll tell you more next time.