baby bean gets a name

October 15, 2007… after 15 hours of labor, I finally gave birth to my son via c-section. I must say, it was the most physically strenuous thing ever.

At 4:00am on October 14, I started feeling some cramping around the abdomen area. I had to say “area” because I couldn’t really tell which part hurt considering how gigantic my very pregnant belly was. Anyway, the next contraction came at 5:00, then at 5:30 and at 6:00. I finally woke Jay-R up and told him that if it still hurt by 7:00am, I’d call my doctor. And so it did and so I did.

We met her at around 9:00am at BC Women’s Hospital. She checked to see if my membranes have ruptured, commonly known as “water breakage”. She told me that I’d probably deliver my baby in a couple of days because it was still intact. But of course, baby had other plans. After being finger checked (I know, too much information), we found out that I was already 3-4 cm dilated. For those who are not sure what that means… the cervix has to be 10 cm open to be able to deliver the babe. She sent me home and told me to come back around noon. She suggested that I walk up and down the stairs to help with the progress.

After an unplanned workout (walking up and down the stairs), we returned to the hospital. They checked us in at triage and we waited, waited and waited. After a couple of hours, a nurse came in and said a magic word… “morphine”. At this point, the contractions were coming every 10 minutes and hurting like a *–censored–*. She told us to walk around the hospital after administering some fun juice. I couldn’t quite remember what went on when I was high on morphine. Jay-R did mention that I kept falling asleep in the middle of a conversation. Not surprising… as if that doesn’t happen when I’m completely sane.

They finally moved us to a birthing room around 7:00pm. I was then introduced to another magic word “nitrous oxide” a.k.a. “laughing gas”. So, I sat there inhaling as the contractions came. After half an hour, the contractions were coming every 3-4 minutes. I was on the bed, on a birthing ball… pretty much everywhere… going crazy. They were doing all they can to alleviate the pain, but nothing really helped. The laughing gas was useless at that point. I think I screamed a couple of times. I do remember screaming “Mommy!!!”. Around 11:00pm, they finally decided that it was time to push. I think I’ve tried every single position… lying down, sitting up, doing the Britney Spears (on all fours), etc.

Quick info: it’s easier to deliver a baby when his/her face is facing down (towards the bum). At 1:00am, the doctor told us that my baby was facing sideways therefore made the pain worse than it should. I was pretty close to passing out at that point so I asked for the mother of all fun juice… the epidural. It surprised me how well this drug worked. I felt no pain just a few minutes after it was administered. After taking some unattractive photos of myself, we tried and failed to push. My doctor then gave us two options… either she use forceps and yank him out or send me to the O.R. for a c-section. I opted for the c-section because I’ve heard not-so-great stories about forceps.

Finally, on October 15, 2007 at 3:02am, I finally delivered a healthy 21 inch, 9 lb and 6 oz baby boy. We named him Aidan Mateo.

Aidan is a little over a month old now and he is such a treat. He is definitely worth all that pain. I finally finished my pregnancy video. See below… Try not to cry. I get teary eyed whenever I watch it.

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