Before Giving Birth (Part 1)

Of course, it all starts with how LP came into our lives.

To this very day, I cannot forget the day, no, make that the week I gave birth. It was a week of utmost joy and utmost pain all together.

My pregnancy started out as a fairly easy one, but things got a bit complicated when I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes (GD), then later on checked on having early dilation. On my 5th month, I was ordered by my OB to go on bed rest. Was still able to manage and even got to attend Rome Kanapi's birth class, which D and I so eagerly anticipated. D and I were confident that we would deliver LP the Lamaze way.

Or so we thought.

2 weeks prior to the estimated date of delivery (EDD), my OB was concerned that LP did not gain more weight even if all factors were in top condition (including LP's weight). According to her, this was unusual considering I had GD. In my head, I was wondering why this was a concern since the worry was that GD babies might grow to be very large so weight gain can be worrisome. My OB, wanting to be on the safe side, tried her best to convince me to induce labor. I refused and asked her to give me a couple more days.

5 days prior to EDD, OB had to go out of the country and once more tried to convince me to induce labor. She was concerned that she wouldn't be here should I suddenly give birth. She warned me that there is the danger of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome should I refuse to be induced. I still refused and prayed hard that I was making the right decision. D was worried, but after much discussion, decided to make that decision with me.

I love and respect my OB, but I know that we have different points of view. While she was out of the country, I took the opportunity to consult another OB who I felt was similar to my point of view. True enough, this well respected OB agreed that inducing labor is not a hot idea and told me options that I could take. She also said that LP was way too high up and that inducing labor would increase the chances of a Caesarian birth. Caesarian birth. The 2 words I dread the most. Doesn't take much thinking to find out what I did next --- I took her advice and tried to hide from my OB. Hehehe.

When my OB came back, she immediately gave me a call and tried to once more convince me to have my labor induced. She also told me to prepare for a Caesarian birth just in case. I tried to put on a deaf ear because I did not even allow a single peeping thought of Caesarian birth to cross my mind. No no no. My OB sensed this and gave me a deadline (2 days prior to EDD). If I don't give birth by that day, she will have to induce labor or she will resign from being my OB (She was smiling when she said this, but I knew she was dead serious.). She told me that she doesn't want any unnecessary complications for my pregnancy.

The night before the deadline, my O barkada had dinner together in the newly renovated Chateau 1771 (now Cafe 1771) in El Pueblo. My should've-been-a-doctor-friend, S, told me to eat steak because it will induce labor, saving me the need have it done unnaturally. She also suggested to make love, but, at that point, it was too difficult to even hug! So we went for S's first advice and ordered steak.

Now I don't know if it was all the laughter or the steak, but as D and I climbed the staircase to our 4th floor apartment (We live in a walk up.), I felt a sudden mini gush coming out. To this very day, I was not sure if that was my water bag that broke, but at that time, I didn't want to take the risk, so I told D to bring me to the hospital after I take a bath and do some last minute preparations.

I could see D trying to contain his excitement, but the twinkle in his eyes and the way he fussed over everything we needed to bring to the hospital (Note that we already had our hospital bags ready 3 weeks before and these bags were already in the car. That's how excited D was.) gave him away.

Driving to Medical City at 230 am from our place was a breeze. No pain on my end. No additional gush. Thanks to birth class, we knew that we should go to the birth center and not the ER. AT the birth center, I was asked to go to the pre-labor room. I always thought that upon announcing that one's water bag broke, the hospital staff would be in a rush to prep the preggy woman.

Not in the Medical City's case. I was even asked to wait for 10 minutes for my turn to change into the hospital gown and another 10 minutes for them to prep up a cubicle for me. Believe me, when you're about to give birth, this was taking forever.

While lying down, I was told that D would have to wait outside and no cellphones were allowed. Darn. Wasn't prepared for this. I was bored. Then the battery of questions started. Once more, thanks to birth class, I just handed them the prepared info sheets. Funny thing was, I was still asked questions. I had to bite my tongue from asking if Ms. Question Maker was illiterate. Patience, Pam. She is only the first. Breathe in. Breathe out.

As I waited for the attending doctor to contact my OB (This took forever. I have no idea why since there were only 2 of us in the pre-labor room.), I started appreciated Question Maker #2 and #3. I didn't even bother handing out my other prepared info sheets and just took my time verbally answering every question just so I could do something.

After the other preggy woman was sent to the delivery room, the attending doctor finally attended to me. Upon learning who my OB was, she suddenly moved in full speed. I asked her to tell my OB that I will just go home first if my water bag has not been confirmed to be broken. Made the mistake of telling her that my OB will surely want me to stay because she wants to induce labor. Of course, attending doctor paid me no heed as she tried to impress my OB and told her that I was only 3 cm dilated and there seemed to be no sign that my water broke but she said that it looked like it was about to break (This was contrary to what she told me upon doing an internal exam (IE)). Of course, OB who was not sure that I would show up for the induced labor deadline the following day grabbed this chance and told attending doctor not to allow me to leave the hospital.

Told D about this. There was so much waiting to be done as the Lamaze Room was unusually full and even the Delivery Room was fully booked! D patiently waited outside. At this time, I was debating in my head if I'd rather be bored and wait outside of the pre-labor room (which was what D was doing) or be bored and be in the pre-labor room. Such bored thoughts I had.

After a few hours, was finally able to go to the Delivery Room. Oh this one deserves to have its own entry.

To be continued...

Starting Out

Hello, LP!

I love kids, but I never thought I'd be or even want to be a mother. Having you in my life is one of my biggest joys. Right now, this blog is for you, but if you get siblings, this will be for you and for them, too.

I want to share this with you so you will see how wonderful life has been for your dad and me since you came into our life. Will be sharing with you events, thoughts, challenges, etc, etc. You will know later on how forgetful I can be when it comes to details (and, yes, sometimes, I can be lazy in storytelling the details), so, hopefully, this blog can tell you so much more about what has happened to me, your dad, and you.

It's been one heaven of a ride since you came along.