10/19/16

Four days that would change my life forever

July 28, 2016
I started feeling heavier and more frequent Braxton hicks contractions all week so I decided to stay home from work today. Since I had done all I could do to prepare my projects I would leave behind while on maternity leave I didn’t feel so bad taking a sick day. Nothing exciting happened today so it was more of a free day for me to get the last few things in order at the house before the baby came.

July 29, 2016
Again, felt Braxton hicks contractions so I called out of work and stayed home. My cousin came in from LA and I met up with him for lunch. He wasn’t feeling too good so we planned on meeting up for dinner when Titan got off of work to eat pho. My best friend, Sheena, told me to eat pho because in the Vietnamese culture that would induce labor. As I started to get ready for dinner I felt a little slow leak dripping down my legs. I heard that not everyone’s water breaks the same and sometimes it could be a slow leak like a faucet and not like what you’d imagine. Titan came home to find me hunched over the bathroom sick with a towel under me because the leak just wouldn’t stop. I was sure my water had broken because I had just gotten out of the shower and there was no way it was pee. So, quickly and calmly he began to pack his bag while I called labor and delivery to let them know I was on my way. On the way to the hospital I didn’t really feel any contractions and this was nothing like I thought it would be. They checked me in and luckily my normal mid-wife was on shift that night so it was re-assuring to see a familiar face. Since it didn’t appear like I was in any sort of pain nor was I having contractions it took a while for her to actually check me. After a few hours she came back with the results. Verdict was that my water had not broken and it was just some sort of discharge. She said it’s better to be safe than sorry and 9 out of 10 times people in my situation are back at the hospital within 24-48 hours.

July 30, 2016
I had planned to meet my friend Winnie for lunch and being how rollie pollie I felt I dragged her along to Costco to stock up my fridge. Later that afternoon I was online Googling “How to naturally induce labor”. I often saw dancing was a great way so on to YouTube I went to find some dancing music. Since I’m not a free style dancer, I learned the entire Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” thanks to some tutorials. After about an hour of that and some hula songs I was beat. Titan got home and we decided to give this pho theory a shot. We got home from dinner and still no sign of baby. Little did I know this would be the last night of sleep for a while.

July 31, 2016 (My due date)
Around 4:30 am I felt cramping in my stomach and I went to use the bathroom. The feeling never really went away so I woke Titan up and told him I think I was having real contractions this time. For some reason I didn’t know how I could tell this was the real deal but your instincts just tell you. I downloaded an app to help me track my contractions and for the next few hours I walked back and forth around my living room to try and move the contractions along. All the while, Titan was snoozing and he claims he was “resting up”. Soon enough the sun came up and my contractions were still about 10 minutes apart. At around 11:30/12:00ish I told Titan it was time to head to the hospital. So, off we went and since this was the second alarm I remembered to bring things I forgotten the first time like my pillow I can’t sleep without.  My contractions started getting closer together and more painful. I remember Titan dropping me off in the loading zone and a security officer coming by to ask me if I needed assistance. I guess the hunching over holding my stomach and grabbing the pillar in the lobby gave it away. Being the superwoman I am (lol) I said I was fine and up to labor and delivery we went.

After getting checked in the mid-wife on duty made the call to admit me. My contractions were still tolerable at this point so I got dressed in those lovely hospital gowns and the staff encouraged me to eat some lunch. After lunch I decided I wanted this baby out so we took a walk around the labor and delivery floor. It started out fine and then the contractions started getting more and more painful. We stopped about every two minutes because I just couldn’t handle the pain. What helped was facing Titan and leaning on him for support. He would squeeze my hips during the contraction and he said this happened about 10 times. According to Titan, it took an hour just to do one lap. As we approached our room I told Titan I needed the epidural. The pain was so intense that if I had to describe it, it was like lightning occurring in my abdomen. Since there was only one epidural guy on the floor and he was already helping someone else, my nurse gave me some type of medication because we didn’t know how long it would take for him to get to me. Luckily, it was only about a 10 minute wait and I found myself hunching over forming an “S” with my back. This was a lot harder than I thought and it took a while for him to insert the needle. Titan hates needles so he excused himself and got some lunch at the cafeteria. When he got back I was feeling g-o-o-d. The nurse encouraged me to get some rest because I’d need it when it came time to push. I was in and out of it and there was a pocket on my lower left side that didn’t get the epidural. It sucked! With every contraction I could feel the thunder and lightning in that one area and no matter what I did it wouldn’t go away.

At around 7:30 pm my nurse told me her shift was over and introduced me to the nurse that would take over for the rest of the night. Since getting the epidural it slowed my contractions down significantly I think they mentioned something about the baby’s heart rate dropping. It wasn’t something they were too concerned about but they needed to help me move things along. At around 9 pm they broke my water and gave me some Pitocin to help my contractions. This whole time I still felt that little pocket of pressure and by then I wasn’t able to get much rest.

At around 11 pm they said I could start pushing. God bless my nurse and husband because they stayed by my side the entire time. I pushed with every contraction (ok I cheated a little and rested through a few) and it felt like I wasn’t making any progress. A few hours in the doctor came and mentioned the option of having the baby vacuumed out or assisted out with tongs. I guess they were a little more worried about the baby at this point and Titan texted this information to my sister who works in labor and delivery on Maui. At about 2:00 am I looked at Titan in a way he would describe as desperation. I was exhausted and I felt like I couldn’t do it anymore. I felt like I wasn’t making any progress and I remember starring into his eyes and without saying a word I told him I was done. With some encouragement from the nurse and Titan, on to pushing I went with every contraction. At around 2:30 with my first contraction push, the doctor rubbed down there to what I think was help open thing up for him to come out. On the second push, Jet literally shot out and all I remember the doctor saying was “don’t push, don’t push”! I felt an enormous amount of pressure and it was hard not to push. Although Jet’s bed and monitoring device was already set up in the room, my bed wasn’t ready for all the other stuff that came out in addition to baby.

They laid Jet on my chest and I didn’t know what to feel or think. Was this real? Was this kid actually mine? After a few minutes of being in shock and listening to him cry, I began to cry. My baby boy was finally here and yes, he was all mine.

Jet Thomas Burns was born on August 1, 2016, at 2:39 am weighing 7 lbs 8.6 oz and 19 inches long.


No comments:

Post a Comment