And Baby Makes Three!! ( Alhumdulilah)

I'm sure all my hundreds of readers have noticed how I haven't posted lately. Well, on December 19,2010 we were blessed with Ibby! Since then, I've had no concept of day or night, and my days have been 3 hour intervals of feeding, burping, and diaper changes. Now, almost two months later, I think we finally got the hang of it and I can attempt to post on my blog.

Lets start from the beginning, on how Ibby decided to make his appearance.

My due date was December 25th, but around the 15th I became a bit impatient. I decided it was time to get things rolling. From then on, I cooked, scrubbed, and walked obsessively everyday. Finally, on December 17th,  I started having contractions.

Friday the 17th started out like any other day. I woke up with a lot of energy and decided to scrub my house again in hopes of inducing my labor. When I say scrub, I mean no crevice or corner was left behind. The insides of my cabinets were wiped. My refrigerator was cleaned. I got on my knees and cleaned all my baseboards. Now some of you might think this is a bit much, but I was a woman with a mission. After my cleaning frenzy, I decided I needed to take a long walk to speed things up.

That night, my husband and I went to\ an indoor botanical garden. They had a special candle lit tour, which turned out to be retarded, because it was so dark we couldn't see any of the plants. But we walked all over the place, and I started feeling some painful irregular contractions. I'm sure everyone around us thought I was crazy, because I had to stop every once in a while to breath through my contraction. After that, we headed to my favorite Asian restaurant and I had a huge meal to tide me over for the next 3 hours.



All night I was having contractions, around 10-15 minutes apart. By morning they were getting more painful, but still irregular. We decided to get some shopping done. We got in the car to go buy a baby chair. I decided I couldn't go into labor unless I had my chair. Now my city only has 3 baby stores, so our options were pretty limited. We drove to Baby Depot, and my husband dropped me off in the front so he can park the car. As I was walking in, my contractions kept getting more and more painful. I had to stop every few minutes as I was walking to the back. People were staring at me, and probably thought I was some obsessed shopaholic who had to have one last shopping spree before she popped. Or maybe they were staring at me because I was in obvious pain. After what seemed like hours, I made it to the back of the store. My husband caught up with me, and we both came to the conclusion it was time to cut our shopping trip short and head home. Of course, I couldn't leave without my chair. I randomly picked a chair and went to pay, all the while having contractions.

Now comes the most annoying part of labor. How do you know when to go to the hospital? My water didn't break, and my contractions were 8-10 minutes apart. My doctor said not to come in unless they were regular. Um, hello, my uterus isn't a machine! I was pretty sure my contractions were never going to be exactly 8 minutes apart! We finally decided to head to the hospital around 8 PM, because the pain was starting to get unbearable.

I walked into the hospital, where I had spent the past 7 months coming and going to my OB appointments. When they hooked me up in triage and checked to see how far I was dilated, they said I was only 2 cm and they couldn't admit me till I was 4. I felt like the nurse had taken out a huge needle and burst the huge bubble I had above my head which was brimming with excitement about the prospect of finally having the baby. There was no way I was going home without a baby. We got up, and decided to walk around the hospital until I was dilated enough to be admitted. I needed my pain meds!

We walked, and walked, and walked. Finally, when it got to the point that I couldn't stand through my contraction, around midnight, I went back to have them check me again. I was 4 cm! Yayyyy I was finally admitted.

Now, I became slightly delusional as my labor progressed. After I was admitted I thought to myself, hey, I'm doing ok without the pain meds, maybe I can go without an epidural. I can be one of those cool moms that has the proud badge of a NATURAL BIRTH and everyone would stare at me in awe when I told my birth story. I already had the story composed in my head on how things would go:

"No it wasn't hard at all guys. I mean, I was in labor for like 2 days, but I bore through it, and somehow came up with the strength to bear the pain. Look, here's the trophy I got at the hospital for having a natural birth."

 Everyone would smile at me and pat me on the back, all the while thinking in their heads, wow she was so brave and strong.

30 minutes later, reality set in, and my delusions were swept away with waves of pain I had never experienced before. It was time for an epidural.

Epidurals are great. After I got it, I felt like I was having a sleepover at the hospital, and my labor and delivery nurse chatted with me all night. I didn't feel anything, and the rush of adreneline in my veins made everything feel suprisingly pleasant. Finally, my doctor came in to check me at around 5 AM. She had warned me that once I took the epidural, my labor would slow down. Ok cool, I can spend all day like this! When she came and checked me, I was fully dilated and ready to push.

At that moment, I was hit with a huge anxiety attack. Apparently pregnancy isn't just getting a cute basketball belly, buying tiny clothe, and having strangers smile at you and open doors. You actually have to have a baby. The fear set in, but I'm glad it was then and not my entire 9 months of pregnancy. I started pushing, and 36 minutes later, the most amazing thing I've ever experienced happened, Ibby came out and was placed on my belly.  All you moms out there know what I'm talking about. That feeling you get when you finally see your baby is amazing. The entire room disappears and all you can see is this little bundle on your chest trying to adjust to the outside world. I'll never forget that moment. Afterwards was a flurry of pictures, phone calls, and off to my room we go! To be continued.....