After 9 months, my family and I welcomed our latest bundle of joy, whom we named Yna Marie, to the world on October 1st. And yes, dear readers and lurkers, we just got home from the hospital and instead of resting, I’m already blogging. What can I say, I’m too happy to share the news with you all! But, shhhh, don’t tell my mother – she’s of the belief that I should just lie down in bed for a week after giving birth – but that’s a different story.
Anyway, it was probably my most painful delivery ever and the shortest one at that too! What follows is a blow-by-blow account of the proceedings and if you are of weak constitution, then I suggest that you please spare yourself the gory details.
My labor started at around midnight but because they were far apart and were not very painful, I thought it was a false alarm. Despite all of that, I was able to go back to sleep.
I woke up as usual at 3 o’clock to write a speech that I needed to send to my boss before 6:00 that morning. By this time, my contractions came 10-15 minutes in between so I woke up myyeobo so he would be fully awake by the time I finished working on the speech. I did not want to go to the hospital early because they’d only make me walk up and down the stairs until I’m fully dilated. So I worked on the speech as fast as I can, all while still enduring the contractions.
Baby Yna Marie must have understood my predicament because the contractions remained far apart. But as soon as I sent the speech, the interval dropped to 3 minutes. On top of that, the labor pains had intensified I couldn’t bear to open my mouth. For the first time, tears had started to pool in my eyes.
It’s good that we live some 25 minutes from the hospital and, since it was so early in the morning, traffic was very light. I am grateful that the nurse at the admission section worked fast to get my vital signs and immediately brought me to the OB-Gyne section where another nurse declared me fully dilated. I was already in so much pain, I was sweating bullets. The nurse must have sensed that I could deliver the baby right there and then because she kept telling me to cross my legs and try to control the contractions while they hurriedly wheeled me to the delivery room.
As soon as I entered the DR, I immediately told my OB-Gyne, the pediatrician, midwife and attending nurses to check for crowning. True enough, the baby’s head was visible down there so they decided against moving me from the stretcher to the delivery bed. So I gave birth to a 7-pound girl at 5:58am, 20 minutes after we arrived at the hospital. I’m telling you, it was the fastest delivery I know!
It was a very difficult pregnancy so I worried about complications. I was prepared for the possibility of delivering via Caesarean section but I very much preferred natural childbirth. Thank God both Yna Marie and I pulled through safely. And thanks to all the people – family and friends – for all the prayers.
