Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Labor and Delivery

Christmas came early for us in 2006. It came on December 13 upon the birth of our first miracle, Rafael "Bric" U. Dizon IV. He was supposed to be due on Christmas Day but he wanted to come out early so he may spend his first Christmas with the whole kaboodle. So December 13 it was.

I was scheduled for a check up with Dr. John Artenos on the 12th. The night before that, Mommy Nonie just arrived from the Philippines to be with me when I give birth. Apparently, it seemed, her arrival was all Bric was waiting for. Mamalyn and Lolo Boy were already here by then, and, of course, the other most important person in his life, future daddy Boydee.

12 December, 1:30pm. Mommy Nonie and Boydee accompanied me to what was to be my last pre natal visit. On that visit, Dr. Artenos said my cervix had already dilated to 4 cm and that I should be admitted to the hospital since I might give birth anytime soon. I panicked... I wasn't ready to give birth yet. In my mind, I had thought I would give birth some time past the 15th. Heck! I hadn't even packed for the hospital yet! But Dr. Artenos had his way. I wasn't allowed to go home anymore and was sent straight to the Maternity section and to a room. Mom stayed with me while Boydee went home to pack my things. He was initially calm but kinda got nervous when he was about to leave the hospital. I was still psyching myself to be ready.

Late afternoon. The family started coming and checking how I was - Daddy Boy, Mommy Shalene, Lola Nene, Rondic and Lai with their new 4th, Robyn, Tita Sanne and Tito Lito, Tita Belen and Roc. What a great support system I had! They stayed til evening. Mommy Nonie wanted to sleep with us but we thought it would be too taxing for her. They all went home while Boydee and I stayed. When they left, we prayed the rosary together for God to be with us throughout my delivery just as He had been all throughout my pregnancy. Our Mommies and the family prayed the rosary at home too for my safe delivery. With so many praying for me, how can things go wrong?!?

13 December, 12 am. I wasn't going into labor on my own so Dr. A put me on pytocin to start my labor going. Prior to that, the nurses put on the IV which was an inconvenience, and two monitors on my tummy-one to monitor my contractions, the other to monitor baby's movement.

3-4am, or thereabouts. Per the monitors, I started my labor already but I wasn't feeling too much pain. Nevertheless, a few minutes after, the anesthesiologist came by to administer the epidural, which I soon found out, is a laboring woman's bestest friend! When the epidural took effect, everything was just numb from my tummy down. So, they put on the catheter, and checked me from time to time. They could've poked down under all they like, I couldn't care. Honey, I couldn't feel the pain!

At around 5 am, I started having chills and became nauseous. The nurses said it was all part of the labor process. They also reported that although baby's heartbeat was ok, his activity wasn't what they hoped it would be. They transferred the monitors inside my uterus to better monitor baby's movements. Dr. A came by and checked on me. He scratched baby's head to check if he would respond well and start him moving. Baby would respond initially then would get back to slow movements. This was done two times in separate instances.

By close to 6am, Dr. A decided it was best to open me up and get the baby out before his activity becomes weaker and weaker. He didn't want to risk 'losing' the baby. He asked for our permission to do a caesarian section delivery. As if I wasn't dazed enough, I panicked even more. I hadn't read much about delivering by c/s because everything had been normal, but I guess God had other plans. I asked Dr. A how much time we had to decide whether to take a chance on the normal delivery or to do the c/s. He said, "the moment I propose it" (which was actually now). So we didn't have much choice but trust the doctor whom God sent. So Boydee said a definite yes while I gave a half hearted one. But that was enough for Dr. A. Everything was rush rush from that time on. They prepped me while Boydee called our Moms. While they sent me to the operating room, Boydee moved all our stuff to another room we were transferred to and put on the operating room attire - pants and mask and all.

6am plus. Inside the operating room, they put a "curtain" somewhere on my chest so I wouldn't see what they were doing to me. Boydee stepped inside with his camera. He was covered except for his eyes. They opened me up and took baby out. Boydee said his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck which explained the slow activity. On the first attempt of taking the cord out, it snapped back to baby. On the second try, the cord gave in and baby was free!!! They recorded his birth at 6:19 am. He was 6 lbs. and 8.3 ounces and 20.5" long. After cleaning him up, a nurse brought baby near me so I could see God's big little gift. It wasn't as emotional as I pictured it to be, with uncontrollable tears of joy, because I was half conscious. Still, it was a happy, memorable moment as I got my first glimpse of our baby.

The rest of the day, I was down and knocked out. We had so many visitors but I was mostly asleep and too weak to talk. I wasn't allowed to talk either because Mommies said that would fill my tummy with gas. So I slept through most of the day, only waking to breastfeed. It was a wonderful feeling to finally hold Bric in my arms and feed him. He was so frail and helpless. I couldn't believe this little creature was the one I carried within me for 9 months. He was finally out and we are finally a family.

The rest of the days I recuperated. The stitches and the womb part were achy and sore. My legs were still bloated. I was only able to walk on the 2nd recovery day. I thought the pain would never end. My boobs were also starting to get sore from breastfeeding. I was pretty weak. I am just so grateful Boydee stepped up and turned out to be a great daddy. He changed Bric's diapers, learned how to swaddle him, cradled him in his arms while I was mostly in bed. He took care of me too and so did Mommy Nonie.

A month after, I am stronger and the pain has subsided so much. The bleeding has stopped, the sterile tapes have been taken out, and I'm back to most of my normal activities. My carpal tunnel syndrome still remains though and it's giving me a hard time especially when carrying Bric. My tummy is still kinda droopy and lumpy. Have to work on that when we get back home. All in all, I think I recovered well. Thank God the pain has passed.

For now, the experience and the pain is still fresh in my mind but looking back, and seeing Bric now, all the pain and the discomfort I went through was worth it. I would give up my life for Bric or go through pain to save him from it. He is our borrowed treasure from God, and we will take care of him and raise him the best way we can. He is God's early Christmas gift to us!

Side story: When Boydee called our Moms that I was about to have a c/section that early morning, they rushed to the hospital to be with us. When they arrived, they immediately went to the room and saw Boydee there. They frantically asked where I was and how I was doing. A nurse was there leaning on the incubator staring wide-eyed at them with a look of disbelief on her face. She couldn't contain herself much longer so she asked, "Aren't you even going to look at the baby?!" There, inside the incubator was baby Rafael. Our Moms didn't know that the delivery was over and that baby was already there inside. When they realized that, they rushed to see baby Bric. :)