Mommy's Diary

Month 1 - Tiger is here - Birth Story

Feb 5, 1999

He is here! I'm so happy! 7lb 12 oz. 21 1/2 inch. Oh, he is so lovely. He is perfect. I don't feel tired at all. I love you, Tiger.

Feb 6, 1999

He always open one eye and close another. The nurse said not to worry, they all do that. He is so delicate. So little. Doug, Ryan, and John came to visit him today. Du Hong and Jiang came too. They all think he is beautiful.

Feb 7, 1999

They have given him a pacifier! What should I do? We haven't decided whether to give him one yet.
We'll go home this afternoon.

Feb 9, 1999

Last night my milk finally came. He nursed continuously for the entire night. We only slept for one hour from 3 to 4. He is such a big eater. I'm so happy.

Feb 29, 1999

I've been so busy and exaughsted. Whever I have time, I sleep. No time for diary. But I'd better jot down my birth story.

Here it goes.

Tiger was due on 2/3/99. I had been 2cm dilated, 80% effaced for two weeks before the due day, but I didn't have any contraction, bloody show, or anything else. In fact I drove my car pool to work on my due day.

My office coworkers started a pool about when the baby will be delievered and how much will he weigh. One person even betted twice to make sure he win the pool LOL (He didn't unfortunetly). Those who bet I'm going to be late kept encouraging me:"good work! keep it up!" But Fan was so anxious that he would take me for a long walk every evening and joked that if we passed the due date he would have me climb a mountain.

I decided not to come in work on Friday 2/5/99. Thursday night at 3:00am I started contraction. (What good timing! lol) I thought it may be a false labor or Braxon Hicks contraction so I didn't wake Fan. I told him when he got up at 7. By 8 o'clock it became 3-5 minutes apart and we decided to go to the hospital. I was 3cm and I was admitted. After examination it was about 10am and doctor told us to go for a stroll. So we went downstairs. Fan went out to have a cigarate, and I was waiting for him inside the corridor when the contraction became intense. We ride the elevator up and down several times because the contraction was so intense that I couldn't move.

When the dr came in to examine me he was surprised to say that I was fully dilated. We planned to have epidoral because we heard many good stories with it. But I was progressing too quick and didn't have time for it. The labor started at 11am. The dr told me average pushing time is 1 hour and my mom said she just saw another woman gave birth with one push. Well this is not the story of me. I pushed for one and half hour until I couldn't even tell when did a contraction start or end because the pain seemed to be unbearable all the time. The worst thing is the baby didn't move much. The dr said that the back of his head stucked in my pelvic. I feel so much pain that I cried out "Let's do a C-section!" but the dr kept telling me that I was a great pusher. Suddenly all drs and nurses went out. I was sure that they were having a meeting to decide whether to give me a C-section. But they come back in with all the scissers and stuff and said they were ready to deliever. The last 30 minutes went by fast. I felt my body worked great. It was the part that I would like to experience again. Tiger was born at 1:14pm. He was 7lb12oz and 20 1/2 inch. Strangely I didn't remember his head measure, but it was in the 90%. He has a big head. :)