And there she was! All in a day's work. Almost like clockwork she came 4 days early - this one is ready I thought. My tummy was way bigger with you than with your brother. And true to that you were bigger by a pound which is a lot for a baby! You are also an all natural one - delivered the traditional way with no medication, no epidural. But I had lots of help. The other parent DT of course and your grandma, my mom. She was amazing and I would not have been able to do it without her. She encouraged me to try a natural birth even before you were ready and she was with me all through. I am sure her hands hurt with the amount of time she spent rubbing my lower back through every contraction!
The day began very early for me. A little past 3 AM I started getting some pains. And this was the real one since I had false pains for a couple of days now consistently. I knew today was the day. I tried to lie down and calm myself - but the pain was coming every 15 mins or so now. After a little bit I couldn't sleep/lie down anymore and I got up. I let DT know today was the day. Sleep well I said - I'm okay for now. It's gonna be a looong day! I then went down and (gasp!) downloaded an app on my phone to track the contractions! That was so helpful. I don't know how I thought of it but my body was pumping adrenalin through all that pain! The app was super cool - there was a button that I tapped every time my contraction started and then again every time it stopped. It then gave averages and I even emailed it to DT and I after as a souvenir - electronic one at that! My cousin R was staying over with us and was on Eastern time zone. He gave me company and we chatted all through the morning till 6:30 or so through my contractions. It helped keep me distracted! Then everyone started waking one by one. RK came down and I was trying very hard to not let him see my pain and I think I succeeded. Once he left to school though I let loose and started to notice the pain! I told DT to drop RK and come back and then said we should go to the hospital. I was now having contractions 7-8 mins apart. DT a nervous second time dad decided he had to have a haircut right that morning to welcome his dear girl (grrr&(#($)*@($)%) - exactly!!! Anyways I then tried to calm myself with a shower which worked for a little bit and then away we went.
There was drama when we got there. They would not let my mom in without a photo ID. And she had cleaned out her purse and left valuables and passport at home! Dear cousins K and P were unavailable on the phone and here was DT getting worried. On one hand there was me asking for amma and on the other he didn't want to leave me alone to go and get the passport (30 mins total). He finally reached out to one of our neighbors and she was amazing - god bless her! She went in, got the passport and came and gave it to us at the hospital. Whoa!! It was a very unlike-DT thing he did - desperate that he was! I had an amazing nurse who encouraged me to stand and move around (in hindsight I could have been a little more mobile) and even took a pic of me, amma and DT. That is a pic for keeps. By early afternoon it was all in place. At around 3 I began to push. I can still remember the intensity I had to use to push you out. At one point I wanted a break and they could not allow me that since the head was crowning! This one nurse (Filipino I think she was) got all tough on me and gave me a bunch of instructions on what to do and how. Whew! But at the end of all this - there she was. Our lil girl. Sigh! That will always bring up an image in my mind that is frozen in time. Whatever other times I might forget over time this one moment of seeing her for the first time I wont! It was definitely an emotional moment.
Through that day and the next ( a blur mostly) I remember feeling ecstatic. I was much less tired than with RK and I totally credit that to a natural delivery. I am so grateful that it worked out like that - luck and fate definitely helped!
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