April 21, 2012: Liam Jacob Ng Guce

This post is looong over due! So my baby finally came 2 Saturdays ago, April 21, 2012 at exactly 2:44 PM.  I'll get to my birth story in a bit but just a few things that I want to highlight:

- Research shows that only 5% of babies arrive exactly on their due dates.  My Liam's part of the 5% :)
- Someone told me lucky daw to have a birthmark.  My little one has a huge (little & huge) birthmark on his tummy and a small one on this knee ;)
- Liam's a dragon baby <3
- Another friend told me that babies surviving coil cord incidents are considered to bring swerte.  Liam was born with one.

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So, here's my birth story:




April 19, 2012 (Thursday)
My doctor flew to Hong Kong from April 13 to 17 so I was crossing my fingers about having to give birth on these dates - she had a reliever but I of course prefer for her to be the one to deliver Liam.  So Liam was kind enough to stay put in my belly and on April 19, I finally saw my doctor.  I was 39 weeks and 5 days pregnant at this point.  Doc did an internal exam and saw that I had only dilated 1-2cm.  She even had to force my cervix open so that it would go over 1cm.! Boyyyy, did that hurt! :( She advised that I walk, walk and walk continuously so that baby would drop and I'd be more dilated than I was.  I asked, how much walking is enough? I expected her to say about 30 minutes to an hour and was surprised to hear her say, "Around 2-3 hours of walking!" So THAT'S why I haven't dilated! I'd walk around prior to that check up but never for over 30 minutes! That night, H and I decided to walk from our house to the next intersection (Araneta Avenue - E. Rodriguez).  From my running days, I know that this route (from mapmyrun.com) was about 3kms. back and forth.  Well, after that, went home, rested and still no contractions.

April 20, 2012 (Friday)
I had high hopes that I was going to have baby today because my mom kept saying it would be nice if Liam was born on the 20th since I was born December 20, and my brother, September 20.  But Liam wouldn't let us have our way! Although...
I woke up at 7AM and realized I was having slightly painful (painful enough for me to have to stop walking/talking when it came) contractions that lasted 45-60 seconds and were 5 minutes apart.  I decided to observe my contractions first and wait to see if they would go on for the whole day.
For that morning, H wanted to go to the gym and then drop by Greenhills Shopping Center while I had to meet up with my Ebay contact for the breast pump I ordered.  So off we went, I dropped by the adoration chapel at Mary the Queen while waiting for H to finish in the gym.  Still, contractions were regular.  Went to Greenhills after to do a bit of walking and window shopping.  We went home for lunch and after eating, I decided to text my doctor to tell her about the contractions.  She advised that if I could still bear it, I'd be better off at home but told me to rush to the hospital as soon as it gets intolerable or if my water bag breaks.  At about 3:30 PM though, I decided to text my doctor to say I was going to have myself checked in the hospital's Labor and Delivery Room already.  Just to be sure.

Reached the hospital at 4:00 PM.  To cut the long story short, I was only about 2-3cms. dilated and baby was still positioned high in my uterus so there was no telling whether it would take hours or days before labor actually started.  So my doctor gave me the option whether to stay and wait in the labor room or just go home.  We decided to go home since home wasn't that far away + I didn't want to be alone in the Labor Room waiting (husbands aren't allowed inside).

So we went home, had dinner, I tried walking through contractions (just inside the room) and at about 12MN, I noticed the contractions stopped so I took it as my chance to get sleep.  Slept and woke up to a popping sound! I stood up to go to the toilet and WOOOOSH!!! MY WATER BAG! It was so uncontrollable and just kept gushing.  What was alarming though was that my waters were DARK YELLOW! I got scared knowing that could mean Liam had already pooped in utero and had the risk of taking in his own poop - could lead to complications.  So I texted my doctor, "Water bag broke.  Dark yellow." She replied, "Okay.  Go to the hospital.  Now na."

This was about 2:44 AM.  I washed off a bit, dressed up while having stronger contractions and jumped in the car.  Thank God we had a stay-in driver! I was wheeled in the labor room and got checked out (internal exam) and saw that I was still at 2-3 cms.  I was hoping they'd say somewhere between 4-6 cms. because the pain looked like I had progressed a lot! :O In addition to this, baby was also still high up in utero so we still had to wait.  They gave me meds through the IV that was supposedly going to let me dilate faster and let baby come down quicker.  Only, when I took that, baby's heartbeat dropped every so often! So they continued to monitor while I also continued to manage through the contractions (according to the monitor they were moderate to high in pain.  Still no anesthesia since it would only be given at 5-6 cms.)

At around 10 AM, my doctor came to see me and let H in as well.  I was already 3-4 cms. from 2-3 so at least there was a bit of progress.  Since there was an observation about baby's descending heartbeat, the doctor asked for that specific medicine to not be given anymore and that we'll just wait for more dilations naturally.  She left for rounds/clinic time and came back at around 2:00 PM.  At this point, I had already been in labor for (since water bag broke) 10 hours and 30 minutes! Crazy.  My doctor, whom I love dearly, gently told me that we might have to do a cesarean section since she feels the umbilical cord might possibly be around baby's neck - causing the drop in heartbeat.  Of course, I gladly obliged thinking that I'd do anything to (1) get this over and done with, and (2) see my baby safe and sound!

So they called H to inform me while they wheeled me in the operating room.  Here's what they saw:

So, turns out, Liam DID have his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck - just once (some babies have it wrapped 3x!) At this point, H was already let in so he was able to take photos :)

Here's Liam, all cleaned up and roomed in :) ...and sleepy :D

Here's our first family photo! <3














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THAT was lengthy! But I did labor + go through a C-Section for about 12-13 hours so, there!

It's been a week and 2 days since I gave birth and life has never been the same.  I'm sleep-deprived but I can't complain.  When I carry Liam in my arms and stare at his face, I feel too emotional for words thinking that this little dumpling came from inside me! My own flesh and blood, very cliche-ish things to say, I'm sure.  But I don't care and I'll say it over and over again, because I know exactly how it feels now :)

Bone tired, but heart happy :)