Baby Jalen's Arrival

Tuesday morning, I woke up around 4am feeling what I thought may be a contraction. It felt like indigestion and it was the first time I felt any type of early labour symptoms. So I got out of bed and pulled out my childbirth book and I was convinced that I was experiencing pre-labour symptoms. The cramps were not regular enough to feel like contractions but they were uncomfortable enough to keep me awake. So I went down stairs and walked around, trying to get through them. I didn't bother waking up Rick because I was sure that these were just very preliminary signs of labour and they were either going to go away or last for hours. About an hour later, I felt my first real strong contraction. I had to use my relaxation breathing to get through it. I thought, boy, that was kind of intense, do women really go through hours of such contractions before they even go to the hospital? I decided I didn't want to go through this alone anymore so I woke up Rick and told him that I was having some cramps. It took a while for him to realize what I meant and happily got out of bed to keep me company. He asked me if he should call into work and tell them he's not coming in but I said just wait and see. I had few more contractions and each one just as intense. They were coming every couple of minutes or so. I still didn't think I was in real labour because according to our baby class, early labour contractions can vary from every 3 minutes to every 12 minutes. But then the next few contractions were increasingly intense such that it took some serious breathing to get through them and I could feel my cervix opening up during these contractions. They were still coming what seemed like every 2 minutes. I decided it was time to call the doctor's office. I told the doctor that I started having contractions at 4 o'clock and now they're about a minute apart. She asked, 4 o'clock yesterday? I said no, 4 o'clock this morning. She told me to come into the hospital. I battled through a couple of more contractions and realized that my water broke. Now it's really on! I barked orders to Rick between contractions to grab our bags and load up the car. I was a little worried that once we started to head to the hospital that my contractions may slow down and they'd send me home. However, my contractions continue to come every couple of minutes and I got through them with a series of screaming, grunting, cursing and whining. All I could think about is making it to the hospital so that they could give me some drugs!

When we finally made it to triage, at around 6:45am, my water had broke completely. I was stilling having intense contractions every 2 minutes or so but I somehow managed to censor myself when I got to the hospital and kept my language to PG-13. When the nurse came to check me, I fully expected her to tell me that I was 5cm dilated and ready for my epidural! Well, was I ever wrong! She told me that I was fully dilated to 10cm! I said "WHAT?!" "Can I still have some drugs please??" They said at this point there's not much purpose to get an epidural, I was ready to start pushing the baby out. I begged for some drugs for my back which was absolutely killing me from the contractions. But they told me that any drugs that they gave me would make my baby very drowsy. So there I was, a mere 3 hours after my first contraction, 10cm dilated, wheeled into the birthing room, with no drugs, not even an IV. It took all I had to push for the next 40 minuts or so until finally, at 7:53am, our baby boy arrived. When he came out of me I broke into a sob of relief that the labour was finally over. When they told me it was a boy, I was not surprised at all because I had been so convinced that it was going to be a boy! When they handed the baby to me on my chest I was so happy but at the same time in shock. So much had happened and none of it like the way we had planned or expected. Who knew that it would only take 4 hours for me to deliver my first baby? And on top of that, with no drugs whatsoever?! That seems overly ambitious even for me! Nevertheless, this was how our baby boy Jalen decided to arrive into this world and we now have the most amazingly perfect child and an incredibly memorable story.

Our new little family. Jalen came in at 7lbs 12oz and 19.5 inches.

The proud papa and Uncle Joon.

Cousin Gracie and baby Jalen.