Blog Entry
MOTHERHOOD STATEMENT Feb 2, '10 9:17 AM
for Sol's network
Just wanted to share with you my latest adventure -- motherhood.
It was June 4, 2009 when I saw two lines in my pregnancy test kit. After a year of trying, our prayer for a little bundle of joy was answered. As soon as I knew that I was expecting, I patiently and diligently went to all the pre-natal check-ups and obediently followed what the OB (and what all other concerned friends and family) told me to do -- prenatal vitamins, Anmum, sleeping early, eating every two hours, gaining a pound per week. Though I have been remiss on some areas, like drinking coke and ice tea when my craving got the better of me, all in all I think I was a good mom-to-be. Being pregnant for the first time is both exciting and tormenting as I was more emotional (than I already was), I worry a lot and it seems like eating was only thing I was comfortable doing. So you see, it wasn't a surprise that I was 120 lbs (my pre-pregnancy wait was 89 lbs), with a 36 inch waistline when I was on my last trimester.
Fast forward to my ninth month, my estimated due date is January 25, 2010, but it seems as though my baby was in a hurry to come out. During my last prenatal check-up on January 9, 2010, I was already on my 37th week and I was told that my cervix was already dilated at 2 cm (read: you give birth at 10 cm dilation, that's when baby's head is just about peeping out of your cervix already). The OB said I could give birth any time and I just had to continue to take walks so I will go through labor and delivery with less difficulty.
On the evening of January 12, it must have been serendipity that my eldest sister Mavette called from Australia to check on me. Having given birth twice already, she gave me the low down on what agony to expect. That night, I already couldn't sleep because my back was really painful. The next day, January 13, 2010, even when the contractions felt more painful and came in regular intervals, I still managed to bring myself to work. That morning I was already uneasy and kept a timer near at hand to monitor my contractions. My colleague Daphne, whose cubi is right beside mine, told me I was unusually silent that day and that should mean something's not right, because I am usually my talkative me on any other given day. After monitoring my contractions the whole morning, and since I could no longer work because the pain seems to intensify by the hour, I told my Team Leader Sir Totits that I will have to take the rest of the day off so I could go to the hospital for a check up. I convinced my cousin Marga, who is a nursing graduate, to go to the hospital with me in case I needed to be admitted already. I left the office at 12 noon to meet up with Marga and have lunch at my (grandma) Nanay's house. After a hefty lunch with Nanay and Marga, I went to the bathroom to pee and along went my mucous plug already. At that point, Nanay told me to leave for the hospital already because there was some fire in Cabantan and we might get caught in traffic. So Marga and I left for Dona Rita and took the long route, we just asked the cab to wait for us so we can just pick up my hospital bag and leave right away for Cebu Doctors Hospital. It was already 3:00 PM when we arrived at the out-patient department, where I waited for my turn to see the OB. When it was finally my turn, the OB said I was already dilated to 6cm with a very thin cervical wall. I was asked to the admitted right away, she said I was due anytime soon. Around 4:00 PM I was already in the labor room in a hospital gown and weighing down contractions that were coming on at 3 to 5 minute intervals. Marga was left clueless at the waiting lounge, with all my things (they asked me to take off everything and leave it with her). Everything was so rush rush that the only thing I was able to do before being dragged to the labor room was text Victor "6cm na ako, OB said admit na ako" (message sent at 3:51PM), and then I remember dumping my phone and everything else I had on me on Marga's lap. So you see, I'm really glad my cousin agreed to accompany me that day.
In the delivery room, the PGI assigned to me was a guy (someone please tell me what PGI stands for, I only know that they are doctors but not quite yet). Yes, he was with me from the time the OB in the delivery room did another internal examination and confirmed my 6cm dilation up until I was being stitched up 5 hours later. The most painful part about childbirth was not the delivery, it was being in labor, and having a guy watch over you through the whole ordeal made it worse. Don't get me wrong, he was not mean or anything, in fact, in hindsight, the usual frankness and candidness of men helped a lot. Every few minutes I would be complaining that it was already really painful and the response I would get from him was a straightforward "sige lang mommy, mas sakit pa na unya... antosa lang kay mas sakit mas hapit na mugawas si baby". Meaning “live with it because it will get worse later; be thankful for the pain because it means the end is near." Thank god for that one sweet nurse who came up to my bedside and offered to give me a backrub and held my hand for a while. At around 7:00PM it was time for another internal examination and the OB told me that I was already at 7 cm. A few minutes after, my water broke and then the most excruciating pain of my entire ordeal happened, each contraction lasting for 5 to 10 minutes at 3 minutes interval: it was so painful, I felt like my lower back was going to break apart. This went on for about another hour and then it was time. I knew it was time because I felt like I was going to go and the pain was already indescribable even with a pain reliever. At past 8:00 PM, the OB asked me to attempt to push, to see if I was ready. At that point, they transferred me from the labor room to the delivery room and I knew the worse was already over. In the delivery room, I was already exhausted and after many push attempts (with about a dozen people cheering you on, shouting every possible synonym of the words"push", "go" and "almost there" in English and Cebuano), a healthy baby finally came out head first via spontaneous normal delivery at 9:21PM. As soon as the baby was out, they placed him on my belly where he was cleaned. They swaddled the little man and then brought to my breasts to "latch on". I learned later on that this procedure was necessary for baby to recognize mommy and introduce him to breastfeeding. Baby Boy Gonzalvo was 6 lbs 11 oz and 47 cm in height, with APGAR score of 9.10 (just Google what APGAR means). At this point, I survived!
The second most painful part of childbirth was having your episiotomy wound stitched up, especially when your topical anaesthesia is already wearing out. I think it took longer for my PGI and intern (also another guy!) to stitch me up than it took for me to go through delivery. It also took about 3 weeks to completely heal from these stitches! After being sewn up, I was left to recover for a few hours with nurses monitoring me. I wheeled out of the recovery room at 1:00AM, and I was met by a very worried Victor who was wondering what happened to me between 9:21PM and 1:00AM. He said he already saw the baby because he was already being "displayed" at the nursery. After having settled down in the room, Victor and I realized we still had one major problem; we still were undecided on the baby's name.
After sleeping over it, and a few exchange of text messages to people who were also as interested to give a name to our baby, we decided on Victor Gabriel, in time for eager visitors who came to the hospital to visit me and to see Gabe. Aside from Tita Marga, Matitoy and the Kool Adventure Camp team came: Enen, Daphne, Leo, Bre and Anton. They deliberately violated my no visitors, no camera policy! Thursday afternoon, I breastfed Gabe for the first time and that night he was already roomed in with me. Lis, Queenie, Babang came to visit us in our cramped ward room. On Friday, the OB decided against discharging me because I still had a bit of perineal swelling. Good thing because I still had a few more visitors who came, Myla and Sir Totits. Finally on Saturday, the day before the feast of Sto. Nino de Cebu, on a rainy afternoon, with Mich helping us as we were packing and getting discharged, we left the hospital with our little angel and for the first time we were a family. Somewhere along our short drive from the hospital to the house, there was a moment there when it finally sank in that I already was truly a mother.
