Birth of my Child - Running Diary

There's no way I could've summarized the birth of my child in a paragraph or two. Since I had a laptop with me (and a lot of spare time), here's my first ever Running Diary of the events that transcribed leading up to the birth of my child...

June 16, 2009

8:15PM - Joyce started having contractions about 24 hours ago. We're considering heading over to the Lee's for the Joseph College / YA Meeting. We even drove up to their front door. But their driveway and adjacent spaces were full. Joyce wasn't up for walking. so we went to Tops Cafe for dinner instead.

10:35PM - We call the on-call doctor. She suggests we go to the hospital. Frankly, we thought it was still too early.

11:00PM - Arrived at Labor and Delivery and checked in. We're very confident they'll send us home since contractions are still pretty far apart (7-10 min). Doesn't everyone get sent home at least once? It's amazingly quiet here. I thought June will be high-season.

11:30PM - Just got confirmation we're staying the night! Turns out Joyce is dilated at 3-4 cm already!! I still have no clue what that means - but it sounds like she's making progress.

June 17, 2009

12:30AM - Officially admitted to Good Samaritan. I've always wondered is Good Sam a Christian Hospital? Or are they publically declaring - "We are not Christians or Jews, we are Samaritans who don't follow your religion but we'll take care of you anyways!"

2:30AM - Our RN, Nurse #1, says we have about 3 hours of waiting until the next milestone. She pulls out my comfy bed (something short of a Futon) for me and wants us to get some rest.

2:35AM - I hear what I think are sirens - this is a hospital afterall. But the siren sound doesn't go away! Goodness - it's a woman screaming!! Her voice is coming through the air vents. There's a woman - giving birth without an epidural!! Her screams are loud, crisp and painful!! Every 2 minutes!! And they last a full minute!! "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" We ask for ear plugs. It doesn't help. Why don't they sound proof these walls?!?!?!

3:00AM - Can't stand it anymore. I rather go home for a shower since Joyce isn't near ready yet and that lady isn't near done screaming.

5:30AM - Nurse #1 says Joyce is around 6-7cm. Joyce hasn't slept a wink in over 24 hours due to the contractions. She asks for some medication but those only numb her for an hour. I wonder if I can take some medication too so I can get some shut-eye. Doubt it.

7:00AM - Changing of the shifts - new nurse - Nurse #2 comes in. Changing nurses is like getting a new teacher when you're in elementary school. Going from one grade to another, you've spent all year with your favorite teacher! No other teacher in the world can be as great as your previous teacher. Only you find out that your previous teacher... really wasn't that great.

7:26AM - Joyce had enough. She needs some sleep and rest so the anesthesiologist comes into adminster the epidural. He looks eerily like my old lead back at work. Nah... couldn't be. Anyhoo, I seriously thought Joyce could've done this without an epidural. She's such a trooper!

7:53AM - Nurse #2 checking on Joyce again - dilated to 6+. I've once had my eyes dilated. Is this the same thing?

7:55AM - Water broke - finally. That's good - cuz we didn't want it to mess up our bed or inside our car.

8:15AM - Our OB Dr. Z stops by to say "Hi" on her way to work. How nice! Says we'll have this baby by lunchtime!!

8:30AM - I make a quick run to Starbucks and go home to send a prayer request email and get our phone chargers. If the baby's coming at noon, we better have our phones ready to text like mad!!

9:00AM - Come back to see Joyce sleeping. Phew... didn't miss any excitement. Always the fear of "going to do something" and missing the birth of your child. Not this time... not yet.

9:30AM - Selai Chan calls to wish us well.

11:30AM - I'm hungry. Run downstairs to the cafeteria and quickly decide to skip out to Carl's Jr. instead. Come back with a Wester Bacon Cheeseburger and Crisscut Fries. Didn't need to get a soda cuz Good Sam has a pantry full of goodies. (Yay Good Sam!)

12:30PM - Since this morning, Pitocin dosage went from 2 milliUnits / min to 5 to 7 to 9 to 8 to 7. We're trying to increase the frequency of the contractions. We've now hit the 36 hour mark. The contractions are too sporadic. When will this end?

12:45PM - Just got done reading the story from Geoff. Great short story about a father and his newborn daughter. I'm getting sleepy from waiting. Gonna take a 5 minute power nap.

1:10PM - Nurse #2 comes in and checks on Joyce again. She's at 9.5. In another half hour, we'll start pushing. WOW... this is really happening!

2:45PM - Officially started pushing. We didn't attend any of the Labor / Breathing Class so we get a 15 second crash course on how to do this. "Three quick breaths, deep inhale and PUSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH (count to 10), exhale, deep inhale, PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSSSH (count to 10), exhale, deep inhale, PUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSSH (count to 10), exhale. Repeat."

3:00PM - Shift change again. Nurse #2 leaves and here comes Nurse #3. Too bad, cuz I really liked Nurse #2. And she wanted to see us through this delivery. (Still pushing, btw)

3:35PM - HOLY TOLEDO I see the top of head!! GEEZ!!!! Y'know... this isn't as bad as most people make it. I'm not going to faint! This is easy peesy - japanesey!

3:50PM - Nurse #3 says she's going to call Dr. Z. Huh?!? Does that mean.... we're almost there?????? I'm breaking out a huge sweat just coaching Joyce to breathe. Can't even imagine what she's going through.

4:05PM - Dr. Z finally shows up. Sure sign that this wasn't going to be a C-section finally secured itself. Dang...the doc is so calm and cool. Another day in the office for her. Life changing experience for us.

4:30PM - Dr. Z: "Okay, your husband's been a great coach so far. This time, I want you to listen to me. When I say push, you're going to push longer than before. We're going to get her out this time. " And with that... out came the rest of the head.... one more push and out came out the rest of the body. She's.... gray! And then within seconds, she turns pink! Looks just like me. It's amazing! Everything from here on out was a blur... thank goodness for cameras.

4:35PM - It's decided. "Rachel" Final Four Choices: Rachel, Victoria, Abigail, Kaitlyn. Yeah... "Rachel" it is.

6:00PM - Our first visitor, Rachel's 大伯父. Comes marching in with a pair of pink mylar balloons. How sweet. Would've preferred a box of 燒鴨飯 to be honest.

7:15PM - The Louie's show up with the traditional ginger fried rice. HA! Rachel's spiritual grandparents and spiritual uncle!!

8:15PM - Get transferred from Labor & Delivery to Mom & Children. Right before we take off, Rachel decides she's hungry and mom has to feed her while being wheeled off. Talk about timing.

9:15PM - Rachel gets her first bath / diaper change. WOW... what kind of poop is that?!? It's black and tar-like!! Sorta like what I make after a night out at a Giants game with hot dogs, beer and garlic fries. Hmmmm.....

10:05PM - Finally some rest on the same POS chair. All in a day's work. Now the fun really begins...

End of Running Diary