PPBC #1 The Day I Became A Parent

When I was younger, I used to say that I didn’t want to get pregnant, only because I was frightened of the birthing process. I’m sure glad God didn’t listen to me.

I gave birth to Tina on January 8, 2007, a week shy of my due date. If I hadn't given birth then,

I would have been induced on Jan. 15 or 16. The funny part was that several weeks before that, the hubby would talk to the baby to please come out on January 8. So they’d both be born on the 8th. She sure listened to her daddy.

We were so surprised when she weighed 7 lbs and 7 oz at birth because on my last ultrasound on Dec. 23, her weight was only a little over 5 lbs. Well, when I learned that, I figured that I could binge. But I didn't count on her gaining 2 lbs in 2 weeks! Not only that, given her weight and my skinny frame, it was a surprise that I gave birth normally. I was preparing myself to give birth via CS because of my pelvic bone. But I had a good OB (my cousin) who kept on urging me to push and push. But my golly! When you’re on Epidural you think (because you can’t feel) you’re pushing (to the point that you feel you’re gonna poop) and still it’s not enough. The resident doctor saw it as her duty to push my tummy to the point that I wanted to push her off the table. Now I know how a tube of toothpaste feels like!

When I was admitted to the hospital at 4:30 am on Jan. 8, I was only 2cm dilated. But my OB gave me medicines to hasten the delivery. Yeah, right! I still gave birth at 4:56 am. True to my kikay self, I still showered before leaving the house, powedered my face a bit and I found the time to trim my fingernails. And a couple of days before that, I had a foot spa. No way was I going to put my feet up in the delivery room with my toes unkempt. lol. ; ) In the labor room, I still maintained my poise because I wasn't screaming (unlike the other lady next to me) everytime I'd feel the contractions. I would just twist my pillow or hold on to the mattress and say a lot of Hail Marys. But thank God for epidural!

I'm a bleeder so I lost a lot of blood and I had to increase my intake of iron supplements. I was nearly given blood transfusion. And since Tina was so big, they really opened me up. Because of that, I was in maternity pads for over a month! What a hassle. When we brought Tina home, we didn’t have a yaya yet so it was just the hubby and I with help from my parents. Since I did a lot of moving around and bending over the crib, my wounds re-opened. I was scared that I had to be sutured up. Lucky for me, that it healed through medication. But I had a relatively easy pregnancy. I had morning sickness till my 4th or 5th month and it was pretty hard to sleep the minute my tummy got bigger and heavier. But aside from that, it was easy.

Oh well, despite the pain of the labor and delivery, not to mention 9 months of carrying her, anxiety and paranoia, I am extremely happy to be blessed with Tina.

Then

Now