Countdown to Guang Hao's (广昊) birth

May 6th (Thursday):

Mommy's exams are finally over! Mommy is really glad to finally have a breather. Since your expected arrival date is not for another three weeks or so, Mommy and Daddy thought we will still have plenty of time to get things ready for you.

May 7th (Friday):

Our weekly appointment with Dr H... We did our usual ultrasound, which was ordered a couple of weeks back because Mommy's amniotic fluid was on the low side. Fortunately, today it was back to normal! I guess all the drinking of water helped. Your expected weight is 5 pounds 8 ounces, which is low by US standards, but just the way Mommy wants it to be. (Yup, Mommy is hoping a smaller Boy Boy will mean an easier delivery!)

We also did our weekly BPP (biophysical profile), to make sure you are doing fine despite the low amniotic fluid levels. Mommy was hooked onto a fetal heart monitor and a button to press whenever you move. You were super active! And we managed to catch you during one of your hiccuping fits too. Dr H gave you a 10/10 for acing all the tests! This was a relief for Mommy, because anything below 6/10, and we may have to consider inducing labor. Not fun.

May 8th (Saturday):

Mommy finished up her last session of piano lessons with the kiddos today. No more commitments from now on! Mommy was really looking forward to a couple of weeks of sleeping, knitting, reading etc, before you are born. But it seems like you had other plans...

That night, Mommy started having some cramps for the first time. But Mommy didn't worry too much about them, since they didn't hurt that much, and Mommy was sure they were false contractions. I mean, whoever has heard of going straight into labor without feeling any false contractions? Mommy went to sleep hoping that the cramps will go away the next morning...

May 9th (Sunday):

... but they didn't. Daddy, Mommy and your Po-po went about our usual activities anyway. We had breakfast at McDs, and went grocery shopping at Payless. We talked about what were the things we had to prepare for a BBQ-cum-baby-shower we were going to have with Daddy's classmates that night. We even called up Uncle W and Auntie XJ to see if they want to meet up for lunch. Auntie XJ has a scheduled C-section on Monday, so we wanted to catch them before they became busy with parenthood.

So it was quite ironic when Mommy's water broke at about 1pm that day, and we had to call them back to cancel our lunch date. Daddy also hurriedly transferred all the marinated BBQ stuff to his classmates, so that the BBQ can proceed as planned. And of course we called Dr H, who was kind enough to let Mommy have her lunch before being admitted to the hospital.

2pm:

We reached the hospital without much drama. The suite was nice and cozy, but the pain was getting quite unbearable. Mommy's dilation measured 6 cm, which surprised the nurse a bit, coz she didn't expect us to be so far along...

4pm:

Mommy was given the option having the epidural now, or wait until an hour later, because the anesthesiologist had to go into the OR to perform a C-section, and will not be available till later. So Mommy said yes, and had the epidural put in place. That went smoothly and painlessly. Unfortunately, the epidural was not much of an epidural. Mommy could still feel all the contractions, and the dose could not be increased because the anesthesiologist was uncontactable in the OR. So it was pain pain pain for the next few hours.

6pm:

Apparently, a lot of babies chose to be born on the same day as you , Boy Boy (nine, as we later found out), so the hospital was short of manpower that day. Dr H came in and called it 10cm and (finally) gave Mommy the permission to push. While Mommy was pushing, Dr H had to set up the surgical table, and go out of the room to look for help (which was kind of funny in retrospect). Help slowly trickled in. When the surgical technician came in, the team was finally complete, but Mommy was still pushing, and getting really exhausted. After what seemed like forever, Boy Boy was born at 6.57pm!

Your Daddy got to cut your umbilical cord. He did pretty well considering that he cannot stand the sight of blood. You came out eyes wide opened, and wailing quite loudly too! You measured 20 1/4 inches, and weighed 6 pounds 8 ounces, a lot more than what we anticipated from the ultrasound!