On the Day You Were Born

Nathan:

December 31, 2005 (New Years Eve). We lived in Foster City in an one bedroom apartment. The whole building smelled like curry, but our apartment was big for a one bedroom and really nice inside.

Your Daddy and I had gone to Safeway to pick up some things for dinner and a bottle of Champagne to toast at midnight. As we were walking in, I said to him "You know, I'll probably are going to go into labor tonight and we will end up spending New Years Eve at the hospital."

Around 7:00pm I started having, what I thought were little tiny contractions. Around 9 or so, when they didn't stop we decided to take a walk around the block. I could barely make it. I was DEFINITELY having contractions. When we got back home, I decided I better take a shower and "freshen up" cause it was finally time to go to the hospital.

In the shower, my water broke. It was like a giant water balloon and thank god I was in the shower because there was a whole lotta water! I of course screamed for your Daddy. He didn't come. I yelled his name some more, and when he still didn't come, I got out. He wasn't even home! He had gone down the hall to use the bathroom by the laundry room in our building. About 5 minutes later he came walking in and I told him my water broke. He turned a ghostly white and started spinning circles looking for my hospital bag. (It was actually really funny).

Once we got to Mills Peninsula in Burlingame, we registered and the contractions REALLY kicked in. I seriously thought I was going to die. I thought my card was pulled and that was it for me. Thank god I only had to endure them for 30min or so, because then an Angel or the "anesthesiologist" as some people call him, came up and gave me an epidural. I thought at the time the epidural would take the edge off....NO. It made me feel NOTHING. It was amazing.

I was able to get some sleep and hours passed. We got to the hospital around 10:00 pm or so, got the epidural around 12:30 am (January 1st). The next day around 3:00 pm when you still hadn't graced us with your presence - it was decided I needed a cesarean. The reasons being - I had a fever, you hadn't dropped into the birth canal and I only dilated to 9cm. 20 hours later at 3:30 I was prepped for surgery and at 4:04pm, January 1, 2006 you were born!  You weighed in at 8.4lbs and 20 inches!



Cheyanne:

May 8, 2007. We lived in Campbell on Latimer in a 2 story, 2 bedroom townhouse. There were a million stairs and only a small patio, but I loved it.

By May 8th, you were already 6 days late. Your due date was May 2 and I was miserable. You were a big baby and we were having a heat wave. Grandma was at our house to help out with Nathan.

I had a doctor appointment that morning and in it my doctor, Dr. Malony, stripped my membranes to see if that would induce my labor. She told me to go home and call the hospital around 1 pm to see if they had any openings to be induced if the membrane thing didn't work. It didn't. You were NOT going to budge until you were good and ready :)

Around 1:30 pm they said they had an opening so Daddy and I headed to the old Kaiser on Kiely in Santa Clara. We registered and it just so happened the biggest room they had next to the registration desk was open. Once we were settled in the room, they started the Pitocin. That brought on a few contractions, but nothing I couldn't handle. I was terrified, though, that I would feel pain like when I had Nathan, so I keep bugging the nurse for an epidural even though it was early.

I ended up getting an epidural before any major contractions started and was able to get some sleep. The doctor came in at some point and popped my water. Sometime in the middle of the night I woke up with the unbearable urge to push. The nurse came in around 3:00 am (while Daddy was snoring away) and checked me. I was 10 centimeters and ready to start delivery. She woke up Daddy and we were good to go!

They have you push for a while with a nurse or 2 before the doctor even comes in because pushing usually takes a while. Pushing lasted about 30 minutes then the doctor came in. Turns out you were READY. You were very close to just popping out. 10 more pushing minutes passed with the doctor doing her thing, and at 4:02 am, (11 hours of labor) May 9, 2007 you were born!  You werighed in at 9.5lbs and 22 inches!



Austin:

June 5, 2010  We lived at 583 Weston Dr. in a 3bdrm 1bth small house.  We are always stepping on each other but we have an awesome backyard that ROCKS in the summertime! 

In the morning of June 5th (your due date) I woke up knowing it was going to be today or the next.  Grandma and I had plans and prayed I wouldn't go into labor while watching Allison Dubois.  I didn't.  I didn't even go into labor that night.  I was huge, it was hot and I was pretty grumpy.  Plus I couldn't stand to wait another minute to meet you!  I wanted you so bad and each passing second was killing me!

That morning around 1:30am I woke up with contractions every 5 minutes or so.  I grabbed Daddy's phone which had a contraction timer on it and began timing them.  When they were every 4 minutes I woke up Daddy and called Kaiser.  They said because you are baby #3 to hurry up and get there because you'd be coming fast!  They didn't want you born in the hallway on the way to Labor and Delivery.  I called Grandma and she was at our house by 2:30am when the contractions were getting more and more intense. 

Daddy and I were in the Observation room for 2 hours because even though the contractions were almost unbearable I was still at 4cm and there wasn't any changing.  The doctor even talked to us about going home with a Percoset and Benadryl for a nap. (Ya right, that didn't go over well with Daddy and me)  It turned out, there was some irregularities in your heart rate so they kept us and decided they'd give me Pitocin if necessary.

I was checked into a Labor & Delivery room around 6am and it was huge and totally comfortable.  Thank god, because I could barely walk at this point.  Turns out I was still at 4cm and there was NO change even when they broke my water.  I asked for something not an epidural (because I was determined to do this naturally) to take the edge off.  The nurse gave me a shot, via IV of Fenadryll? (I can't remember - it was good stuff).  It took the edge off for about an hour and then the contractions were back in full force.  I couldn't take it anymore.  It was 7am and I had been in labor for 5hours.  I just couldn't do it anymore especially because there was no change and I was going to be there a looooooong time.  I finally got that epidural.  Which - during the procedure, I got sick and threw up on Daddy. 

Eventually during the contractions your heart rate started to drop and the Dr. recommended a c-section.  Daddy and I were devastated.  We did NOT want that, but for your safety we quickly agreed and I was in the O.R. at 1pm being prepped.  The c-section took 3 hours because of all the scar tissue I had accumulated since Nathan was born and I was shaking and throwing up uncontrollably through it, but it was worth it because in the end was you.

At 2:35pm (13 hours of labor) June 6, 2010 you were born!  You weighed in at 8.5lbs and 20 inches!