I know I don’t have many people read my blog other than my family (hi, mom, dad, meems, Nicole and auntie Mary) and a few friends (hi Jen and Angel!) but I figure there’s no harm in sharing this with you.

Growing up, my dad has always taught us to be generous and to help those less fortunate than us.  It’s one of those lessons that’s stuck with me all my life and probably why I have no problem with donating to charity even when I’m tight on cash myself.

No, I’m not going to talk about helping Haiti by donating to all the relief agencies out there (though if you haven’t, it doesn’t hurt to go check it out and help out a little bit.  I know I did.)  This time, I’m talking about March of Dimes.  It’s a non profit organization that focuses on and brings awareness to the prevention of premature births and preventing birth defects and baby mortality.  You can read more about them at their website: www.marchofdimes.com.

Of course, ever since E was born, my heart grew very soft for charities and organizations that work on improving the lives of children and the March of Dimes is no exception.

They are an important organization for me because I referenced it a lot during my 3rd trimester when I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and anemia, both rather scary things to have when pregnant since it is potentially life threatening if not monitored.  Without the information that was provided on their website, I wouldn’t have been as informed about my own condition and about the risks I was putting us in by not having an induced labor.

So why am I bringing it up now?

It’s because Lori and her husband, Aaron, over at I Can Grow People, will be participating in the walk that is being held by their local chapter of March of Dimes.  Also because they went through a lot when their son, Porter, was born prematurely and she has been a strong advocate for bringing awareness to premature births through her blog.  Plus, her blog has helped me deal with E and my own experience as a first time mother.  Mostly it’s because I admire the courage and strength that they have with raising their son despite some of the bumps they’ve encountered after he was born.

I donated a little bit to their cause and if you are interested, you can also help them meet their goal also by donating at their team site.  They are doing this for Porter and I donated for E and for my nephew, Z’s sake.  If you’d rather donate directly to March of Dimes, you can do so by going to their website and look for the donate button.

Even if you don’t feel like donating (and since I probably just have 2 people who read this blog, this probably will be the case), please go check out Lori’s blog and read about her life as a mom to Porter.

Oh and speaking of blogs, another one of my favorite blogs that I read on a regular basis, Confessions of a Young Married Couple, is up for blog of the year award at the Bloggies 2010 awards.  Now, I don’t normally care for these types of things much but I really do love their blog and their take on parenthood so even if you don’t want to go and vote, you should really go read their blog.  I know I turned meems into a fan and I’m sure you’ll love reading about their son, the Bean.

Actually, you should just go check out who’s nominated for the Bloggies because I did and I found several new blogs that I absolutely fell in love with and will be following on Google reader from now on.

J.

The following morning, the nurse came in at 9am to check on us.   She found that the foley catheter had worked and I was about 5 cm dilated.   It was then time to move me into the delivery room where I would spend most of my time until the delivery.

The delivery room wasn’t too far from where my room was.  So it was a short walk down the hallway, which was nice since I was tired.

I wasn’t allowed to eat all day but I was allowed to have something to drink to keep me hydrated.  I think it was to prevent any bowel movements during labor and to keep me from throwing up since I had a high dosage of Pitocin injected into me.

Here’s me and Jason before they hooked me up to all sorts of IV’s and stuff.

At around 9:30, my doctor came in to check how I was doing and to tell me they were going to start giving me the Pitocin to help me along with labor.  The nurses were having a hard time finding a good vein to inject the IV’s into so the doctor had to use a vein in the back of my hand.  Very, very painful place to be injected, by the way.  They also had to put a splint and wrap up my arm so that I don’t move my arms too much and accidentally pull out the needles.  I had a total of 3 things injected into me:  the Pitocin (to help speed up contractions), the Apresoline (for the blood pressure), and saline (to keep me hydrated).  Before she left, my doctor told me that if I’m lucky, Ellie will be out by 5pm that day.

It actually wasn’t too bad in the morning.  They started the pitocin at a low dosage so that my body would get use to it.  Because of that, the contractions weren’t too bad at first.  In fact, I managed to get a little sleep in.  I also joked around with Jason a bit and tried to con him to bring back some food for me but he didn’t.

I think around 11am, the anesthesiologist came in to give me a very light dose of epidural to keep my blood pressure from going up every time I had a contraction.  Epidurals are very painful and it made lying down very unbearable.  It was a very light one since I could still feel my legs and the contractions though.

The midwife came in maybe every hour or two to check how far along I was as well as to up the pitocin level.  It was around this time that time became one big lump and I couldn’t tell what time things were happening to me.  I think by the 3rd or 4th time she came in, she had upped the dosage to max and warned us that my contractions were going to get more painful soon.  Nice to know but didn’t help make the pain go away.

I think it was around 12:30 or 1pm that my contractions started to really kick in because they were really hurting like heck.  I was actually doing pretty well still.  I managed to continue with my deep breathing since my contractions began to hurt and even at that hour, I was still holding on pretty well.  I had to grab onto Jason’s hand for support though but still, the contractions were bearable enough that I didn’t have to scream.

I’m guessing it was around 2pm that the doctor came back to break my water since I was at 7 cm dilated.  It was at this time that the contractions had started to become so painful that I was digging my nails into Jason’s hands, causing all sorts of injury to him.  I was trying really hard at that point to continue breathing but I was also getting lightheaded from breathing too fast and from not having had food all day.  At one point, the midwife came in to help me walk around a little to help with the contractions but it just made me nauseous and want to throw up even though I didn’t have anything to throw up.

She came back after what felt like a lifetime and checked me again, worried that I was still not dilated enough for labor but yet was in so much pain.  At that point, I was delirious and was telling Jason that I don’t want to do it anymore and I want to give up.  I think at that time I also asked the midwife to just give me an epidural since she said that I still have a few more hours to go and I couldn’t take the pain anymore.

Luckily for me, the doctor came in just to reconfirm that I wanted an epidural.  When she came in, she also checked my cervix and noticed that I was already at around 9cm dilated and that I was ready for delivery.  She asked me if I still wanted the epidural since I’m almost to the finish line and I told her yes, just give it to me.  She gave me an incredibly light one though probably since she knew I didn’t want to have one if I wasn’t so delirious.

From that point on, my doctor told me to push every time I felt a contraction.  She also had the midwife and nurses prepare for the delivery.  This is where things start to get fuzzy for me since I was in pain and my head was in another plane of existence.  I remember I pushed and scream every single time I had a contraction.  The midwife and Jason each held on to my leg to help me widen my pelvis a little before they put up the stirrups.  I think at one point, the midwife told me that I would push a lot more efficiently if I didn’t use all the energy in screaming so I tried to do as she said.

I think I must’ve passed out mentally at one point because the next thing I knew, I was surrounded by nurses and the doctor and midwife and everyone was telling me to push and that I was almost there and that I was doing a good job.  When Ellie’s head was coming out, my doctor asked me and Jason if we wanted to touch her head.  I said no and all I could think of at that moment was “get her out of me!”

When it came to pushing out her shoulders, I remember just how painful that was and I kept pushing even though the doctor told me to hold on.  I remember yelling out that I can’t wait and I have to push right now!

As I was pushing the last few times before she came out, I remember mentally passing out for a brief moment.  I still remember the last moments before Ellie was completely out of me….I had momentarily lost all feeling in my body and my mind felt so numb.  I think my ears also plugged up or I went deaf but the sounds of the freeway and the cars buzzing by were the only things I heard…..and then I was back to reality.  It was a very surreal moment.

Anyway, at 3:13pm, Miss Ellie was born….2 hours earlier than the doctor had expected.

Everything happened so quickly soon afterwards.  The doctor placed Ellie on my chest and Jason took a quick photo of the two of us.

I could not believe that this little person in my arm was just inside of me hours ago.  It was a very weird feeling.

They had to take Ellie away after I held her for a few minutes because she had swallowed some of the fluids and they needed to clear it out so she can breathe properly.  During the time when they were cleaning her up, my doctor had to stitch up the tearing that had happened during labor.   Jason was watching her and commented to me that I was bleeding quite a lot.

My head was still dizzy from everything that had just happened but I still remember the midwife bringing the placenta to show me.  It was weird that this massive bloody mess was all from me.

I guess it took about an hour or so for them to clean me up afterwards because by the time I was back in my room, Ellie was brought back to us.  She was crying from hunger so I fed her instantly.  It was painful the first time she latched on but she was hungry.

Karen and Koichi came to visit us a little bit and helped us record the moment since we didn’t have any family with us.  This is one of the first photo of the three of us as I tried to nurse Ellie.

Here’s Jason holding her…

We were both tired from the days activity but we didn’t get a good first nights rest since Ellie kept crying all night.  It was a very tiring first night for the both of us since we did not know what to do with her for most of the evening.  She did have 2 big poos and it was quite an interesting sight for the both of us as it oozed out of her.

Labor was by far the longest and worst experience I’ve ever had but I think it was worth it.  Sure, Ellie is a fussy baby and she is quite a challenge compared to almost every single baby I’ve met but when she smiles at me, it makes everything worth it….