Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Shots and a Surprise

I took Jilbaby in for his 2 month check up. Masha Allah he has grown! He is now 21 inches and weighs 13 lbs! He's a short blob of a baby!!

He took his vaccinations like a champ. Cried until I picked him up and fed him. Then he was out and has been in and out of sleep all afternoon.

The doctor had a little surprise for me though - his blood tested positive for Hemoglobin E.. Most likely from Dad. She says not to worry but is there anyone out there who can edumacate me on it?? I got a pamphlet from the doctor and looked up some sites online, but I like to learn about things from people with first-hand experience...

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

(Finally) My Birth Story Part 2

I left work that Friday afternoon feeling fine. Annoyingly well, to be exact. I made a mental plan in my head to do partake in any 'labor-inducing' act I could think of.

I came home and tried to convince H to take me to dinner downtown. We could do a lot of walking and then eat spicy Indian food. He was not down for that.

Or any other proposal I threw at him.

In the end we went to my friend's restaurant. Things were awkward. I was feeling guilty for making him miss work because I was convinced that I would be pregnant forever. Plus the fact that he didn't want to do ANYTHING - no walking, spicy good, food massage, and all that OTHER stuff you know that can possibly induce labor.

In fact things were so awkward that we sat and ate dinner in silence.

We came home and he went upstairs to spend quality time with himself. I stayed downstairs and watched TV. Funny how I can't remember what I was watching.

I started feeling stabbing pains in my stomach around 9:30. They weren't contractions, it felt like I ate something nasty and was going to throw up. But I did not. Instead I drank some water and lay on the couch.

After an hour I decided to go upstairs to my room to sleep. H was in the room playing a videogame and was so into it he didn't notice me coming in. I got in bed and went to sleep.

At around 12:30 am I woke up. The lights and TV were still on but my husband was not in the room. I figured he was downstairs taking a (gag) smoke break (double gag). I put my hand on my stomach and noticed something strange. The pain had gone away but my tummy had changed. Where normally I'd feel a preggo belly against my lower rib cage was.. well.. nothing. Flat. Gone.

"Did I drop that much that fast?!?!?!" I thought. A small voice in my head told me that this was it... just stand up and you will see. But I shrugged it off. Just to be safe I stood up and felt a dampness. My heart began to pound faster and faster. "NO WAY" I said out loud to myself.

I decided not to get ahead of myself and went to the bathroom. I could feel trickling but I tried to keep a level head, telling myself I could just be having an 'accident'.

I did my biz-nass in the bathroom and stood up. Then it was like Niagara Falls in my bathroom. MY WATER BROKE!!

I rushed downstairs to the front door and peeped through the peep hole to make sure H was outside. I saw the glow of his cigarette in the dark. I swung the door open and blurted "MY WATER BROKE!"

"What?" He was startled and confused.

"The baby is coming!!!"

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We got to the hospital within 20 minutes. Alhamdulillah Jilbaby decided to come in the middle of the night!!

It was, as my doctor described, "A Beautiful Birth."

I had to take the epidural due to a dip in baby's heartbeat that occurred when they initially monitored me. It never dipped again throughout the rest of the labor, but in case the dip would lead to further complications, the doctor wanted to speed up the process with pitocin. I was fine with that.

And I held on for as long as I could until the back labor started!! Apparently Jilbaby was face up (or sunnyside up) but he turned around as I was pushing. Back labor felt even worse than "normal" labor!

H was a supportive as he could be. He was at a complete loss for words and didn't know how to help. I tried to tell him that all I wanted was for him to be near me and that would make me feel better but he couldn't see how that would make any pain go away. But he did the best he could and was by my side through the whole labor.

When Jilbaby came up, per our instructions, the doctor and nurses did not say a word. We were as quiet as possible as H and I marvelled at our son and the doctor and nurse finished their work. I was allowed to keep him with me for as long as I wanted before they took him away to be cleaned, vaccinated and eye-gooed.

It was .. amazing...

On my cue they wrapped him up and handed him to H and he sat in a corner to whisper the Adhan in his ear.

The doctor afterwards couldn't stop gushing over the beauty of it all.

What can I say? Jilbabble's got like that, baby ;-)