Mid-life crisis…at 24

Most Filipinos would remember the day our little Sofia was born…Nov 19, 2006, the day of the Grand Finale when Manny Pacquiao defeated Erick Morales. But we would remember it differently. My birthing story started a day before, Nov 18, 2006, around 1pm, i went to my usual OB-Gyne check-up hoping that somehow the painful IE would verify that i was to give birth soon. You see, it feels like i’ve been waiting forever for sofia to arrive. Finally when my turn came, my OB cheerfully announced "oh…4cm ka na.maglakad lakad ka pa para mag-thin na yung cervix mo, makapal pa e" Thinking that it’s weird that i’m 4cm dilated and my cervix hasn’t effaced yet, i asked her when would i know when it’s time, she said "when you feel contractions that are 3-5mins apart, you can go back here at the hospital" so we went home, went to visit some cousins, and waited till the night for the so-called contractions that never came. The next morning, i woke up at 8:30 feeling the urge to pee…I was thinking to myself "wala pa din…i guess we can still go to sonny’s today" after peeing, i noticed that i was still leaking, that’s when i realized that "omg!eto na yon! my water bag just broke" so i changed, woke sonny up and not wanting to scare him, i said "honey, punta na tayo hospital, nagleleak na amniotic fluid ko" knowing that the only thing he understood was that we have to go to the hospital NOW! On the way to the hospital, i excitedly texted everyone on my contacts list that "my water bag just broke!please pray for sofia’s safe delivery" all these happened without me feeling any pain whatsoever, when we got to the hospital, i was IE-ed again (painfully, i might say) and interview by the resident OB. afterwards, i went to the labor room and waited…and waited…for the labor pains that were supposed to be there…but weren’t. Then finally they decided to induce me with 3units of syntocin and hooked me up to a fetal monitor that showed that whenever i have a contraction my baby’s heartbeat slowed down. That’s when we decided to have a Cesarean delivery, it turns out that Sofia’s umbilical cord was coiled around her neck and her tummy. The funny thing was i wasn’t completely asleep during my operation, i was chatting with the doctors and moving my head all the time. The anesthesiologist even held my head straight and told me "ang daldal-daldal mo, wag ka nga magulo" and to their dismay, i continued talking to them and didn’t stop until Sofia was shown to me. I even asked them what her Apgar score was. Finally, I was stitched up, rolled off to the recovery room where i waited for 6hours lying down while the nurses and other doctors around me were watching the Pacquiao-Morales fight and shouting their lungs out whenever, i supposed, Manny knocked Morales down. After 6hours of waiting i was finally wheeled off to my room given the strict instructions not to talk so i wouldn’t get colicky…which as you all would know would be very hard for me, so when i got to my room and saw everybody, i started telling them my experience in the OR and recovery room and laughed myself to pain… After the initial painless labor and operation, the anesthesia finally wore off…giving me excruciating pain and sleepless nights. I even cried myself to sleep because of the pain and would beg the nurses to give me pain killers. Now here i am, almost two weeks after… writing down my birthing story…thinking…"all the wait…the pain…the itchiness that i feel on my cut abdomen…it was all worth it…looking at Sofia’s sleeping face, smiling at us and making her cute faces…i’ve never felt more blessed..