So I have nothing to say about that! I thought I would tell Laina's birth story as best I remember it because the longer time passes, the less I remember it.
I was young and fairly clueless about what labour and delivery would be all about, so the night before she was born, while Adam and I were watching "The Bourne Identity" (on VHS, teehee) I started feeling cramping in my lower back and thought it was just a sore back. When it started coming and going with varying degrees of intensity, I realized I must be having contractions. I started timing them and they weren't regular, so I just went to bed. On and off through the night, I would wake up from the pain of one of the contractions, but mainly I just slept. In the morning, there was bleeding, so I knew it was "Game on!".
We left for the hospital around 8am in the morning, driving there in our Honda Accord hatchback (I wish I had a picture of that, it may have been one of the ugliest cars I have ever owned).
Here is me walking out to the car (please remember, no digital cameras at the time... this is a photograph of a video...)
And yes, thank you for noticing, it DOES look like I shoplifted a basketball and tucked it inside my shirt (okay, who am I kidding, Adam's shirt)
When they checked me out at the hospital, I was 5 cm dilated and the pain wasn't too bad. They broke my water and left me in a room to wait.
It wasn't until about noon that the pain started to increase but it was managable. At around 2, I told the nurse it was no longer managable and I wanted pain meds because I had reached my pain threshold. She snarkily said to me, "I don't think you have." Do you know how badly I wanted to punch that lady's face??
Needless to say, I stayed pain med free right until the end. I started the pushing phase at 2pm and Laina was born at 4:01 pm on July 20th, a mere 10 days after my 23rd birthday. But not until I had endured 3rd degree tearing from vacuum extraction and eventually forcept delivery!
She was a beautiful 9 pounds 4 ounces and 24 inches long. Here she is waving!
and that is it for now! My life changed in a big way that day, it was a tough learning curve at first, but when I look at my big 7 year old now, I can barely believe she was ever this small!
I can never get over how long Laina was at birth! I remember watching the video of you and Adam getting into the beautiful Honda Accord on the way to hospital and I couldn't believe how calm and peaceful you seemed. It's hard to believe its already been 7 years!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe she was over 9 lbs... especially for a first baby and for as tiny as you are, that's a big ol' baby! Zaida was 9 1/2 lbs but errmm, uh... I wasn't very tiny at all... lol. You look SUPER cute pregnant. Be sure to share the stories (and pictures!) of your other sweeties... soon!
ReplyDeleteLaina was so beautiful (and still is!) and you and Adam seemed so calm and in love with your little girl. I can't believe she is 7 now, time sure flies!
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