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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2NGe9mLAEc&w=420&h=315]
Let’s see it’s been about three weeks since I’ve last updated. Well, a lot has happened since then. Namely this:
To fully tell the story, I have to backtrack a little so bear with me here.
Saturday, November 9
Over the weekend, I saw my OB and had a special trip to Labor & Delivery (L&D) for a NST since my blood pressure was becoming alarmingly high, mix in with a little nausea and just overall yuckiness. Go to L&D and turns out everything is okay. In fact, while I was at L&D, I was contracting; not enough contractions to warrant being in labor but enough where they were noticeable. My OB comes in about an hour later to check on me and sends me home. He calls me that following Sunday to make sure I’m doing alright.
Monday, November 11: Now this is when the bullshit started.
I go to my OB’s office late Monday afternoon (he’s courtesy enough to be open on holidays). My blood pressure is once again through the roof so my OB sends me straight to L&D for a NST. I wasn’t allowed to eat before I went so I had to go there straight from his office.
Keep that in mind: I wasn’t allowed to eat anything.
So M and I go to L&D where we’re informed we have to wait a while so they can get a room ready for us. The secretary tells us 10 minutes. Well, 10 minutes turned into 15, which turned into 30, which turned into an hour. So imagine a full-term pregnant woman, who hasn’t eaten anything since breakfast, isn’t allowed to eat anything, is waiting for a spontaneous NST at her doctor’s orders? Yeah, you’d be pissed off too.
I finally went ballistic and went home. I left. I’m not sure how long it took for everyone to realize I wasn’t there but my phone started blowing up about an hour later from my OB to the L&D nurses begging me to go back. The only reason why I went back is because I didn’t feel Yoda move that much. We went back to L&D around 11:30 PM and returned home around 2 AM. Everything was fine. I was ordered to make an appointment with my OB first thing Thursday morning. Fun.
Wednesday, November 13
M decided to take the day off and take care of household items. We go on what would be our very last twosome date to a local pizza parlor. We both feel it’s the calm before the storm and just enjoy the day with each other.
Thursday, November 14
I go to my OB’s office first thing Thursday morning. My blood pressure once again is through the roof, no to mention, there is protein in my urine for the first time this pregnancy. This immediately puts me as a candidate for preeclampsia and my OB told me to go straight to L&D. No NST this time – I’m getting prepped for a c-section.
We checked into L&D and this time they’re ready for me. I get changed and I have a set of nurses taking my vitals and what-not. One of the nurses graduated from my alma mater, Azusa Pacific, so she has student nurses with her, also from APU. That’s pretty cool. I immediately took that as a sign from God.
We had a chaplain come in right before the surgery to bless the delivery of Yoda’s arrival and a good surgery for me. And then it was on!
I got wheeled into the operating room and I requested jazz music to be played during the delivery. I told the anesthesiologist that anything else would hype me up. I was given a spinal block and once again, I just didn’t like that shit. Needles and my back just don’t get along. But the spinal worked and I couldn’t feel anything below my chest. The sheet was pulled up and my OB asked me if I could feel anything. I told him no and he replied with, ‘Good because I just made an incision.’ (It’s funny now.)
M was let into the room and sat next to me with camera in tow. Minutes later with a few tugs and pulls, my OB holds up Yoda and says, ‘Here’s your baby!’ The moment was surreal. It honestly felt like I won the lottery.
We have our first family photo and I’m a little out of it. A lot of drugs are in me but I managed to smile:
This photo below, I honestly don’t remember taking. I was that drugged up:
Here is the photo we debuted to everyone on our respective Facebook pages:
Yoda’s going-home outfit:
Here is a photo of me, one week postpartum:
Yoda’s official name is Bogdan Michael. Bogdan is Russian for ‘given by God’ and Michael, in honor of his big brother, Ethan, who shared the same middle name.
During the hospital stay, I kept getting asked if Bo was my first baby. I answered yes even though it wasn’t true. I didn’t want to go through explaining to each person about Ethan and I most certainly didn’t want to cloud a happy moment with sadness. I didn’t feel bad about lying, however. I’m very protective of Ethan’s memory and I would rather lie to protect him than be honest and deal with uncomfortable reactions from people.
My surgery recovery is going as expected. I’m always sore but it’s manageable. I’m on Vicodin and heavy-duty Motrin that I take twice daily. I’m not allowed to pick up anything heavier than Bo and that’s fine by me. I recently got my staples removed and Bo had his first pediatrician appointment the other day. Other than getting used to no sleep, everything is great. I can honestly say my life is perfect. 🙂
My parents weren’t able to come up due to other issues that I’m glad had nothing to do with my brother but I hope they can come up soon.
Needless to say, this blog will go from talking about my pregnancy to raising a biracial, multi-ethnic baby in Los Angeles and being a ‘first-time’ mother.
Congratulations! He’s beautiful!
Thank you so much! 🙂
So excited for you and your family!! Reading your blog gives me hope that we too will have our rainbow baby come this May. Thanks for making me smile 🙂
Thank you so much! My only advice is to keep the faith! Keep this in mind: this pregnancy will have a different outcome.