Mommy Again...

On March 13 which was supposed to be my last day at work, I woke up to find that I had passed blood in my urine. A and I hurriedly went to the hospital but after being strapped to the contractions monitoring equipment (not sure what it's called) and having a vaginal exam, we were sent home because i haven't started dilating, yet.



I decided not to report for work anymore, afraid that I might give birth in the office and scare the wits out of my boss! haha At about 5pm, i began having 10-minute contractions and then it progressed to 3-5 minutes at 12mn. I called the doula and the hospital but I was told to just sleep as these contractions could still last up to 2 days! at 2am though, I was in so much pain that I told the hospital staff I was coming in whether they like it or not. I must have sounded really miserable so they allowed me to come over. I hurriedly called our doula to meet us at the hospital.



At the hospital, I was again strapped to the contractions monitor for about an hour and when asked if they can do a vaginal exam to see if I have dilated, I had to refuse because I was in so much pain. I was then transferred to the birthing room.



The birthing room was huge. A week before, I joined a maternity tour around the hospital to check the facilities with my doula and my sister. It turned out to be very informative and very helpful specially since this is the first time I am giving birth in Australia and I was expecting they could have a different process from what we had back in Pinas. During the tour, the whole birthing process was explained and I already had an idea which "pain relievers" I wanted. But come D' Day, I was in so much pain all I could think about was to get the epidural as soon as I can, the same way I had Vince back then. But the doula reminded me of my birthing plan which we finalized a week before and suggested I try the hot shower first. So A and the doula, Sara, moved me to the huge bathroom, placed a mattress on the floor, put a chair where I clung for dear life and A proceeded to aim the shower at me. I was in that position for more than an hour, screaming my lungs out, huffing and puffing and feeling like a pig about to be butchered. Haha!

As soon as I have fully dilated, I asked to be transferred to the bed since I was more comfortable lying down while pushing. By this time, I was hanging on to A who was encouraging me to push and giving me water to keep me hydrated. On March 14,at 6:20am, the little one was already out and was immediately placed on my tummy. He immediatelysucked on my breast and stayed there for almost an hour.

This was a totally different experience from when I had Vince. I was "drugged" that time and everything happened like a blur but this time, I was very aware of what was going on. Except for the pain, this birthing experience was better than the first and I am specially proud of the fact that I did not have epidural. I was also confident that I was in good hands, this being Australia with all the technology and of course, we hired a doula to assist us.

A couple of hours after giving birth, Vince joined us along with my sister. Kuya was obviously smitten with his little brother as he was constantly kissing him. Until now, we have yet to see him being jealous of his brother and I can only pray that it stays that way forever.