the birth day

here's how it all went down...

sunday 11/25, 8:00 am

i was still deep in my sleep when suddenly i heard karen scream "hurry! wake up! it's time to go!"

"huh?" i responded still with body and mind in sleep mode

"it's time to go. I AM HAVING A BABY!" she yelled

ok, now i'm fully awake!

karen was not having contractions (that she could feel) nor did her water break, but it turns out she was bleeding

we quickly got prepared, got our stuff together, called a taxi and were on our way



8:50 am

we arrive at our hospital and get up to the maternity ward

as soon as we go in, the nurses tell us to wait because someone is about to give birth

the delivery room is adjacent to the maternity ward so we could clearly hear this woman screaming in pain from the top of her lungs

that's not good

we thought we were really nervous... no, now we are REALLY NERVOUS

a few minutes later the screaming stops and the cry of a baby takes over

congratulations, it's a boy

the nurses come out shortly after and before they could get us settled in, a second mother is ready to give birth in the delivery room

we thought the first mom was bad, this second mom was even worse and louder!

seriously, put some fucking soundproof walls around that delivery room

again, her screams didn't last for long and were taken over by the cry of a baby

congratulations, it's a boy

again, the nurses come out shortly after and finally are able to tend to karen since it's now only her and another mom waiting who still has quite a while to go before delivery

they do a check and karen is having contractions (altho' she can't feel them) and is dilated 2 cm

for birth to occur, one must be dilated 10 cm so we still have a long way to go but we are still asked to check-in and stay at the hospital

it's now a waiting game

i got outside and buy some coffee from the coffee shop across the street

got the biggest cup they had

it's gonna be a long day


karen getting checked and waiting

12:00 pm

ate some lunch and watched a movie on hbo

are we really about to have a baby?

we are actually really relaxed at this point and feels like we are on vacation at a hotel or something

2:00 pm

karen is checked again and she's dilated 3 cm now

too slow they said, so recommend that karen get up and walk around the hospital to speed up the labour

especially climb the stairs they said and climb the stairs we did

throughout the whole day, we easily climbed the stairs from bottom to top at least 20 times

times that by 6 floors and that's a whole lot of climbing

who would've thought i'd get some exercise out this?

3:15 pm

we come back to the ward from one of our climbs and there's a mother in the delivery room ready to give birth

ok, i think we have a winner here folks

this mom was just scary

besides the really really loud screaming, she kept yelling "i'm in so much pain!" over and over and over and over

we lose our relaxed mode instantly and go right back to "really fucking nervous" mode

after about 30 minutes, the screaming and yelling stopped but this time it was not followed by the cry of a baby

it turns out this mom spent all her energy on screaming and yelling instead of pushing that she lost all her strength and nearly passed out, so the doc had to proceed with an emergency c-section

shortly after, the silence is interrupted by the sound of a crying baby

congratulations, it's a boy

6:00 pm

ate some food for dinner and karen got another check up

dilation, 4 cm

way too slow

they said at this rate, it would take karen 2 days to give birth so they gave her a small dose of pitocin (oxytocin) to help speed up labour

on we go with our walkabouts and stair climbing


pausing for a rest during one of our walkabouts

9:30 pm

karen's parents came by for a short visit and she is starting to feel a little bit of pain now

another check-up and she's dilated 6 cm

the nurses were amazed!

they said karen is the one of the first moms they've seen who can actually still walk, talk and even laugh and joke around at 6 cm dilation

most moms are already cringing and screaming in pain at this point

kudos to karen and to olivia too for being such an angel

10:30 pm

karen can really feel the contractions now and the pains are increasing in strength

i went and got some food for karen to eat so she has some energy later during delivery

probably not such a good idea as she nearly choked during one of the contractions!

11:30 pm

i time the contractions at a little over a minute apart and karen is really feeling the pain now, but she's able to get up and walk around

she's baring the pain a lot better than i thought, espeically since it wasn't a pretty sight when i took her to a foot massage before

the doc comes by and checks the dilation at 8 cm

he calls the nurses

it's time to go into the delivery room

approximately 12:00 am - midnight

karen is now fully dilated at 10 cm and her water brakes

doc said it should take another hour or so, so he tells the nurses he'll be in the lounge waiting

"another hour or so?!?!" said karen

she said she could not take the pain for another hour or so, so she just started pushing really hard

a few minutes later, the nurses said they could see the baby's head and called the doc back in right away

after only a few more pushes, at 12:35 am olivia was born

again, the nurses and the doc were amazed at how well karen did

not only did she not scream and yell, she delivered in record time

the doc said it was a "perfect labour and delivery"

that's my girl!!!