I learned a new word - antepartum. I ended up in antepartum ward in the hospital, where a bunch of pregnant women were hoping not to go into labor.
I was really lucky and got a huge room. The space somehow made me feel less claustrophobic about my new home where I hoped to be for 6 weeks. The routine was pretty basic, vitals check every 4 hours and otherwise I was left to myself. I got three square meals a day (with dessert) and two snacks and found certain go to edible things on the hospital menu.
The hardest part was being away from Kirk and Jaisal. I talked to both or video chatted with them multiple times a day but it was not the same as being with them. Nevertheless, I was willing to do it for the well being of the baby.
Of course, as seems to be our norm, nothing went to plan. On Sunday night (March 29), I started feeling something that could be contractions. I was hopeful that they were Braxton Hicks, since I'd never had them before and because no contractions were registering on the machine. Unfortunately over the next few hours, the contractions kept escalating until they were coming exactly every 7 minutes. None of this registered on any of the machines, but around 3 am, I was taken down to labor and delivery.
There my OB confirmed that this really was labor. I was devastated. There were tears. This is not how labor was supposed to be. She was supposed to be born full-term or at least not for a few more weeks. What should have been a happy moment was far from it.
On top of that I had to get another round of IV magnesium. This time around, I didn't throw up with the bolus, though I did have to waive away the anesthesiologist because I was not sure I could sit up.
Overall it was a generally shitty moment. Once I got my epidural there was nothing else to do but sleep.
Around 10 am the doctor said it was time to push. Naturally this happened to be the first time since I woke up that I couldn't feel any contractions. For a moment, I believed that maybe labor had stopped. In reality, the doctor just told me to push even if I wasn't feeling any contractions. About 5 minutes later, our lovely beautiful fighter of a daughter, Riya Shah Bacastow, was born at 10:25 am weighing 3 lbs 1 oz.
It felt like my heart exploded when I saw her. All of my sad tears immediately dried up and were replaced with tears of joy. She was tiny, but perfect.
The neonatologists whisked her away to examine her. I was under the impression that I would not get to hold her before they took her to the NICU, but in fact I got to have a few precious moments of skin to skin time with her. It was the best. I gave her a big kiss on her beautiful little head and told her that she had to be strong and that I'd see her soon. It was amazing.
The hardest part was being away from Kirk and Jaisal. I talked to both or video chatted with them multiple times a day but it was not the same as being with them. Nevertheless, I was willing to do it for the well being of the baby.
Of course, as seems to be our norm, nothing went to plan. On Sunday night (March 29), I started feeling something that could be contractions. I was hopeful that they were Braxton Hicks, since I'd never had them before and because no contractions were registering on the machine. Unfortunately over the next few hours, the contractions kept escalating until they were coming exactly every 7 minutes. None of this registered on any of the machines, but around 3 am, I was taken down to labor and delivery.
There my OB confirmed that this really was labor. I was devastated. There were tears. This is not how labor was supposed to be. She was supposed to be born full-term or at least not for a few more weeks. What should have been a happy moment was far from it.
On top of that I had to get another round of IV magnesium. This time around, I didn't throw up with the bolus, though I did have to waive away the anesthesiologist because I was not sure I could sit up.
Overall it was a generally shitty moment. Once I got my epidural there was nothing else to do but sleep.
Around 10 am the doctor said it was time to push. Naturally this happened to be the first time since I woke up that I couldn't feel any contractions. For a moment, I believed that maybe labor had stopped. In reality, the doctor just told me to push even if I wasn't feeling any contractions. About 5 minutes later, our lovely beautiful fighter of a daughter, Riya Shah Bacastow, was born at 10:25 am weighing 3 lbs 1 oz.
It felt like my heart exploded when I saw her. All of my sad tears immediately dried up and were replaced with tears of joy. She was tiny, but perfect.
The neonatologists whisked her away to examine her. I was under the impression that I would not get to hold her before they took her to the NICU, but in fact I got to have a few precious moments of skin to skin time with her. It was the best. I gave her a big kiss on her beautiful little head and told her that she had to be strong and that I'd see her soon. It was amazing.
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