Our little rascal greeted the world at 1844 hrs on 26 October 2012, weighing 3.095kg at 50cm height, after a grueling 17 hrs in the hospital. I'm not sure how long I was in actual labor. The beginning was painless, and I was told I'm contracting. The last few hours were total agony. Was adamant to taking epidural, but in the end was rather thankful I took it. I wouldn't know how I could withstand the pain and still force myself to push Eli out, with the unfortunate turn of events. His heartbeat seemed to be dropping with every contraction. Worse was when the heartbeat fell to 60 right in the middle of delivery. I was absolutely livid and exasperated. Goodness knows how much I cried in that 17 hours. I must say it was traumatic. Eli was induced mainly because the water level was low, and his head was resting really low. It was until he came out when we realized the umbilical cord was laced around his neck. Thank God we agreed to induce Eli, if not I don't believe I would ever see him again if I waited for a few more days.
I do believe I went into motherhood unprepared, as much as I tried to prepare myself in the months prior to delivery. Imagine my shock when I realized the amount of pain I have to go through after delivery. The healing in the perineum, vagina, rectum... not forgetting the abdominal pain and scars (stretch marks) of my battle to bring the little guy into this world. I can't believe I didn't foresee the recuperation would take so long and be so difficult. But somehow seeing WY so happy every time he sees Eli makes the whole experience really worth it. I might not be the most patient, loving mother, but I'm glad Eli has a dad who seemed to have the best makes. Lucky him, lucky me. =)
Really wanted to dedicate this post to my lovely husband WY, who has unrelentingly been very encouraging throughout the pregnancy, and even up till now. I saw his helplessness as I fought the pain during labor, and I know it wasn't easy. It's worse to see someone you love suffer and unable to do a thing to ease the suffering. And for that, I'm thankful I'm not the one going through it.
At my request, WY got me a nice surprise when he was out getting the birth certification for Eli yesterday. I was expecting something small, like food to cheer me up, since I'm cooped up at home for the entire month. However, what was presented really brought tears to my eyes. I'm not too sure how to describe what I felt, but when I saw the gift, I just teared. And till now, I'm not sure the reason why I teared. Somehow the gift got me a very simple realization, how thankful that I have someone like WY to go through parenthood with.
Here are the surprises:
And amazingly, my darling husband teared when he saw me receiving the gifts. I really want him to know that I feel the same way about him too. I really thank God for having him with me. And because I have him, I have no regrets bringing Eli into the world, and because of him, I'll try my best to be the best mother, to partner him in this parenthood journey. I'm excited, because I know the upcoming parenting experiences will be hard, but I know with WY, there'll definitely be joyful moments, which makes everything so complete.