Dinosaur Days

Since we have been on fever watch for the past few days nothing exciting has happened for me to blog about. The good news is that finally today R-rex's temperature is back down to normal. So today I have decided to write about the birth of R-rex. I have been meaning to write it down for awhile and this way I can type it, which is much easier and readable. Also when my memory starts to fail (which seems to be daily) I can refer to my trusty blog :) Don't worry I won't go into gory details but it may be boring so read at your own risk.

Overall I had a pretty easy pregnancy. My blood pressure was high through out but other than some minor headaches it never caused any complications. Though being pregnant in Japan during summer came with it's own difficulties. Including the crazy humidity, a stormy relationship with my baby doctor (stemming from my lack of Japanese like size) and cravings of non Japanese foods. However compared to what some people have had to go through during their pregnancy these were minor.

No matter how easy it was though by the last month I was ready for it to be over and to see my sweet little one. My mother came over so I hoped that he would stay in until she got here but was ready any day after that. My mother arrived on the 13th and unfortunately got an infection and so we spent the next few days trying to get her better. Once she was feeling better we were taking walks to try and get things moving. On the 17th particularly we went for a walk to the local canal to look at the birds. During our walk my hips started to feel achy. Then that night we were at the hospital getting mom's daily IV of antibiotics and I started to feel a squeeze at 6:00 pm. It released and about ten minutes later I felt another small squeeze. After feeling my belly mom said she thought they were contractions. These continued throughout the rest of our hospital visit and walk home. S-man had to go to his part time job that night and was worried I would go into full labor while he was at work so he called his mother to come stay with us.

The light contractions continued throughout the evening and by 10:30 we decided we should go to bed because it may be a long night. I had just laid down and was trying to fall asleep when I felt a gush. I told my mom that I thought my water broke and mil called sil to come get me and take me to the hospital. Sure enough my water had broke and so off to the hospital we went. Doctor had a look once we got there and said I was only at 3 cm but that he had to admit me so I would not get an infection. I was quite discouraged when I heard 3 cms because I had been at 1 two weeks before then 2 a week before and here I was finally having contractions and my water broke and I was only at 3!! I felt like it was going to be forever before I got to hold my baby.

They set me up in the delivery room at the clinic and I got the fetal monitor on. I loved hearing the tiny heartbeat and was so excited. We tried to get S-man but couldn't get ahold of him however when he got home at midnight and found the house empty he rushed to the hospital. He was very excited too!

Contractions continued and steadily got worse as they do in these situations. I wish I had been very Katie Holmes about it all but I was loud. I couldn't find an English speaking prebirth class so I hadn't mastered the breathing techniques so all I could do was yell out and not breath. I was also very mobile, up, down, on the couch, on the bed, around the room. I kept trying to find ways to ease the pain of the contractions. Finally at about 5:00 after being checked again and was only at 4 cm I had had enough and when the doctor asked me if I wanted an epidural I asked how much longer it would be. When he answered it could be another 6 hours I said YES give it to me! I could have taken another 1 or so but not 6 more hours.

He had just finished giving me the epidural when I felt little R's head move down. I told the doctor that the baby was coming now. He said no he is not. I said yes he is. This went on a few more times until I made him look. Sure enough there was a whole bunch of scrambling as they got ready to catch R-rex. A few pushes later we had our little bundle of joy in our arms, at 5:58 am about 12 hours after feeling the first squeeze. I had to laugh at the surprise of the doctor and nurses at how quickly it progressed at the end. They had little time to put on their gowns and never got time to put the end of the bed down or get the scissors ready for the snip (thankfully). All I could hear from the end of the bed is "hayai" (fast).

The clinic I stayed at has a rule where the baby is supposed to stay in the nursery for the first day but after I had pretty much camped outside the window only a few hours after giving birth they let me take R back to my room with me. This is not the only rule they bent for me. After getting the baby blues during the very strict bath time lesson they rolled a cot into my room for S-man and my mother to take turns staying on. They also let R sleep the night in my room which wasn't their normal practice. It really was an amazing clinic with wonderful food, gifts and even a facial on my second to last day. I would come back to Japan to have all my babies just for the clinic :)

So there you have it all about the birth of our dinosaur (which coincedentally was on his due date). Hopefully I didn't bore or scare you too much!