Pregnancy, Labor, Delivery & Bringing Home Baby

I missed last week’s topic which is pregnancy and I really can’t afford to totally miss it so forgive me if I’m tackling about it in this single post.

I got pregnant at the age of 19. I was in 2nd year college then and there were 3 months more before the end of the school year so I had to juggle studies and morning sickness at the same time. I experienced the usual – nausea, vomiting and all. I didn’t like the smell of perfumes and I so loved the smell of dried fish and garlic. But if you’re to ask if I got everything I wanted during the whole course of my pregnancy, well… NO! hahaha!!! Hubby didn’t give in to my whims. I didn’t experience the luxury of being preggy. Well, good thing I only wanted 2 things then – banana and donuts. It wasn’t very hard to get so I was able to somehow indulge myself on those, but definitely not always.

After my first trimester, everything went well and I was able to prepare for our wedding day. My tummy was at its 6th month when I walked down the aisle and marry the brave and loving man, the father of my child. We lived together in a small but very nice apartment and together, we waited for God’s greatest gift to us – our Alyssa – the reason why we are now called, parents.

My labor started at around 6pm and I gave birth via normal delivery at 7:26am the next day. Oh YES!!! Almost 13 hours!!! Hubby was in Manila for work, while I already stayed in the province 1 week before my due date. When I felt that I was already in labor, hubby rushed off and arrived in Laguna just before midnight. I didn’t undergo any ultrasound and so the gender of the baby was a mystery until I finally gave birth, but in our mind we believed we were having a baby boy and so we were totally surprised when my OB said, “It’s a G-I-R-L!!!”

The delivery didn’t last very long though, it didn’t even last an hour. Hubby was not allowed to get inside the delivery room so he just went to McDonalds to buy breakfast and when he came back, he’s already a father. We were set to go home at 5pm the same day of July 30, 2005 and because we only have boy’s name packed, hubby has to think of a girl’s name and just ask my approval when I woke up. And he came up with MAY ALYSSA KIRSTEIN. You may read HERE why we came up with such a name.

Then come 5pm, we were all ready to go home. I was already walking then, but the 1st week after giving birth was really painful – I can barely walk straight. I was expecting to have sleepless nights, but Alyssa has been so good ever since she went out though I always stay up just to watch over her sleeping like an angel.

During the whole process, my Nanay (grandmother) was my constant carer. Before we go to the hospital, she rubs my tummy everytime it hurts and after I gave birth, she sees to it that she goes up the stairs (no matter how difficult it was for her aching knees) just to check on me and Alyssa. She cooks for me and makes sure I eat the right kind of foods to help generate breastmilk. Oh, how I am missing her again…

I think I experienced having post-partum depression since those were the times when I felt like my husband cared less about me. I didn’t feel loved and appreciated then and I think that was the start of my crankiness during our first year of marriage. Good thing we were able to balance things out and now, after almost 5 years… We are already planning for a second baby. I don’t care if I go through the same hardship again because everything’s worth it after all. What I pray is that, hopefully on the second time, hubby can replace my Nanay’s care before and after my pregnancy.

What a shame! I can’t find any picture of the preggy ME, not even my classic labor pics. Good thing my OB’s surgeon husband was kind enough to take pics while I give birth, so here are the precious pics of my cheeky munchkin the day she came out and changed our lives.

July 30, 2005 @ 7:26am weighing 5.7 lbs.

This is my share on last week and this week’s Couple’s Corner hosted by Mommy Liz. Join us too – hit the badge!