Thursday, July 26, 2007

Welcome!

It's been almost 4 weeks since Gareth was born so I guess I better start his blog now.

The story started on 30 June, my EDD. The whole family was getting ready for bed when my waters broke at 10.40pm. That immediately activated the whole family. Luke and I quickly changed and grabbed our bags, which was just packed a few days beforehand. Then we drove Gerald, still in his pyjamas, to his grandparents' place a few blocks from ours, before dashing to the hospital. Checked in at about 11.30pm. Still no contractions yet so really cool about the whole thing.

Midwives checked me out and prepared me for the long night ahead. Asked whether I wanted an epidural. Midwives themselves couldn't agree when to administer epidural. I was in 2 minds. Luke said better be safe than sorry so I took the epidural right at the beginning, even before they started the drip to regulate the contractions.

Contractions started at around 1am. The epidural wasn't on full strength so I could still feel some pressure. Waited until around 4.30am when the pressure was quite strong to start pushing. Although this is my second child, this is the first time I was pushing the baby out on my own as Gerald was born via assisted vacuum cup suction. Was I glad I took the epidural at this stage. Gareth is bigger than Gerald and was in a face-up position, which is harder to push out according to the Doc.

After about 1 hour of intense pushing, Gareth was finally born on 1st July 2007 at 5.40am. He weighs 3.44kg and is 52cm long when he entered the world.

Welcome to the family, Gareth!

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