today is my due date, so i guess i should share my birth story with you. finally!

two weeks ago (two weeks! where has the time gone??) i was at home with hiro. i noticed i was having regular (fairly) painless contractions. i didn't time them, because they were painless (i think they were braxton-hicks), but i guessed they were about ten minutes apart. i figured i had better go to the drugstore, just in case, so i packed hiro into the car and went.

walking around the store didn't make the contractions stop, but i still didn't have any pain. it was about three in the afternoon, so i called my doctor. he told me that it could be the start of labor, but the only way to find out was for me to go in. so, i called yoshi, met him at the house, loaded up the car with my bags and we were on our way.

it was actually kinda busy at the clinic that day, while we were there a woman gave birth to twins, and a boy was born earlier in the afternoon. a nurse checked my cervix, but i was still only 1.5 centimeters dilated. i was hooked up for a non-stress test. that was supposed to be thirty minutes, but ended up being closer to fifty, because of the woman giving birth to twins. i only had a couple of contractions, not in a regular pattern. another nurse checked me and i was still 1.5 centimeters. i was a bit disappointed...i didn't really want to go back home. i had to wait a bit longer for the doctor, and my contractions were starting to become painful. when the doctor checked me, i was about 2 centimeters dilated. i attribute that to the nurses checking me! haha

the doctor left it up to us to decide what we wanted to do. i decided that i wanted to go back home. i think that yoshi was disappointed--he had to leave work early, and he thought we'd have to pay for the visit and go back for my appointment on saturday. after we got home, we fed hiro and bathed him, and then got him to bed. i didn't eat anything because i wasn't hungry. yoshi actually had to go back to work but was back within an hour or two. at ten i felt hungry so i had a sandwich (i rarely eat after 8 pm). my contractions became regular again, and were still slightly painful.

by eleven my contractions were seven minutes apart, so yoshi called the clinic again and we decided to go back. hiro woke up when we put him in the car, and we had the hardest time getting him to go back to sleep. i had another non-stress test when i first arrived. yoshi eventually had to take hiro to one of the hospital rooms to get him to go to sleep. actually, i had to go lie down with him to get him to sleep. then i went back to the labor room, where i occasionally had checks from the nurse, and my contractions went to ten minutes apart.

in the morning, yoshi and hiro joined me in the labor room. at eight my breakfast came. i couldn't finish it, because of painful contractions, so hiro relaxed on my bed with a banana from home, and yoshi ate my breakfast!

waiting

at around nine the doctor came to check on me. i was about three centimeters dilated. i also lost my mucus plug around that time. but the doctor decided to strip my membranes. then the contractions became very painful. i admit it, i wanted the epidural!! so, i went into the delivery room to have it done. before moving, the midwife checked me, but didn't tell us how far along i was. i wish she had...if i had been almost fully dilated, i would have refused the epidural. because...i delivered saori rose at 10:24 am!! that doesn't seem very long after the stripping of the membranes, does it?? oh well! i had thrown off my glasses in the labor room (LOL) and when she was being born the midwife told me to look down. i exclaimed that i couldn't see!! i got to hold her right away, and yoshi cut the cord. even hiro was there, and when we first saw the baby, he said, 'woah!' it was an amazing experience.

just like hiro, saori nursed right away on the delivery room table. unlike hiro, she nursed for nearly an hour! she loves to suck. breastfeeding has been nearly perfect. the only 'problem' has been engorgement, something i thought i'd avoid this time! my milk came in quickly, probably because she nursed so much! and having engorgement in the clinic was actually great, because i got a lot of help from the midwife (who was also a lactation consultant!)

although it was very painful, it really was a short labor, and a happy one. we are so infatuated with our beautiful girl. i hope she grows up healthy and strong.