I'm a mommy

We became parents exactly on our baby boy's due date. For three days, I had the "false" contractions hoping inpatiently that the baby would arrive early. I had already used up a week of my 6 weeks "vacation" from residency and I wanted to spend as much time as possible at home with the baby.

I woke up at 4am with contractions and decided I'd try to labor at home as much as possible so that I could avoid being sent home. In my experience as a resident, I have sent home tons of patients who showed up "too early" and I didn't want to be one of them. Five hours later when the contractions started coming every 3 minutes, we headed to the hospital.

I was 6cm dilated by then and happy that I was indeed in active labor. By my calculations, I'd deliver by 3 or 4 pm. While the contractions weren't as bad as I thought they'd be, I still opted for the epidural since I know G-ones (women having their first baby) tend to labor slowly and I have seen many of them scream their heads off. I didn't want people to see me in that state, but later, I realized that didn't matter because all sense of modesty would soon be thrown out the window.

I had a little complication with meconium staining and positioning of the baby so during the actual "pushing" there were about 10 people in the room besides me (1 was my husband, others healthcare providers). For about a second, I thought about all the times I was one of these 10 people in on a delivery and just about laughed to myself--for a second that is.

Yeah, despite the the residual effects of the epidural which ran out 1 hour before pushing, I did feel a lot of pressure-type pain on a scale of 7 out of 10. But in reality, I think admitting over 10 people during a call night is much more painful than that pain was.

The baby is beautiful--Of course! Indian-Filipino makes for a good combination. He truly is a mixture b/c I don't think he looks soley like either of us. To the delight of the Filipinos, this baby has a nose bridge so they'll be no "nose molding" by well intending grandmothers.

life with the baby

Because there were no private rooms available except for the posh $300 + rooms on the 10th floor, we decided to fork over the money since "we deserved it." Besides great care and a nice living space for a hospital, we also enjoy omelettes for breakfast and lobster and steak for dinner. It was awesome, but I couldn't wait to go home 48h later.

After being spoiled at the hospital, we came home to sleepless nights. Breast feeding has been trying and the anxiety of being a new parent leaves me haggard. I've learned tons as a patient and as a new mother which I think will definitely come in handy as a physician. I can't believe it has already been a week!

bathroom etiquette

Being pregnant, I'm a frequent bathroom visitor and have noticed a few things.

When there are multiple stalls and I figure out that someone is taking a massive "dump," in desperation, I go the farthest stall away from them. I try to get out of there as soon as possible, and usually, the person stays in their stall until I'm long gone.

But today, I used a restroom with only one stall. As soon as I opened the door, the smell of "you know what" greeted me AND the culprit was right there washing her hands at the sink. If she were still in the stall I would have left in a second, but then there she was. And she even said," HI!"

I couldn't leave . . .it would have been rude. So I faced the music and went to that freshly flushed bowl. ughh.

heaven

I had my first day off after 15 days on the wards today. I treated myself to my first pedicure and can say it was worth every penny.