A little over a month ago my life was completely changed forever. On February 21st at 8:59PM I gave birth to my first child, my daughter Melati.
The prior 9 months were just surreal. Although I've always wanted to have a child when I found out I was pregnant I was pretty shocked. I suppose you'll never be ready for a child, but once I found out I read everything I could to be the best parent.
Since I have two younger siblings who are thirteen and twenty one years younger than me I've had some practice with changing diapers, feeding children and giving them baths. So at least I was a little bit ahead of the game. So I was never too worried about taking care of a baby because I was already comfortable with the idea. The only thing I was worried about was the labor. That was the one thing I was both scared and nervous about.
So February 21st at 12:30AM I was in bed watching one of Kevin Hart's stand up comedy shows when all of a sudden "Bam" my water broke. I was actually scheduled to be induced February 23rd at 8AM. So my water breaking just sped up the moment that I was to meet my little girl.
I wasn't nervous, but I did have an "Oh Shit!" type of moment. My hospital bag was only half packed and my apartment looked a mess. I was prepared for the baby, but I had planned on organizing everything that weekend before I got induced. So first thing I did was wake my mother up which was funny because once I told her my water broke she asked "How do you know". Trust me your water breaking feels nothing like peeing. So once my mom woke up I called the doctor and was told to go to the hospital.
I got to the hospital around 1:30AM and I had to wait for a delivery room to be available. The waiting game is always horrible but finally by 3:30AM a room was available and I was brought down to the delivery room. Then once again it was more waiting. Since my water broke and I didn't have any contractions I needed to be induced. By 6:30 AM I finally got my medication to be induced and it tasted like I was drinking a tablespoon of water.
After an hour of being induced I started to feel the contractions, but I was still able to tolerate it. After four hours I was in pain and I couldn't take it anymore. At this point I was four centimeters apart, but the doctor gave the okay to let me have the epidural. When I was pregnant I wanted to hold off on the epidural, but getting the shot was the best thing ever. The pain went away and all I wanted to do was sleep and so I did. I was sleeping on and off after my epidural and all I could think about was when can I get this baby out. I didn't want to eat and I wasn't even hungry the whole time.
Then around 5PM the real painful pains starting kicking in. This was also the point where I thought I had to do number two (sorry for the TMI), but of course I knew that it meant the baby was ready to come out. Since I was only at 8cm I wasn't allowed to push. This was also the time that I started to act like the biggest baby towards my mother and the biggest bitch towards my child's father. I swear labor really is no joke. I was given more pain medicine, but I don't think it really did much.
Finally at 7:30PM I reached 10cm and was allowed to push. It seemed like I was pushing forever. It was only until 8:30PM when the doctor came in to check on me again that I got motivated. He told me that if I kept pushing the way I did the baby would be out in twenty minutes. At this point in labor I was exhausted and wanted to give up, but when I heard twenty more minutes I knew I had enough energy for that.
So I started to push with every little strength that I had in me. Everyone was telling me that I was doing good, but the only person I really believed was my mother. I would look to her to confirm whatever the doctor or nurse was saying.
Then finally at 8:59PM my daughter Melati was born. When I saw her I didn't cry like most people. Instead I was calm and I just wanted to hold her and comfort her as she cried. I held her skin to skin and it was amazing how she knew my voice and was able to calm down.
From that moment on my life has forever changed for the better. I have been ready for motherhood for the past couple of years. At this point in my life I'm ready for something more challenging and fulfilling. I can't wait to see where these next few years will lead to next.
