Been a bit busy....

My mother said that having your first child was a life altering labor of love (I agree!) and that because you have to care for the needs of two little ones, having the second child is harder than having the first (she has a point...). However, the third child she promised would be easiest of all.

Baloney! I say having a third child is exponentially more demanding: you're outnumbered and in my case, outsmarted! Ours is definitely one big happy family, but truthfully, our 9 year old, 4 year old, and newborn boys now run the show! Here it is well over a month since our sweet baby boy Jaesun Patrick Slesicki was born, and I am finally getting it together to send you his birth story!

Two weeks before delivery, I figured I should stay close to home so I declined a couple of social engagements and decided to see a DVD at home instead. Am I glad I did! That fateful day, just as we finished a movie at 6 pm, I had an urge to urinate and thought nothing of it, figuring it was typical after two hours of movie. I gushed what I thought was urine, but to my alarm, I saw a huge clot of blood the size of a liver in the toilet. I had a brief cramp, but felt physically fine otherwise. With the previous pregnancies, I didn't have any clots prior to labor, so with mounting concern, I called Labor n Delivery (LnD). Since I'm 41 years old, I was scared of any age-related pregnancy issues and hoped I wasn't miscarrying this baby late in the term.

While talking to the nurse on hand, I urinated again but without incident so I communicated that to her with some relief. She put me on hold so she could determine with the supervising nurse whether I should come to hospital for check up. Then I had to urinate again, but this time, I passed another liver-sized clot and anxiously told her so when she came back on the phone. This definitely required my coming in, so my husband gathered up our boys and a backpack of thrown together essentials. I had intended to start packing that week, so we were totally caught off guard. I hope others will learn from my act of procrastination -- Get that overnight bag with snacks packed 3 weeks in advance! And as if i wasn't under enough stress, I couldn't get a hold of my mom to watch over the boys and left her numerous voice mail msgs, each more frustrated than the last...

When I finally entered LnD at 7 pm, I had stopped urinating and didn't bleed again. After checking me over, the nurse on hand determined I was fine and normal, and had just probably passed my "plug," a part of the seal over my cervix which at 2 cm and still felt firm. She also assured me that, although I had not passed an abnormal amount of blood (phew!), I could go into active labor at any time and advised that I get my "ducks in a row" at home.

By 8 pm we got home and put things in order: the boys went to sleep; hubby packed the bags; and I wrapped up last minute details. My mom had called and left the message that she would try contacting us again and that she hoped I wasn't going into labor yet!!!

We tried to relax, but you could feel the expectation in the air, and our excitement grew. By midnight, the house was silent, hubby was asleep, and I wandered, puttering around the house with this stupid, content grin. This is when the first contractions started.

At 1:30 am, the contractions began in earnest -- every 7 mins for half an hour or so. Then by 2:30 am, it was every 4 mins so I called LnD. They timed the duration of my contractions and told me it had to occur for an hour before calling them again. So I used my super yoga powers and waited, breathing deeply and cursing softly while hunched over in pain. By 3:30 am, the contractions began to be 2-3 mins a part, and I began to pass the large clots again so I called LnD and demanded to come in. They agreed to my relief. We woke the boys, and since I had heard back from my mother (I must have left her another 20 msgs by the end of the night...), we decided to take them with us hoping that my mom would meet us later.

I was checked in at 5 cm and subsequently prepped in the delivery room. We had planned for my mom to watch the boys while hubby coached and supported me through labor. After hubby reluctantly ushered our sleepy boys back home and I realized I would be alone through the delivery, I unexpectedly began to cry silently. My midwife and nurse noticed and consoled me touchingly with very supportive words. My nurse was too kind: she gave up her breaks to stay with me until I delivered. I can't tell you enough how sweet they were. Their support helped me focus on the delivery and cleared my heart.

After a total of about eight hours of labor, Jaesun was born on May 31 at 9:12 am. Midwife Johnson and Nurse Jackson of Kaiser Permanente delivered a healthy, bright eyed, and hungry Jaesun and lay him comfortably on my belly so he could nurse while I cooed soft, sweet welcoming words to him. It was my third delivery, and yet I was surprised that it was still emotional for me -- still a tearfully joyous and humbling event. The delivery team was so calm, competent, and supportive -- this midwife and nurse really made it the best delivery experience for me.

I wasn't going to share this story with you at first because I felt it was my 3rd pregnancy and the events would be old hat, boring even, compared to the wonderful stories I had read through your emails, but I'm glad I did. Even though it's long, once I wrote it and expressed what was in my heart, this birth story recalls the emotional drama of Jaesun's birth and reminds me of that special day -- of how much I love my sweet, youngest baby boy, and how much my family means to me. And you always have to spread the warmth of that kind of LOVE!

Peace and hugs,

MaNams

p.s., yes, yy franken belly needs some serious re-shaping! 4 words: Post-Partum-Scupting-Class! Look for a new me by next year