{O baby} 7 Weeks and Counting

It’s already been 7 weeks since our little O decided to join us.  Where does the time go??  It feels like each week just flies by and I barely have time to catch my breath!  My mom was totally right when she said that when your little one first comes, each day just flies by.

A lot has changed since my last post.  My mom came to SHA to help us out for two weeks, but sadly, she had to go back home.  Our ayi, or helper, now comes twice a week to clean, rather than the daily cleaning she was doing for the first month.  Also, my MIL is super active in helping us with the little guy, and O goes to hang out with grandma several times each week so that mama can exercise and run some errands.  Did I mention that SHA is also brrrrr cold! at 40 degrees F or 7 degrees C?!

O has gained a significant amount of weight so we no longer worry that he’s such a little guy. He is a little guy no more!!!

We’re pretty sure this is not exactly accurate, but weighing him at home each week, he’s now at a solid 13.8 lbs, or 6.3 kg.  We’re super excited about his weight.  Considering he was born at 5 lbs, this is significant improvement in just 7 weeks!

He has quite a strong personality.  He can be very impatient, especially when he’s hungry or he’s given us a gift in his diapers.  He also has a bit of temper, as he turns a bright red and stiffens all his joints when we bother him, usually to change him or dress/undress him.  But when he’s fed and full, and wearing a clean diaper, O is a happy, content, sweet baby.

I’m excited to see how he develops, and who he develops into.  Will he be serious or carefree?  Stubborn or easy-going?  Will he have a sense of humor?  Will he like snuggling and giving hugs, or will he be independent?

O is definitely strong, as he’s able to hold up his head and move his head from left to right.  He’s also able to bear his weight on his legs while you hold him up.

M and I both have such high hopes for him.  Some are same; some are different.  But one thing is very clear: O is his daddy’s little mini me!

 

{introducing} O Baby!!

What a whirlwind of a week and a half it has been!  I can honestly say that I don’t remember anything of life prior to last Friday, December 16.  I mean, of course I remember what life was like before December 16, but life after December 16 means so much more that anything prior to then seems … well, rather insignificant.

This was me on Thursday, December 15.  Just another day in the life of a very pregnant woman…

On the following day, December 16, 2011 at 5:33 pm, we welcomed our precious baby boy, Oben.  Weighing in at 2.8 kg and 50 cm long, Oben was 3 weeks early!

Oben was scheduled to be born on January 5, 2012.  Because my tummy just kept getting bigger and bigger, and my doctors all told me that the baby was already bigger than the average, we all assumed that Oben would make his appearance sooner rather than later.  However, we thought he would be born maybe a week early, perhaps after Christmas or around new years.  Much to our surprise, Oben made his appearance a full 3 weeks early, lodging him in the preterm or “premie” category.

At 7 am on December 16, I woke up because I had to pee again (the bane of every pregnant woman!), but then I realized there was water everywhere!  I guessed that my water had broke, but I wasn’t sure so I googled it.  I never expected to go into labor that early so it was quite unexpected when my water broke.

After confirming that I was in labor, I woke up M and we called the hospital together.  The midwife on duty urged us to come into the hospital.  Luckily, we had our hospital bag packed earlier that week, so we threw on some clothes, fed the kitties and headed to the hospital.

My contractions were approximately three minutes apart for hours and hours.  Actually, the time went by pretty quickly.  We had a luxurious birthing suite, complete with a jacuzzi bath tub, flat screen tv and DVD player.  I had a midwife assigned to help me throughout the entire labor process, which was really nice, and she noted that my labor was moving quite quickly.  After being able to handle the contractions on my own for about four hours, I couldn’t handle the pain anymore and got the epidural.  I think M was more scared of the epidural than I was, but once it kicked in, I was really relaxed and happy.  All the nurses, doctors and our midwife kept mentioning that M and I were too happy and we looked completely unfazed by the process.

After two hours on the epidural, I was feeling the contractions much stronger and I was in A LOT of pain.  As the midwife checked to see how far dilated I was and to administer another dose of the epidural, she realized that the baby’s heart beat was too low and she couldn’t safely administer the epidural without causing more distress on the baby.  At that point, I was in active labor (fully dilated at 10 cm) and I had to start pushing without any pain medication!!

The labor process at that point is a big blur to me.  I just remember an unbelievable amount of pain, the thought that I was not going to make it, and desperately wanting someone to just pull the baby out.  I remember thinking that I should’ve gotten a c-section.  The pain was THAT bad.  It was only made worse by the fact that the baby was facing upwards when he should’ve been facing down, so during one contraction, my doctor stuck his hand in and flipped the baby.  Owie.  Thankfully, labor lasted 30 minutes, which I hear is pretty fast for first time mothers (the average is 2 hours!  Eek!), and we finally met our squishy little boy.

Unlike hospitals in the US where policies are oftentimes dictated by HMOs, here, the average length of stay post-delivery is three days.  Oben and I were moved into a private room for the remainder of our stay, and poor M camped out on the couch at night, while working days at the office.

While we expected to be released on the 3rd day following the delivery, poor Oben was diagnosed with jaundice so we stayed an additional 2 days in order for Oben to receive some photo-light therapy.  It was really grueling for the little guy, as he was stripped down to his diapers, placed on essentially a light table, and had an eye mask to protect his eyes for 24 hours.  Oben was allowed feeding breaks every two hours, but it was really hard to watch our little guy go through such torture.

After 24 hours of light therapy and countless blood tests to measure the level of bilirubin in his system, his pediatrician determined that Oben’s jaundice had been reduced enough to warrant discharge from the hospital.  Whew!  We were so excited to go home!!

Since we’ve been home, we’ve had a ton of help from M’s mom, my mom, and our cleaning lady.  It’s been really nice to be able to just focus on the little guy…we’ll see what happens when my mom leaves next week!!