my m&m's

i guess i spoke too soon. =0P the same day i posted the last journal entry, i went into labor. it was deja vu all over again. same time and everything as my first born. i went to my mom around 11:45 pm and told her it was time. mick was fast asleep and my dad was about to sleep as well since he had work the next day at 6 am. we got to the hospital around 12:15 am and i was immediately hooked up to a monitor. my contractions were 4-5 minutes apart, but since the hospital was busy with moms-to-be, no one checked how many centimeters i was dilated.

finally, around 2 am, a doctor checked...4 centimeters. they made me walk around for an hour (which i absolutely HATED!) and hooked me back up to the monitor. after an hour or so, they moved me to the birthing room. they eventually broke my water which sped up the process...i was pushing 2 hours after.

8:24 am, a beautiful baby girl who weighed 6 pounds, 10 ounces and who was 18 1/2 inches long, was born. that's why i haven't been able to post anything. i've been busy being a mother of two. for some reason, everything i'm going through with maddie seems new. mick was a perfect baby...easy delivery, easy to breastfeed, easy to take care of, just plain EASY! so easy in fact, that i forgot how everything was. oh well...i still love my baby girl.

on the 11th of september, we had a baby shower/welcome to the world party. all i can say is that i don't have to worry about buying her any clothes or toys until she's 1 or older. people seem to go overboard when buying baby clothes for girls. good for me!

I always thought that I had a high tolerance for pain…well, I guess I still do. But now I’m torn between wanting to give birth ASAP, to wanting to wait until at least after the baby shower (11 September 2005).

My first pregnancy was a breeze. I didn’t have morning sickness, didn’t crave for anything, no complications during labor, didn’t need epidural and I also didn’t have to be cut. Labor was only 4 hours long from the time I felt contractions, until the time Mikael was put into my arms.

So, of course, I figured this pregnancy would be a breeze as well. It has been, except for the handful, or less, of my share of Charlie Horses. I remember waking Santi a couple of times in the middle of the night with episodes of my leg cramps. Those unbearable cramps that make you sit up straight in bed grasping for your calf. I remember having a couple as well with Mick.

But last night….last night was TOTALLY different. I know that pregnancies are supposed to differ from each other, but boy was I unprepared for what I felt last night. Sure, I had pelvic cramps now and then. But they’d only last a few seconds. Last night jolted me into reality that not all pregnancies were the same. I was tossing and turning, trying to find a position that would make them disappear. I’d finally fall asleep when all of a sudden, it’ll come back with a vengeance. I remember waking up at 4 am to read “What To Expect When You’re Expecting”. I knew it couldn’t be “time”. It just didn’t feel the same as the first time I went into labor. Finally, I saw a section in the book which put my mind at ease. Under the topic, “What It’s Important to Know: About Prelabor, False Labor, Real Labor”, the paragraph which states:

“Sensations of increasing pressure in the pelvis and rectum. Crampiness (similar to menstrual cramps) and groin pain are particularly common in second and later pregnancies. Persistent low backache may also be present.”

* Sigh of relief * Just to double check, I asked my bestfriend, Trisha, if she also experienced these kind of pains. She said it got soo bad sometimes that she’d sleep sitting or in her recliner. * Another sigh of relief * If only I had this information before I felt this pain. Oh, well. Guess I’ll just have to see how bad it gets. At least my husband’s not here to hear me whine… ;0P

i just got back from 4d fetal imaging in san jose (www.3dfetalimaging.com). i was sooo excited to get an ultrasound. my appointment was at 3 p.m. today (30 august 2005). i'm almost 38 weeks (by thursday, september 1 to be precise).

my parents and mick went with me. my sisters had school so they weren't able to make it. when the 1st image was projected onto the wall, it looked like a regular 2d ultrasound. they use the 2d as a guide that's why it would switch from 2d to 3d.

the images weren't that clear. it's probably because i didn't have a lot of amniotic fluid. but oh well...it was worth the experience. i enjoyed seeing and confirming that my next baby is going to be a girl!