Ethan Joshua Zhen Jie Lin, our first son, was born on that day.

My mom was scheduled to come on Oct 9 to help me with the baby and with around the house. We were afraid the baby might come early. I was actually admitted to Labor and Delivery when I was 32 weeks pregnant because I had bleeding, cramping, and I was already dilating. I was only 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced, but my doctor sent me there just in case. I was discharged a couple of hours later because my contractions weren’t regular and I wasn’t progressing anymore. I knew it was nothing, even though my doctor panicked a little. So, because of this incident, I had a feeling the baby might come early.

Then again, I asked my mom why she had to have C-sections for all our us. I never knew the reason before. She said she never felt any contractions even though we were already due. Weird how they never induced her instead. Anyhow, then because of this reason, I felt maybe this baby will be late.

I wanted him to come on Oct 10, since it’ll be an awesome date! 10/10/10! But what are the chances, right? I didn’t want him to come on Oct 9 (Sat) because that was the last day Eric and I were to be workers at the Oakland Temple. I also didn’t want him to come on Oct 10 in the morning, because I had to teach Relief Society that day! I was ok if he came after that. That Sunday night, we went to Auntie Lily and Uncle Ken’s house for dinner. We were all joking around saying that the baby should come on 10/10/10 since it’s such an awesome date. But alas, the day was almost over. It wouldn’t happen. Auntie Heidi said that Eric’s mom had a big dinner the night before she had Eric. Since we were having such a big dinner that night, I might have the baby the next day! She was right!

I told baby not come on Saturday or Sunday. And being the very good boy he is, he listened! At 1 am, on Oct 11, I woke up to use the bathroom, and realized that I was all wet. For a second there, I thought I wet myself. But it was quite a lot of liquid, and definitely not pee! I woke Eric up and told him that I think my water broke. He was like, “REALLY?!?!” That night was supposed to be his catch up sleep night. We went to bed slightly early (11pm). He was also supposed to catch up on work that Monday. We were also really good and ironed three shirts for him that Sunday night so he wouldn’t have to do it in the morning. Anyways, I was convinced that it was my bag of waters, so we called Labor and Delivery. They told us to take our time. Take a shower and come in around 3am. Seeing that we still had two more hour of sleep, we went back to bed. But of course, I couldn’t fall asleep anymore! So, we just lied there. At about 2am, I felt a huge gush of water. Definitely amniotic fluid! So I got up, showered. Made myself some food (since they don’t let you eat when you’re in labor), finished packing our hospital bag. And got ready to go to the hospital.

When we got there, we found out that the it was one of the busiest weekends they’ve had in terms of babies being born. 38 babies over the weekend! We were put in an observation room. The doctor had to check to see if it really was amniotic fluid. If it was, then I had to be admitted since there was a chance of infection. They were so busy that that the doctor, after checking me, didn’t come back to confirm that it was amniotic fluid. The nurse came in and tried to hook me up to an IV then told me that I was really being admitted. So, this is it! Baby’s coming!

Funny thing about hooking me up to the IV. Not funny then. My attending nurse tried three times, both hands, poked around in my veins, couldn’t get a blood flow. She got another nurse to try. This nurse tried twice, plus including two jabs of local anesthesia, also failed. Then one of the senior nurses came in, asking if I was ready to move to the Labor room, and found out that these two nurses had failed to hook me up to the IV. Esther Ho. I remember Sudie telling me she had Esther Ho when she was in the hospital with Jasmine. She said how awesome Esther was. And sure enough, while telling the other nurse she should have called her right away, in 30 seconds, Esther hooked me up in one go. Way to go Esther!

So, here I am, with the IV in, but still no contractions! Usually after the water breaks, contractions start coming on their own. Mine didn’t. I took a 30 minute walk around the Labor and Delivery ward. We just went round and round. Surprising how quiet it was. Still nothing. By about 8am, I got my own room. Room 6. Continued to wait for contractions. Nothing. By 9:30, my doctor came. Lucky for me, it was my regular OBGYN, Dr. Bernardette Macart. She told me she’ll get me the oxytocin, a medicine to induce labor, so we get the show on the road! Just like my mom, no contractions! I had to be induced. I saw Dr. Macart last on Friday, Oct 9 and I was already dilated 2 cm, almost 3. She actually swept my membrane. She also said maybe she’ll see me on Monday because she was on-call at the Labor and Delivery ward that Monday. She was right!

After the oxytocin, contractions came full on! I wanted to see how long I can last before I caved and asked for the epidural. Eric’s hospital bag was full so snacks. And one of his snacks were the Maui onion chips. As I was going through my contractions, I was so mad that his breath smelled like Maui onion chips!! I was in pain, and his breath stunk!! By about 12:30pm, I was in dire pain. Contractions were coming every 2-3 minutes. Pretty sure I was in the active stage of labor then. But no one has come to check how dilated I was yet, so we had no idea. It was then that I asked for the epidural. I reasoned to myself not to be so brave. I only had 2 hours of sleep, and who knows how much longer I would be in pain for. I needed the energy to push, so I asked for the epidural.

Since it was a really busy day, the anesthesiologist didn’t come for another half hour. When they came, still no one checked my cervix. When the cervix is dilated past a certain point, they don’t administer the epidural. Dangerous! And bad day for me and needles because this anesthesiologist tried twice, and couldn’t get it in. She said my bones were so close together. What?!?!!! So, she called the other anesthesiologist, and he got it in. Kinda dangerous since they’re sticking something in my spine!! It was about 1:45 pm then. I was grateful for the relief. I could still feel the pressure of the contractions, but not the pain. But that didn’t last long!

Soon, I felt pain again. I felt like I had to poop! And it hurt! Eric called the nurse. Our nurse was unavailable because she was with another patient helping with the epidural. So another nurse came in. She told me that there was this button I could press to increase the dosage of the epidural when the pain intensifies. No one told me that! I told her how I was feeling, and she asked if anyone had checked my cervix yet. She tried to get the doctor, but the doctor was busy, so she checked me herself. She told me I was plus 2. What’s that? Never heard of that expression in all our Childbirth prep classes. It means, the baby’s head was already 2 inches down the birth canal. Great! So that feeling of having to poop, was the bearing down feeling. The feeling of the need to push!

So, about an hour after the epidural was administered, I was in the pushing stage. Here he comes! Eric and the nurse kept saying that they see his head. I couldn’t believe it! I wanted to see it too! So, the nurse got me a mirror. I know. I’d never plan on having a mirror. I thought it was gross. But my curiosity got the better of me. The mirror actually motivated me to push harder. I wanted him out fast! I’ve heard this pushing stage can take a couple of hours. That’s so long! And a few times after I pushed, his head slid out, then slid back in. I was like “NO!!! Come back out!!”

Alas, 45 minutes of pushing. Out he came! I didn’t see him come out. By that time, the doctor was there, in front of me, delivering the baby. So she was in the way of the mirror. I was surprised too! One minute I see the head, the next couple of pushes, and there he was! The feeling was amazing. Super cool! My son was born! Eric said he came out with his right fist next to his head. He does like having his hands balled up next to his face. 🙂

Baby E was born 3:43 p.m. on Monday, October 11, 2010. Exactly 39 weeks of gestation. He weighed in at 6 pounds 5.6 ounces and was 18 inches long. He’s a beauty. 🙂 A joy and blessing in our lives.

3 Responses to “October 11, 2010 – The day that changed our lives”

  1. Nicole Shum on October 27th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
    1

    That is so exciting!! What a great story! I wish my labor/delivery story was like yours! : ) Congrulations, and welcome to parenthood!

  2. Kristina on October 28th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
    2

    Yay! Labor is never fun and the end result can be kind of tough but so amazing 😀 We’re super happy for you guys!

  3. Laura on October 31st, 2010 at 3:44 pm
    3

    Congratulations Sharn and Eric. I told Andrew about the Maui onion breath and Andrew said..”oh I miss those guys…”. I’m glad you wrote this story down so you can use it when Ethan’s older. You know,…”do you know what pain you caused me?”

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