Finally, I can proudly announce that Baby Sean has arrived.
And how time flies! He's turning one month old tomorrow! Well done Sean!
I should have updated here earlier, but settling down into the role of a mother is not easy. Where should I begin? Now, everyday of my life is taken up with expressing milk and taking care of Sean. 24 hours doesn't seem enough and having a pair of hands seems inadequate. Sometimes I wish I can be an octopus at will so that I can latch Sean on with one hand, express milk with the other and do other things at the same time.
Anyway, maybe I can talk about the actual day. Sean's EDD was 8 June, and I was really hoping for him to arrive on my birthday, or on his EDD. But when these days came and passed and Sean still didn't seem anxious to come out and say hi, I was getting pretty frustrated already. So we decided to go for an induction on the third day past his EDD.
I don't know, it could be the "it's in the mind" thingie. Or maybe Sean just want to play a game of hide and seek. Cos in the early morning of the day of the induction, I started to have strong contractions and obvious signs of labour. Cheeky cheeky Sean...
By the time we reached the hospital, my contractions were starting to get really strong but bearable. But things were really quite slow as I'm not dilating quick enough. So the plan of inducing went ahead. You cannot imagine the pain that came on after this procedure was done. The contractions were really powerful and came like waves after waves, upping the pain scale with as every seconds passed...This lasted for about 6 hours or so, and the laughing gas didn't help at all. I can still recall the splitting pain, as if my pelvic is about to break...And I was really discouraged to know that I was only 2 cm dilated with all this pain that I suffered! At first, I thought I can go without epidural, but it looks like that's the way to go. And boy oh boy! How I wish I had opted for epidural right from the beginning, cos things was a breeze after it was given. I can hardly feel any pain and became so relaxed that I was fully dilated within 2 hours. It took me just about 4 pushes altogether and before I know it, Sean's first cries were heard, safely in my arms.
The early days were difficult. Sean couldn't really latch on and we didn't want to bottlefeed him cos I was really concerned that he might reject breastfeeding altogether later. Because of this, Sean lost quite an amount of weight. I felt very guilty seeing him distressed and wailing so hard that I got quite depressed. Eventually, we gave in. But I'm glad that I didn't insist on not bottlefeeding him, because now, with loads of practice, Sean is able to latch on pretty well, so all's not lost. :)
And Steve was such a great support. He was with me with every painful gasp I make in the delivery room, assuring and comforting me all the time. I cannot imagine the amount of distress I would be in without him.
They say having a kid ages you. It does. I'm learning new things from Sean everyday. More significantly, he has taught me how to love selflessly and patiently. Labour pain is certainly unbearable, but if you ask me, I wouldn't mind experiencing it a second time all over again, cos to me, it is the experience of the greatest love of all.
Some lovely photos to share.
And a killer shot to end this post....and I mean really killer....
