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Published: July 24th 2006
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2 days before Shanti was born
I think I gained all the weight in the last 3 weeks! I just realized how important blogging has become for me... After only 3 hours of sleep, here I am sitting in front of the computer typing this entry about Shanti Lucia and our experience.
I know Omar has said that Shanti was born after only 2-3 hours of labor... In reality, I had been feeling contractions since 2pm the day before and woke up at 3am in pain and could not go back to sleep again. We got to the hospital at 11 am and the pain was so strong that I could barely walk during contractions. Shanti Lucia was born at 1:55pm.
I have to say that I was not the typical mother whose reaction is crying when seeing the baby for the first time...I was in shock!! I was like: "What?? She is already out? What do I do now??" Omar was, on the other hand, full of emotions... He was crying and I was saying: "Don't dare to take a picture of me naked!"
If this was a review for a pregnancy magazine, I would say the experience was interesting... Not bad, rather good, but definately interesting and unexpected. Before I continue, I want to say that we had the best of luck, out of the 3 doctors in the practice we chose (according to Omar, best known as Don Quijote, "El Chavo" (a mexican comedian) and the truck salesman- you can imagine how distinguished seems this last one) we got "El Chavo" the funny and relaxed one. He did a wonderful job keeping us calm and giving clear instructions when to do what. We also had Eleanor, a fantastic midwife/nurse that tought us the pre-natal classes full of anecdotes, previous experiences and love. Her presence was essential and made us feel in control, with confidence and tranquility.
Ok, back to the interesting stuff. I got to the childbirth room and even though there was a TV, I did not feel like watching anything, I wanted to be left alone with Omar and breathe through the contractions that were 3 minutes apart, I was already half way dilatated! Omar had to register us and went downstars and suddenly, 2 nurses walk in the room,move a couple of chairs closer to the TV, turn it on and put the latest soap opera from Univision and start watching, commenting on the story and laughing....I am like...Isn't this suppose to be a private room? HELLO! I am naked here about to give birth and IN PAIN! the latest Venezuelan drama is definately NOT in my plans! After half an hour, they walked away leaving the TV without even acknowledging that I was there...weird...
Then the Dr. came in and examined me for the 3rd time with the nurse and for the 4th time in 2 hours they asked for my birth date and some other information, after a while, I felt it was time to push. Omar kept telling me to relax, breathe, etc but I knew it was time for the baby to come. The feeling of just knowing what was happening inside you was incredible. It was like reading all the self-help books and attending thousands of hours of psicologycal therapy... I just suddenly knew exactly what was my role, what was I suppose to do, when and why in just a second. It was time to start pushing. Immediately, 3 other nurses/assistants entered the room and set up a couple of little tables full of medical equipment and other stuff, Omar got into his scrubs and in one hour Shanti Lucia was born 😊
Surprisingly, our birth plan was pretty much respected. We did not anticipate that because 2 of the doctors at the office were not that open to some of our suggestions but in the end, everything worked out well.
It was really amazing. What else can I say?
After birth, they put the baby on my stomach and I tried to breasfeed her. She was very alert and looked everywhere. So cute!
Then they took her to be weighted, etc and after an hour they took me to the room where we spent 2 nights before coming home.
Omar, Shanti and I stayed together with a brief interruption everyday so that the baby could be examined and weighted. The pediatrician came everyday to the room at 6:00 am (I know! so early!) and assured us that everything was fine which was great.
Nurses were OK, some nicer and softer than others, I had my pulse, temperature and pressure taken every 4 hours or so. The hospital promoted breastfeeding so I received some help from the nurses and they encouraged me to eat healthy and rest. Everybody seemed to be well trained and to care for the patients. The rooms and the infraestructure in general is pretty old and is not very inviting but in general I am satisfied and happy. I would recommend it but definately give some "tips" and suggestions to make the experience even more enjoyable.
Well, that's all folks. Baby is home and we are trying to figure out what to do everyday. Thanks God my mom is here and Omar's family are VERY supportive of us, they have all given us three their love and advise (especially the grandmas 😊
Enjoy the pictures!
Gigi & Shanti
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Damien
non-member comment
Oh no!
You've broken the Gilda's chain!