Dillon De Leon Bernal's Arrival.

Today my son turns one month old.

Before I write a post about how the month has been, I need to rewind and write about the last few months of my pregnancy before I forget.

I am very thankful to God that my pregnancy and delivery was very smooth.  My friends and family had all been so supportive and caring for my well-being, I wouldn't have been able to go through those last few months without them.

At my 39 week check-up with my OB/GYN she had suggested we "strip the membrane" to jump start the labor process.  I had read everything about pregnancy and for some reason, skimmed over what this was?!

Everyone kept saying that Dillon was going to arrive past his expected due date, (February 3rd,)  so to prevent that from happening, I agreed to having the membrane stripped, assuming it would make him on time.  I didn't know it would cause me to have my water break within 24 HOURS!

January 27th sometime around 3:00PM was when I went to the OB/GY's office. On January 28th at 5:00AM when Richie's alarm went off to get ready for work, I started having contractions.  There is a VERY distinct difference from the real contractions and Braxton Hicks.  Braxton Hicks...it's sporadic and very random.  The level of pain towards those last few weeks is moreso various levels of discomfort.  Contractions is more rhythmic and similar to menstrual cramps, something I hadn't experienced in a VERY long time, so I *knew* something was up.

By 5:30AM my contractions were definitely 5 minutes apart and 1 minute long. I was planning to count them for 1 hour, because "5-1-1" is when they say you need to call the hospital.  But 30 minutes had passed and I had to jump out of bed because I could FEEL my water breaking!  I was able to kick Richie out of the bathroom (sorry, TMI) just in time to have my water break.  Called the hospital, and they said "Take a shower, have breakfast, freshen up, and get here whenever you can." (nothing like the movies)...so I did just that.  It was all very leisurely and calm. On a scale level of 1-10, my pain was at a 0.5-1...

My friends and I had a code when the time came.  I was to text them, "The panda is on the loose!"  When I was headed to the hospital, but it was so early in the morning the text messages were moreso:

Me: "The Panda is on the Roof!"
Joanna: "The roof?"
Me: "Isn't it roof?  Oh damn, loose! The panda is on the loose!...aw hell, I mean I'm headed to the hospital."

lol...anyway, I went to the hospital and pain was definitely getting up there.  Gradually and slowly, like a needle that just kept growing and digging deep.  I was admitted to the hospital because I ruptured, but I wasn't in labor yet (which I didn't even know was possible!)  I wasn't even 2cm dialated...and you need to be 10cm...he was no where near ready!

I was admitted at about 6:30AM-7:00AM.  I kept asking when I could get the epidural and my OB said "When you stop smiling."  Ugh...The contractions were so weird.  They would last for about an hour long, for a moment I would get the chance to relax, and then it was as if someone punched me below the abdomen more and more.  By noontime they gave me painkillers to "take the edge off."  But by 6:00PM my pain level was definitely at an 8-9, and I was fed up!  It was time for the drugs!  I had tried to last it out for as long as I could,  slept some of it off, walked it off, even took a bath in warm water to ease the cramping, but it became so unbearable.

By the time I got the epidural, I was 5cm dilated and at the...+2 station I believe? (oh, gosh I'm already forgetting things...the stations are how far down he's going and the scale is -4,-3,-2,-1,0,1,2,3,4)

Life was bliss after the epidural. :-)  I was able to carry conversations with friends and no longer felt pain, but the "bliss" was short lived.  By 9:10PM it was time to "practice push."

I asked my night nurse, "What's that?"  She said, "The pushing in labor generally lasts about 2 hours.  You'll push and sometimes he tends to buoy back in, so it's good to do a practice push to get a sense of what it will feel like."

I did 2 practice pushes and she immediately told me to stop pushing.  He was ready to come out on his own! She said, "Stop pushing, we need to find out where Dr. Steinberg is!"  I was starting to panic that Dr. Steinberg wasn't going to make it on time.  I started to REALLY panic when I could feel his movements and it was beyond my control!

There was a comedic moment I will never forget.  Dr. Steinberg starts walking in smiling leisurely to everyone and then she looked at me and saw him crowning.  She immediately went into work-mode and said, "Don't have this baby without me!"

Thank God he was coming out head first, but just as he sleeps to this day, one of his arms started to peek out with it.  That's when I started to cry, because I thought he was going to do major damage to the both of us.  Thankfully, that wasn't the case.

Within about 20 minutes of pushing, Dillon arrived at 9:37PM, weighing in at 6.5 lbs, and measured at 18.5 inches. :-)  His cry was a loud screeching crow or hawk.  (Dr. Steinberg even said, "That's so...unusual!")

I forgot to mention, one of my biggest fears was that neither of my two OB/GYN's wouldn't be able to be there for my delivery.  Fortunately, Dr. Steinberg was on call that Tuesday, which is probably why she stripped the membrane the day before.  She was only to be there for 24 hours, so she probably also had me wait THAT long for the epidural so he would arrive within those 24 hours. (If I had the epidural sooner, it would've been very likely that the labor process would've been longer!)

Everything was so smooth with the help of the nurses at the hospital, we requested to stay an additional night because I was terrified at the idea of going home with Dillon alone and us having to fend for ourselves!  The staff was so kind that they even took Dillon for a few hours to let us sleep! (At our hospital there wasn't a nursery, Dillon stayed with us in the hospital room since his birth.)

(Tip for expecting moms:  treat your hospital staff like kings and queens! Spoil them with food and flowers, they've earned it and hardly receive presents.  Plus, the more you give them, the more attention they give you.)

At any rate, that's the story of his arrival.  My next post will be about how the past month went down.

Happy One Month, my love. :-)  So blessed to have you in my life. :-)  Thanks for making me a mom. :-)