Baby Romi Rose began her journey into the world on Monday, August 13th (officially due date was Sept. 1st) when I started to feel painful contractions that night. At about 10 PM, I told Tasso that I thought it was time to go into Labor & Delivery. I was checked and told that I was only 2 centimeters dilated and that I should walk around for an hour or so, after which I would then be checked again to see if there was any progression. So we walked, I was checked again and nothing was progressing, so they offered me pain medication and advised that we go home and rest. Back at home and with some pain relief, we finally had a great night’s sleep (our last one!) and the contractions went away.
The next day, Tuesday, I spent walking, walking, and more walking around Stanford Mall to “get things moving”. I still did not feel anything until later that evening when it felt like the contractions came back with a vengeance. I did not want to go to the hospital only to have them send us home again, so I decided to wait til I couldn’t take the painful contractions any longer. We arrived at the hospital at 12 AM where I was checked by the midwife and told that I was still only 2 cm dilated. The midwife said she could give me something stronger for the contractions (I was begging by this point!) so I had two shots of morphine to the butt. Honestly, it did not even take the edge off! After a couple of hours or so, I was told that we should return home, get some rest and come back if the contractions grew stronger and closer together, but I could not even imagine leaving!
By 3 AM, I reluctantly started to get up to get my clothes back on and head home when a huge contraction hit and I felt a pop! As fate would have it, my water broke! After that, I couldn’t speak my contractions were SO bad nor could I stand or stop shaking! Finally, I was admitted and could receive an epidural! (thank God!!). I waited two long hours and got the (much needed) epidural! Without intense pain, I was finally able to get some sleep. Soon after, Tasso’s mom arrived at the hospital and my mom drove down from Sacramento! At 9 AM, I was checked again and told that I was 9 cm dilated. By 10 AM, I had reached 10 cm and was ready to push! I pushed for a whole 8 minutes and out came our perfect baby girl!
I honestly cannot describe the moment baby Romi was put on my chest and everything felt so right. All in all, I feel very lucky to have had such an amazing delivery and fortunate to have my family and the most supportive partner through the whole process. We couldn’t be more excited in our new roles as Mom and Dad, even if sleeping is a thing of the past! We are SO in love and cannot stop planting kisses on our baby girl.
