Hills of Hayward

Many of you have been asking for photos, so I threw this montage together last night. Enjoy.

I was breast feeding little Anders and holding him tight in the dawn… Harrison was busy soothing Anders at the beginning of his first night home so was also in restful sleep. Listening to the first raining night in this season, I was so touched and moved by just being at the moment.

Thanks for all the encouragement and supports you guys gave us through our blog, voice mails and phone calls. With Mom’s great help, Harrison, little Anders and I are doing well. The whole labor experience has been extremely long but now I think about it, I couldn’t recall the feeling of the deep pain I’ve been through. No wonder they said, “women , or say moms, have the worst memory.”

The contraction started midnight Sat in 20 min intervals. I wasn’t even sure if it was the contraction. The interval was shortened to 10 minutes at 9 AM Sunday morning so I decided to call the doctor. He asked me to go to the hospital to check and by the time I was in the hospital, it was 12 noon already and the contraction interval was 6 minutes. Very soon the 3-5 minutes interval started which was supposed to put me in 4-8cm dilation but it was only 2cm. The pain level continued increasing with the contraction interval decreasing but no further dilation. Poor me couldn’t even have the epidural until 4:30 am Monday morning since it only dilated 4 cm till then. After experiencing 17.5 hours “active labor” (contraction 3-5 minutes apart), I still couldn’t avoid C-section at 5 pm Monday afternoon with 9-cm dilation. Sigh… Little Anders really want to make every body wait… Luckily, the C-section went very smoothly and well. I couldn’t feel the pain but I could feel the doctor was cutting through the 3 layers to reach my uterus. Only 9 minutes after the operation started, I heard the first baby cry, strong and loud.

Thanks to Mom and Harrison being there with me so that I can go though everything. I’m not supposed to over use my eyes during the first month after the child birth according to the Chinese recovery theory. Just want to drop everyone a quick message. I’m a happy mom writing with Anders sleeping on my side right now. Thanks again for all your support. I’ll let Harrison to update you guys on photos and stories. I should go to rest now or my mom will nag at me soon.

Anders Christopher Hung was born on September 17th, 2007 at 5:24pm. He is 6 lbs 13 ounce and a length of 20.75 inches. He has a 13 inch head.

Christine is doing great and is in good spirits. Typical of her, she is already talking of her next month’s special chinese maternity diet.

Mom has the proud glow of being a grandmother now. Despite less than 3 hours sleep, she seems the freshest between the three of us.

I am basking in the relief that Christine is safe and will recover. Looking forward to hear Christine’s side of this story…

Christine’s dilation seemed to hit the wall at 9 cm, expanding no further for the last 4 hours.  Christine’s fever also inched up to 101 degrees, and Mom and I were busy cooling her off with a wet towel.

Our doctor made the call to go ahead with the Cesarean section to minimize the strain on both mother and child.  He feels that Christine’s pelvic area is already small, and combine it with the other complicating factors, he recommended that we go with a Cesarean section.

We are taking that advice, and Christine is currently under the knife right now.  Mom has more experience with surgical matters, so she is with Christine in the operating room.  I am a mess with anxiety (think Korean soap opera), and trying to pass the time; so no pictures this time.

Since noon today, a full 24 hours has elapsed since we checked into the birthing center. When I arrived back from In-N-Out with hamburgers for lunch, I was met by some good news and bad news.

Good news is that the dilation has approached 9 cm, which is 1 cm from when the next phase of pushing the baby out starts.

Bad news is that Christine has a slight fever of 99.8 degrees and is feeling weaker. A dose of antibiotics and Tylenol was prescribed.

The end is in sight now, we just have to get through these final elements. Thank you all for your support.