Sean Patrick's Arrival

Sean at 3 days old

They say that every pregnancy is different and that was true in my case. My pregnancy with Sean was different from when I was pregnant with Caitlin.

With Caitlin, I had

- spaghetti and pineapple cravings

- clear and glowing skin

- placenta previa. I even had to be confined for a few days and go on bed rest for weeks at a time.

With Sean, I had

- a hard time keeping any food down (read: not to throw up) with Sean. I even lost some weight during my first trimester. Although, my total pregnancy weight gain were the same for both pregnancies.

- breakouts (pimples)

- pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH)

As I mentioned here, I had to work from home during the last week of February until I give birth due to my PIH. I closely monitored my BP level everyday every 2 hours and had to see my ob-gyne almost every other day. My due date was on the 17th and my ob-gyne didn't want me to give birth until I reach full term. But I was already having difficulty on my pregnancy that I wished she would schedule me for a CS operation asap (I had a repeat CS with Sean, by the way). I kept on bugging asking her to schedule me on the 7th (I have reached full term by then) but she insisted that we just keep monitoring my BP and see how it goes.

On the evening of the 6th, I had another appointment with her. She took my BP and it was high (around 160). So she instructed me to take my medicine and have myself admitted at the hospital. She wanted me to be well-rested before she operates on me the following morning. I'm giving birth the following day! On March 7th! Yay, I got my wish! Hahaha! :D

So hubby and I went home and announced to everyone that I'm giving birth the next day. We packed our bags (I didn't have my hospital bag ready yet), arranged for my parents to look after Caitlin, and set off for the hospital.

When we arrived at the hospital, we went straight to the emergency room and handed the note from my ob-gyne (with her instructions) to the resident ob-gyne on duty. Hubby took care of getting my room while I waited at the lobby. After a few minutes, we were admitted.

I didn't get a good sleep that night. How can I when every now and then a nurse would come in and check on my BP? Add to that the excitement of finally seeing Sean! Sometime during the night, we were informed that my CS operation was scheduled at 8am the following morning. But that was still tentative since they are still trying to confirm the schedule with the anesthesiologist. They finally got hold of him and the sched as moved to 6am.

At 5am the next day, a nurse came and asked me to get ready. They have already requested for me to be wheeled to the operating room. So I washed my face and brushed my teeth. I had no time to take a shower. After a few minutes, a nurse and 2 orderlies fetched me.

I was in the operating room just before 6am. I was prepped for the operation. My BP was closely monitored. I had started to feel groggy by the time my ob-gyne arrived. But I managed to stay awake the whole time. I remember taking a glimpse of the BP monitor from time to time. I remember Sean being pushed out -- all 7.37 lbs of him :)

Finally, I heard his cry. It made me smile. My ob-gyne managed to tell me that my baby is a boy and perfectly healthy before I finally fell asleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Though he came unexpectedly, we are very thankful for Sean. He made our family complete. We now have a girl and a boy. As friends would say, "Quota na!".