My Birth Story

Thank you all for the wishes and congrats. The past few days have been great and tiring. Great as I am enjoying motherhood, tiring as I am trying to get used to my new routine and adding a newborn to my schedule. I'm adjusting to waking up 4 or 5 times a night for diaper changes and to nurse the baby. After a while, you get used to it and it's not that bad. I even wake up before the baby to check if she's not up yet. My husband has been very supportive as he wakes up with me and helps to feed her and with diaper changes as well.The first few days were a bit crazy as I wasn't sure if I was feeding her properly or if she was getting enough milk as she was crying a lot. But like all new mothers, there comes a time where you learn and accept that your baby will cry to express any needs that she/he might have be it being bored,hungry, wet, cold, hot, you name it, crying is a baby's only way to express their feelings. Though I was 37 weeks pregnant when I had her, I wasn't prepared at all. I was thinking that I had 3 more weeks to go and was enjoying the last few lap of my pregnancy. I remember thinking that she would be out soon and I wouldn't be able to protect her as much as I was protecting her while she was in my tummy! Little did I know that she would be out sooner than I expected.

Sunday was a regular day for me, I did not do anything unusual. Luckily, I packed my hospital bag on Saturday morning. I had sweaters in my bag thinking about how cold it could get in mid October. Little did I know I was going to need that bag the next day. I stayed up late on Sunday night, watching back to back episodes of Desperate Housewives, and catching up on all the shows that I missed during the week. I went to bed around 1h30 am not because I was sleepy but because I wanted to get up early the next morning. Two hours later, around 3h30 am, I started having a leak and wasn't quite sure as to what was happening..... I called my Dr and she said that I needed to come to the hospital and be prepared to stay there if they determined that I was leaking amniotic fluid. The ride to the hospital was quick and I was feeling crampy but it still didn't register that I was going to have a baby that day, I mean, I was 3 weeks away from my due date and I wasn't emotionally ready to push a baby out that morning. We got to Sibley Hospital around 4:00 am and I remember getting to the L&D room around 4h30 am. The nurse came to check me and my husband asked her what was going on as I'm sure he couldn't believe that this was happening and we were few hours away from having a baby. The nurse said matter of factly : Oh, she's in labor, she's 3 cm dilated. My heart pounded and I think I just died, came back to life and died again. Was I actually in labor? I thought one would know for days before they went in labor, I did not get any warning signs, never mind I was 9 months pregnant, nobody told me it was gonna happen this way. The other thing that scared me was when she said that I was 3 cm dilated, which meant I had 7 more to go and I could be there all day. 7 centimeters to go felt completely awful at that time.

Another Dr. from my practice checked me around 5h30 am and I was 4.5 cm dilated. He told me that his shift would end at 6:00pm and he expected to deliver the baby before then, hopefully during the early afternoon. I was thinking, crap, this means I will still be here in pain for the next 10 hours. The contractions went crazy after that. I did not have time to breathe between contractions as they were getting so close to each other, each lasting longer and being more painful. My husband's constant reminders to breathe were not helpful anymore nor were the ice chips that he kept bringing thinking it would make me feel better. I don't think anything would've helped at that time but to put me in a coma and wake me up after everything was done. At around 7:00am, I couldn't take it anymore, my pain level was a 20/10 and I asked for an epidural. Getting the epidural was not an easy matter either as the anesthesiologist told me I had to sit still through my contractions which was nearly impossible as I couldn't take the pain anymore. I went to hell for about 10 minutes and then it was all over, I couldn't feel the contractions anymore...

I could feel the pressure building up though as the baby was descending and around 11h30 I started feeling a lot of pressure as if someone was trying to rip me open. I told the nurse who checked my cervix and couldn't believe that I was 9.5 cm dilated. She called the Dr and I started pushing a few minutes later. My baby girl was born at 12:17 pm. The Dr. couldn't believe how quickly my labor went for a first time mother. All I could think was, Alhamdulilah ( Praise be to God), my baby is here and it's all over. The Quran was playing in the background on my husband's laptop throughout my labor and I remember the Dr. asking between 2 pushes what kind of music was playing and one of the nurses told him it was the Quran. He said it was beautiful and a peaceful way to enter the world. As soon as the baby was born, I was pain free. It's hard to explain, it's a feeling of relief and ecstasy at the same time. I couldn't believe that I was holding a baby, a human being and that I just became a mother!

Though I was expecting an October Pumpkin, I got a September sweet pea and I couldn't be any happier. Sumaya Yasmine was born at 7lbs,1.3 ounces, 19.4 inches. She will always be a very special baby to me because she made me a mother. I never want to forget the first feelings of love that I felt as I held her little body knowing that from now on I would be responsible for each and every of her needs. It's just an amazing feeling. I hope and pray that she stays pure forever as she will always be the little princess who made me a mother!