228 Burl's Birthday

I woke up at 7am Wednesday, came downstairs, made coffee and read some news online. After awhile the rest of the gang trickled down. I scooted to Xiang Shang Market for cai bao and do jiang.

Ivo ate about 1-1/2 of the steamed cabbage buns, so when Gail only ate 1 of hers, I snatched up her 2nd one... I tried to act cool, like I wasn't still starving - but I don't think anyone bought it.

Around 9:30/10, I started talking up a walk to Caves, figuring we could play at the park while availing ourselves of all the amenities that Caves Bk store offers. As has been his whimsical way of late, it took Ivo over an hour to stop equivocating and decide to go. So we left close to 11. I remember remarking on how all the energy I had at 10 had mostly dissipated during negotiations. Plus it was an hour hotter, an hour sunnier, an hour more humid.

Gail, Ivo and I got to Caves, checked on the Vanity Fair which I have on order every month, which, however, hasn't arrived the last two months. They told me the US edition has stopped coming to Taiwan. I said, ok, I'll stop pestering you about it...

We read books and played for an hour, then went outside and played. Ivo really wanted to go to the science museum, but since 228 is a holiday, I could see from traffic and foot-traffic that the museum was packed, and I just wasn't up for it. We bribed poor Ivo with K2 gelato so we could go home around 1:30.

While we were gone, Ryan had taken down our Xmas tree. Ivo said "what happened - christmas tree?" But I guess we were all ready. We ate lunch and Ivo played at the bathroom sink with Grammie. Ivo and I went upstairs to take a nap or at least rest. I remember being super hot and uncomfortable. I figured the all-I-could-eat-all-cabbage breakfast was probably the source of my discomfort. I had learned not to make too much of recent burps and other intestinal situations - as eager as I'd been to interpret any such as signs of labor...

Ivo had some booby and didn't like it - he initiated "change sides" - which is usually my call - and then didn't even want to follow through. I was kinda miserable and thought, hey, maybe this is the beginning. It was 2:30pm.

Around 3, I mentioned to Ryan. He went to return DVDs and get a couple (superman and cars for Ivo) in case. While he was out, I washed my hair and missed a call from a # I didn't recognize. Since I thought it might be our landlord calling in some stage of the never-ending back and forth water heater problem, I returned the call. It was Caves - March Vanity Fair had arrived. At that point, I began to believe I was in labor. I texted Ryan to pick up the mag on his way home.

Over the past couple months I've actually worried about having a decent magazine to read at the hospital... Having just returned from the hospital with my beautiful baby, and an uncracked magazine - I realize I'd misjudged some stuff. In fact, the longer the pregnancy went on and I watched my suitcase just sitting there next to the closet, I began to look forward to the hospital stay like some sort of vacation! I said things like, "no matter what labor involves, I'll be so happy not to be pregnant, it'll be a relief..." and "such and such will be easier after Burl is born cuz I won't be so uncomfortable..." such and such presumably included sleeping!

I hung around in the bedroom with Ivo after washing my hair and getting dressed. I did a lot of the hands and knees position to help Burl get in his preferred position. I breathed and noted time b/w what I though were probably contractions but almost just as possibly, gas. 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 10 minutes, 20... Irregular. At 4:19 I started writing down the times (I will scan this page soon - Ivo drew all over it). Ryan was packing the car and eating soup. I went into Grammie's room - I'm not sure why... Queer Eye was on when I got in there. I wrote the time 5:22 as a contraction began - and then either another one came right away or it was super long... I heard a POP - my water broke. I started saying "uh oh, uh oh" over and over and tried to get to the bathroom without making a huge mess - which I was able to do (not make a mess). I called for Ryan - but he didn't hear me. Gail and Ivo were in our room and I called for Gail who began calling for Ryan.

I thought water breaking before labor's going in earnest only happened on tv - I was surprised for it to have happened at such an early stage and was definitely heading to the hospital. (Until this point we really didn't think we were in such a hurry. We weren't sure the Baby wouldn't come on his great grammie Lawrence's bday, 1 March) I had to change my pants. I wondered how messy I was gonna be and how I was gonna be able to wait for the elevator during a contraction or simply being a swampy mess. I thought maybe we didn't have to park the car - maybe Ryan could take me upstairs, leaving the car by the taxi entrance... move it once I was in a labor room...

I got redressed. Ryan finished packing the car, I went back up to get some pillows. Came down, contraction - didn't want Ivo to see me doubled over... Ivo said "Mama ok?" We told him we were gonna go see Dr Fu (whom Ivo calls Dr. Foot) and the baby was coming! Mama's fine, love you, see you soon. We got to the car and I wanted to be in back - not front - so we had to repack it and take out Ivo's car seat. So we pulled away at 5:45.

30 minutes, door to door, including moving the motorcycles to save our parking space, is how long it takes when I drive to the hospital. Burl was born at 6:14. I'm not sure how we made it. Ryan's an excellent driver and it was a holiday - so regular commuter traffic was elsewhere, I guess. Heather said she was on Chung Gang at 6 - and it was worse than a usual Wednesday.

I had 2 or 3 contractions that I managed really well on all fours in the back of the car. I relaxed every muscle and just let my uterus go, I breathed. I felt like we were golden. Then I had one that seized and convulsed my body, then another. I was screaming. I felt- not golden. I felt like we might be naming Burl "Guo Guang Lu" if not "Chung Ming Nan Lu." Ryan pulled up to the ER, they brought out a stretcher. I barely made it outta the car. The hospital staff wanted me to lie on my back. I was on all fours and I kept yelling "bu yao!" They must have a safety rule about moving fat foreigners with ridiculous centers of gravity... Anyway, I couldn't move and finally an ambulance pulled up and honked - they had to move me. Ryan had to move the car...

They have their own elevator in the ER. They took me right up to the 5th floor and into the regular delivery room - I mentioned wanting my own labor and delivery room but didn't push it - even though I was sad to see the stirrups and icky tables... I moved from gurney to the table. They pulled off my pants, Dr Fu came in, checked dilation and told me to push. None of this, don't push... I was fully dilated. "Epidural?" I asked weakly, half knowing the answer. Dr Fu laughed and said, "No need." I tried to do what they said, but I didn't want to hold my hands the way they wanted me to - and I didn't want to push all the time. Part of me wanted to take a break, wait for Ryan, was scared the baby was coming out the wrong hole... I kept asking for "wo xian sheng" And finally like a superhero in a cartoon, a be-gowned Ryan came flying in, twirling several times before coming over to the table. It was great! I said things like "My baby My baby My baby My baby..." during the pushes and "My baby is hurting my bottom!!!!" But, as Ryan mentioned I didn't swear. This was a considerable point of pride with me when Ivo was born. I don't want to make people uncomfortable - especially the kinda people who are helping me through labor and beyond... They seemed shocked enough that I was screaming so loud... They sort of moved away and said "oh!"















Baby Burl came by the end of the 4th contraction in the hospital.














Best day ever! (on top of the nearly 800 best-days-ever we've had with Ivo!!!)

By the time we left the recovery room and Ryan ran the initial paperwork gauntlet, it was too late to bring Ivo by to meet Burl. We were on cloud 9. I didn't sleep til 7:30am on 3/1 when they took Burl for a bath. We talked to Ivo that night and after we got off the phone, as he and Gail went upstairs he said, "Mama ok."