Last night I put the boys to sleep together in our bed. I loved being sandwiched between my little guys, Micah loves "nuggles" and Cub always wants to sleep really close to me. They are so sweet, I was really being present in the moment, soaking it up and thinking this might be my last night as a mama of just 2...
With both boys I had 12+ hour labors so I was not expecting things to go so quickly this time...
At 1am, a few painful contractions woke me up, they were mild enough where I was able to snooze in between each one. I tried to lay very still so I would not wake up the boys. I focused on breathing and staying relaxed through the contractions and not tensing up.
At 3am, things were getting a little more uncomfortable and I was now awake and unable to sleep in between the contractions anymore. I felt like I needed to be up and moving around more in order to stay comfortable so I woke up Hung so he could go lay with the boys in my place. As I was having contractions, I reminded myself that the pain had a purpose and focused on embracing the process vs fighting it.
At 4am, contractions were becoming more intense and painful. I debated on when I should wake Hung up. I knew that the hospital doors did not open until 5am and if I went in now I would have to go through the ED. At 4:30am, I decided it was time to wake up Hung, I figured by the time we got everything in the car and got to the hospital, the main doors should be open.
I went to wake him up quietly, told him "I think we should get going". He was still half asleep and apparently he thought I was telling him I was going to work. He then grabbed some clothes and went into the other room. What I didn't know was that he laid back down in bed while I was trying to get our bags and last minute things together. Then he saw a text message on his phone from me that was sent earlier saying "I don't think you will be going into work today". He finally realized that I was not getting ready for work so he came out and said "Oh, are we going to the hospital?" I said "yes!" and then he said he had to use the bathroom...
Here is a screenshot of our texts as he was in the bathroom... I can laugh about it now but in the moment I was like OMG HURRRRRRRRYYYYYY UPPPPPPPPPP I'M GOING TO DIE!!!!
And yes, he did end up taking a shower. You can see the time stamp on the text is 4:56am (baby girl ends up being born at 5:29am)
My contractions are getting really painful at this point, I am not even timing them but I know they are close and intense. He finally gets out of the shower and we grab the bags and head to the garage. FIL mentions something about who is going to watch the kids for his 3pm doctors appointment. Hung realizes he has to put car seats into FILs car for the boys and also that his Jeep is parked directly behind my car which has baby girl's car seat already fastened in. Oh man, seriously, people?!! I am about to give birth!!!
I have another bad contractions in the driveway as I am waiting for him to back out the car. Wow, all a sudden there is a lot of pressure I am feeling. The next couple contractions are really intense and painful. It reminded me of when we rushed to the hospital when I was in labor with Caleb (I was 8cm by the time I got to the hospital that time). I realized I had hit transition phase and was acting crazy. I was no longer able to stay calm and relaxed. I was screaming, squeezing the life out of Hung's hand, biting the head rest. We get onto the freeway and I am feeling so much pressure, the contractions are so intense that I felt like she was crowning. I kept making sure her head was actually coming out. It was so scary! I was yelling at Hung to drive faster (he was already driving 90mph)! I seriously thought, this is it, I am going to give birth on the freeway. I then tried to calm myself down, pleaded to God not to deliver this baby in the car, and told baby girl to slow down and stay in.
We got off the freeway and up to the hospital entrance. I told Hung we need to just leave the car there and go up to the maternity floor otherwise he was going to miss the birth if he went to park. We got to the lobby and I had another contraction, Hung pretty much had to carry/drag me to get to the elevators. As we got to the maternity floor, another contraction hit and I was on the floor, Hung held the doors open and called for help. The gal at the front desk called for the charge nurse, they got me into the triage room and onto a stretcher. The charge nurse went to check me and when she did she said "Um, I've got her bag of water here, it's coming out". They pushed the "baby code" and a bunch of nurses rushed in (delivery nurses and NICU team). They were still waiting for the on-call hospital doctor to get there. The charge nurse who was holding my bag of water in was asking someone to put a glove on her other hand. They told me to not push. But I felt another contraction coming and I knew I was not going to be able to stop the force, it was completely out of my control at this point. Hung says baby girl came out in one quick motion, born in the amniotic sac ("en caul" sign of goodluck), which ruptured right after she came out. She just slid out and onto the stretcher, no one was expecting her to come out right then so there wasn't anyone there ready to catch her. In that moment, all the pressure was gone and she was out! The nurse immediately put her on my chest and starting cleaning her off. I was saying "sorry, sorry!" for pushing but they were all ensuring me everything was okay and baby was doing great. The room was still a bit chaotic with nurses putting equipment together, etc. The on-call hospitalist arrived. I was still in shock and everything all had happened so quickly (we arrived at the hospital around 5:20 or so and she was born at 5:29am). What a whirlwind! What an entrance she made into this world (after waiting 5 days past her due date)! It was amazing and crazy, exciting and frightening. But most importantly, she was healthy and finally here in my arms.
Welcome Lucia Khuyên Nguyễn! Weighing 7lbs3oz and 20inches long (smaller than her 8lbs and 9lbs big brothers) and with lots of dark black hair. Our little baby doll. We are all so smitten and in love with her ♥♥♥
