Diana | Birth Story
Our beautiful second daughter came to us on Christmas day. She was, for sure, the best gift we will ever get for Christmas. Here I briefly tell such a special moment as the honor of becoming a mom again.
Her due date was actually 2 days away, on the 27th, but she had other plans, she wanted a very special day for herself. And she also did not like to wait long. Her birth took only a couple of hours.
On the day prior Diana’s birth, Christmas Eve, we had another prenatal follow up and it was determined that I was 3 to 4 cm dilated already, so we knew that her birth was imminent. Would it be in the next day or two, or next weekend? I couldn’t tell. We were 3 days away from the due date.
Next day, Christmas day, everything was as supposed to be, we woke up and while still in our pajamas, opened all the gifts under the tree, had breakfast and got ready for Christmas mass at a nearby church. I was unconfortable, but nothing too different from those last days of pregnancy (who went through it, must know exactly what I am talking about.)
We got back home around 1pm and started the Christmas lunch preparation, since we were in a large and lovely group (my parents and our friends from out of town). I even made my signature potato and egg salad!
The meal was served around 3pm and until then I had no different symptoms, other than some stronger (but not painful) contractions (I was kind of used to them at that stage of the pregnancy).
At 3:45pm was when everything changed. My water started leaking (not a gush – so I wasn’t really sure at first) and the contractions started to get regular and a bit painful.
At 4:24pm, I called hospital triage to ask if I should come in to get checked and they said yes. Within 5 minutes we were on the road for our 35/40min car ride to our hospital. Gladly, the trip wasn’t as bad as last time. Contractions were picking up and so the pain, but it was still bearable.
Finally, around 5pm we got to the hospital and things got crazy fast. The triage nurse came to talk and sort of took her time and I couln’t really talk or stand on any position. She finally checked dilation and I was 10cm already – it’s go time! She announced I needed to push. Some codes were announced, a lot of hospital staff came out of rooms and I was wheeled to the delivery room and 10 minutes later, at 5:25pm, baby Diana was born, weighting 7 lbs 1 oz.
It was unbelievable!!!!
No time for epidural or any other pain relief, again. Daddy cut the umbilical cord just like the first time and she was laid over me and we stayed like that for over 2 hours straight (then they weighted her and returned her to me).
To say that it was overwhelming and tough is really an understatement (less than 2 hours!), but the best part is that Diana came out healthy and my recovery was great. That was the outcome we were hoping for.
It was perfect in so many ways. We were released from the hospital about 24 hours after birth and couldn’t be happier to head home.
Diego was there for the birth, but ended up developing symptoms of a stomach flu after returning home from the hospital (he brought Alice and my parents for a quick visit, and on their way home, he started to feel sick). After that, he was in no condition to return to the hospital so our friends who were staying with us, gladly took us home after the hospital and doctors discharged us.
