The past weeks have been the longest 3+ weeks of my life. Yet, at the same time, I felt like being in a race, a race between my partner and my baby as to who gets here first.
We had planned for my partner to arrive a week before the estimated due date since he had work and couldn't drop everything and be with me the whole time. When we made these plans we were positive that there is no way Tisoy will come out early based on the fact that most firstborns tend to be late rather than early (never trust a statistic unless you have forged it yourself). Even though we had agreed that my partner will come immediately if anything happens, in this case we still can't be sure if he would make it on time, given fully-booked flights and the usual hour-long delays. So we hoped that a week would give us ample time of not having to worry.
But then Tisoy decided that he's preparing for his arrival ahead of time. Already 6 weeks before his due date he was engaged (his head was really, really low). And my OB kept telling me at every check-up that he could come out any time, making the race more exciting. I tried everything to keep him inside, from resting and staying at home most of the time instead of going to salsa nights or for the walks around BGC, both of which I had been looking forward to so much, to daily visualizing my perfect birth which always started with the arrival of my partner.
At my standard ultrasound last week, all of a sudden Tisoy's heart rate dropped and stayed low for nearly 2 minutes. I was immediately confined to the high risk labor unit for observation and my ob explained to me that when the heart rate is below 60bpm for more than 2 minutes they get the baby immediately through an emergency c-section. Well, his heart rate had been below 60bpm for almost 2 minutes. Luckily he recovered and showed no further signs of distress. The ultrasound results also came out to be normal and after 3 hours I was discharged and sent home. However, this incident made the race even more nerve-wrecking.
Today, I was due for a follow-up anti-stress test. While there, I went into labor. Tisoy was determined to win the race. Unfortunately he wasn't taking even the early contractions well. I called my partner to come immediately to Manila. The race started to intensify - will he make it before the baby?
In the end, it was a close win for daddy. He was able to be with me for the birth. I will write about my birth experience in my next post. For now all I say is:
Welcome to the world, Tisoy!
