Life in Hong Kong

SHE'S HERE!

Alexis Evangeline Clough arrived at 8:21pm on August 12th. She weighed 3.14 k (6 pounds 14 ounces) and was 19 inches long. We think she is the cutest baby in the world! :)

So...let me start at the beginning:

Friday night, August 10th, I started having contractions. JP and I started timing them and they went from 10 minutes apart to five minutes and then three minutes. We got all ready and started out the door for the hospital when the contractions began stretching to 12 minutes apart. After a while, they stopped and we were able to get a couple hours of sleep before they started again. They were very painful, but irregular, and lasted all that night and all Saturday. I found out that this is what is called prodromal labor which can last between a few hours to a few weeks before labor actually begins. Sometimes the pain is so small that it is hardly noticable, and sometimes it is just like labor pains, which was the case for me (unfortunately!).

I had been looking forward to Saturday night for many months. My mom was due to arrive at 11:00pm at the Hong Kong airport! I had made a paper chain with links for each day looking forward to the 11th when my mom was supposed to arrive and the 16th which was Lexie's due date.

My mom's plane came in at 11 pm as it was supposed to. She went through customs and picked up her baggage, but waited by the baggage for about a half hour not realizing that visitors couldn't come into the baggage area. Finally, someone told her that she needed to go out into the greeting area, and there JP was waiting for her. (Since I was having painful contractions, I decided to wait for her at home). After calling for a taxi, calling back and helping the taxi find the right pick up spot, and FINALLY getting home, we got to bed at about 1am (ok ok, we might have talked just a little bit before going to bed!) I was up every little bit with contractions, which woke Mom up every time (or maybe she just never fell asleep). So, between JP and me staying up for contractions and Mom being on jet lag from a 27 hour flight and layovers, we were all lacking sleep.

At 4:00 am, I stood up yet again with another contraction (standing helped me deal with the pain better than laying down) and my water broke all over the bedroom floor. So, after taking a shower and putting on makeup (of course, right?)

we called for a taxi, headed downstairs and we were on our way to Princess Margaret Hospital (about 30 minutes away).

(Just for clarification - my water broke...)

I did well on the taxi ride through contractions. When we arrived at the hospital, they had me put on a purple hospital gown and be checked out. When they realized that I was truly in labor and my water had broken, I was admitted.

After it was confirmed that I was actually in labor, they had me change into a pink hospital outfit.

Hospital policy requires that only one person assist you during labor and delivery, so they made John Paul wait outside in the hallway and allowed my mom to come with me. She wore her scrubs and name tag, since she works in home health care in the U.S. This helped the nurses to allow her to come with me. However, I wanted both my mom and JP to be there, so I kept asking, and they told me that because it was so busy (so many babies were born that night) they couldn't allow him in with me, and only allowed my mom because she worked in healthcare and could assist me. Poor John Paul waited outside the locked delivery ward for a few hours. Finally, I wanted him there so badly, that my mom just went out and let him in! They walked past all the nurses and on into my delivery room. They allowed this to go on for a while and JP helped me manage the pain so much. I knew from reading that being in different positions and using breathing techniques is what could help me deal with the pain. JP let me hang on him and relax while he and Mom helped remind me to breathe.

You'll notice the clothes hanging in the background. Mom hung some of the cute pink clothes up for me to visualize dressing my daughter in them. The two on the right are from Lexie's Aunt Bethany. Little did I know that even these newborn clothes would be too big for her! As of now, she can only fit into some little tiny clothes given to us from Amber, a sweet friend of a friend of ours in Alabama that I haven't yet had the pleasure of actually meeting! (Thank you so much, Amber!)

Here's where the funny part comes in. After a few hours, the doctor on call came in and told both Mom and John Paul that they had to leave. They said the delivery floor was too busy, and they could not have them in there with me and I would have to go upstairs to labor on my own for a while. He decided to check me first and see where I was at. He told me to lay on my back, which hurt much worse than standing since I was having horrible contractions and back labor. However, I decided to "live it up" and cry out in pain, scream a little and let it all go. (Up to this point, I had been very quiet with JP's help at controlling the pain). Mom and JP were standing out in the hall and felt so bad for me. The doctor realized that he didn't want to deal with all my screaming and crying and he saw that JP was really helping me to stay under control. So, he agreed, with promises from both JP and Mom that they wouldn't leave the room, even to go to the bathroom, without permission. They agreed and came back into the room. After the doctor left, they said, "We felt so bad for you in all that pain!" I was like, "I was kind of faking it!" They laughed so hard! Ok, maybe I'm not proud, but I got my way! =)
Before the doctor left, we thought that he said that I was 5 cm dilated. So, I kept on with the labor using a floor mat, massage, breathing, different positions and looking at Lexie's clothes. Hours went on. They gave me some hot rice water to drink, and later on some warm plain water. However, having had very little sleep since the contractions started on Friday night, I was exhausted. A few times I thought I would pass out and Mom yelled to JP "Catch her!" I started feeling nauseaus and the pain was getting much worse, so we asked to be checked to see if the time to push was drawing near.

The doctor on call (this time a woman) came to check me. She said, "You are only 1 cm dilated."

"WHAT???????"

I made her repeat it. "1 cm dilated."

I couldn't believe my ears. I had been in labor since 4 in the morning and it was now about 6pm. I was laying on my back by this time and they had a monitor strapped to my belly checking Lexie's heartbeat and my contractions. Being on my back hurt a lot worse, plus the news of being only 1 cm was terribly depressing. I told Mom and JP "That's it. I can't do this anymore!" From there on out, I went from being in control and quiet to being the VERY loud white girl on the floor! HA! The nurse came over to me and said "NO YELLING!" And slapped my hand. Then she said "Pain is good! Bring you closer to baby! Pain good! Pain good! No yelling. Save your strength for pushing!"

She was right, of course, but at that moment, I felt like slapping her right back! I think if I had been up on my feet and continuing the natural techniques I had been using, it would have been a lot better. But 1 cm! Are you kidding me?!

Come to find out, the doctor earlier had been talking about something different. He was talking about how much I was effaced, not dilated. I didn't realize how fast it could go from that point. In my mind, I was there for another 14 hours and I knew I couldn't do it!

Those last two hours are a bit hazy in my mind. They made me stay on the bed laying down strapped to the monitor, but they brought me hot compresses for my back, JP massaged without stopping for that whole 2 hours (One time he stopped, apparently to take a picture of me, and I yelled "DON'T STOP!!!") and finally....laughing gas! Now, I didn't laugh, let me tell you, but it really helped take the edge off. It made me a little nauseous and a little funny sounding, but I could still be alert and involved in the whole thing without quite as much pain. Apparently, (so Mom and JP tell me), I spoke very loudly with the gas, and would occasionally yell out "Give me some sauce! I want some more of that sauce! Mmmm...that's nice." :)

Then came time to push. The midwife that was on call was EXCELLENT. She was so patient and kind, and helped me relax and take it slow while guiding her out. It took about 15 pushes or so, but finally, Lexie's head came out, followed shortly by the rest of her blue body. With only a 1 cm tear, I was thrilled with the midwife! :)

Out came Lexie! The midwife took her and laid her on me. My eyes were HUGE as I saw MY daughter being placed on me! She cried and then started to turn nice and pink. JP cut her cord, and after I had her for a little bit, JP took her and she greeted her daddy with a nice big plop of black poop all down his belly!

They took little Lexie (who didn't have a name yet...her name came 36 hours later!) and weighed her, checked her out and wiped her down. Then it was Grandma Sandy's turn to hold her.

After a little more bonding time, JP and Mom went back to our apartment and Lexie and I moved upstairs to the recovery ward. I was in a big room with several beds of women and their new babies. It wasn't too bad, except that babies cry...a lot...at night, and when put in a room with several newborns crying all night, it is loud!

Lexie stayed next to me in her little hospital bed. We spent the next 36 hours eating, sleeping, nursing, and getting to know each other.

This was one of my breakfasts. It was like a sweet oatmeal. The other breakfast was pork congee. My lunches and dinners were a meat of some type (pork curry or chicken) with a chinese vegetable and rice.

Mom and JP came to see us during visiting hours which were from 12-1pm and 5:30-7:30pm. Boy did those couple hours fly by fast!

Here is Lexie in her own little hospital gown that all the hospital babies wear. (And yes, with her black hair and eyes closed, she looks like a little chinese baby. In fact, my mom went to say goodbye to her when the nurse had her and the nurse said, "This isn't your baby." My mom said, ''Yes, she's ours!" But the nurse didn't believe her!)

On Tuesday afternoon, Lexie and I were discharged from the hospital!!!

Heading home in the taxi.

Up the escalator to our building.

In front of our building.

Flat C - our flat! :)

Once inside, JP surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of roses, and Auntie Anna gave us a plant that we can enjoy outside on our porch. (Thank you, Anna!)

We also had gifts to open when we got home! Mom had brought some gifts from friends and since we went to the hospital her very first night here, we hadn't had time to open them. We enjoyed opening gifts from Auntie Anna's in-laws (Uncle Tony's parents) (they gave us a bunch of gifts, but the most useful gift right away was a package of tiny hats since none of her other hats were small enough for her and looked really silly!), a blanket from Naomi, (we have been friends since we were children playing with dolls...now we each have a live "doll" of our own!), Aunt Bethany (spoiling Lexie with a ton of pretty clothes...yet another outfit she "couldn't resist" spoiling her with!), and Aunt Jennelle, Uncle Luke and cousins Tina, Johnathan, Kaylee and David (Kaylee gave Lexie her doll from when she was little!).