My son is almost two years old. I gave birth on May 24th, 2006. My original EDD was June 13th. Here’s my birth story…

I was just supposed to have a NST (non stress test) and routine checkup for my 37th week of pregnancy. I arrived at the hospital a little over 11 in the morning, but I was late as usual for my 10:30 appointment. The nurse immediately told me to go in the NST room. After the NST, I had a biophysical profile test for the baby. Then, I proceeded to the self-testing room where I took my blood pressure and checked my weight (gained 900 grams in a week). I gave the nurse my numbers and she was shocked to find that my BP is very high.

My BP that morning was 170/100. The nurses were alarmed and told me to take my BP again after I meet the doctor. Doctor Choi told me that the baby’s fine according to the tests I took earlier and said that he’ll see me a week after. So after meeting the doctor, I checked my BP again and it was terribly higher at 190/110. The nurses informed the doctor and he decided that I should not be allowed to go home and to have the baby in the afternoon. I panicked!

The nurse called my husband on the phone and explained everything. She told me not to go home but I pleaded and I said that I’ll be back in an hour. I went to another building of the hospital and talked to my husband. I went home and bought kimbap (rice roll) for my lunch.

Back home, I prepared my bag, ate, read a book while on the toilet, showered and took pictures of myself! I emailed some of my friends and relatives informing them that i was going to be induced in the afternoon. I arrived at the hospital before 4 PM. I had myself admitted and called my husband afterwards. I told him not to come yet since from what I’d heard first time labors usually take hours!

I proceeded to the delivery room. The nurses asked me several times on who’s accompanying me. I told them that I came to the hospital by myself. They asked me again and again as if I didn’t understand their question!

I changed to a white hospital gown at the delivery room. They checked my BP, shaved me down there and gave me an enema (terrible!). By 445 PM, I was in the bed where my doctor checked me and found out I was already 5cm dilated. I’d been dilated 3cm since my 32nd week appointment.

The nurses asked me again if I have any family with me and I said no, but my husband will come at around 8PM. They hooked me up to a fetal monitor. At 5PM, they broke my water and hooked me up on pitocin. After that i started to feel contractions. Four minutes apart at first and then two minutes apart later. That was the worst pain I have ever felt in my life.

The nurse told me how to breathe through the contractions and it really did help. However the pain was really tremendous. It was like riding a scary roller coaster. You know when you’ll be on the scariest part and when you’re there you wanted to get off but you couldn’t. The contractions also felt like the worst menstrual pain ever but multiplied a million times, I guess. At that moment, I thought about all the women throughout the ages who had to go through labor without any medication.

At around 5:35 PM, I remember asking the nurses for a painkiller. One of them checked me and said i was almost fully dilated so they refused to give me any. So I just had to endure all the pain and I remember that it was almost 6PM when the nurse said that I was fully dilated and I should start pushing. The pushing helped ease the pain, so I just pushed vigorously.

When then the baby’s head started coming out, the nurses told me not to push anymore. I felt one of the nurses’ hand holding or pushing back the baby’s head. Then they wheeled me to the main delivery room.

The doctor came a few minutes later (and he’s one good looking doctor!) and he started to ask me to push the moment he sat down. It wasn’t difficult. I think my baby came out after three pushes. That was at 6:17 PM. I heard the baby’s cry about a minute later…

After the baby, I had to push again to deliver the placenta while hearing my baby cry. The doctor stitched me… I remember feeling the needle as he did so and I heard myself say “aww!” a couple of times.

When everything was done. The doctor looked at me and said “all done” (in Korean of course) and I said “thank you”. They transferred me to the post-partum room, where I was hooked up to a BP monitor and magnesium. The nurse massaged my abdomen. I think about 15 minutes later, my husband came. I’m so sorry for him that the birth didn’t take long, I could read that he wanted to be there (he told me to call him before I deliver). I didn’t expect to deliver that early though…

I spent about three hours at the post-partum recovery room. After that they told me that they will bring me to the ICU because my blood pressure was high. I was well taken care of at the ICU until I was discharged at 3PM the following day. I didn’t think that hospital food could be delicious. There were two other patients at the ICU but they weren’t allowed to eat solid food yet.

I was transferred to Rm 219 of the main building of the hospital. That night, my husband stayed with me. The following morning, my doctor said I could go home in the afternoon. My husband asked if I could stay one more day at the hospital. The doctor said it’s better that I go home. With the help of my first sister-in-law (keun hyeongnim) and my mother-in-law, I was able to go home that same day. I spent a total of 49 hours in the hospital from the time of admission till discharge.