Reminiscing...

....the past.

As baby number two quickly (yet sometimes slowly) approaches, I've been thinking of all the wonderful moments I've had with Tristan. He has been such a delightful child. While he does have his moments, more so now since he is 2 1/2 years old, overall he's been easy going, quick to learn, and just so darn lovable.

Since I'm reminiscing about the past, I'd like to dedicate the next number of blog posts to my son and his first two years.


Tristan came into this world, December 16th, 2005.

Below are some pictures taken of him around the end of his first month:

Tristan's birth story:

Tristan was due December 15th. Prior to the big day, I had the false labor contractions. One night they were so bad that I even went to hospital. However, I was sent right back home with no baby in my arms. Meanwhile, everyday at work, I would walk in, and almost everyone would ask me "No baby yet?". Of course, I'm thinking, why yes, I popped him out last night and I'm here to go on working, but I politely say 'no, not yet'. On my due date, it was the same thing. It was funny, watching my co-workers try and guess when I would have the baby. I went to work on my due date thinking, he won't be coming any time soon. Most first time mothers have their babies late I kept telling myself. Although my trip to the hospital the week before had me convinced I'll be different. But since my due date had come, I was thinking, he'll be late, maybe even a week late. Well, I was ready though. I had been very fortunate to not have too much of the bad pregnancy symptoms. I did have morning sickness in the beginning. But no weird cravings, no wild mood swings, no bad back aches, no problems bending over and putting on socks or hosiery. At least, until the last month. The last four weeks of my pregnancy, I had problems sleeping comfortably and I was very fatigued. On December 15th, I went to work like I usually did. I came home and enjoyed CSI and Without a Trace like I normally did. Scott and I went to bed about ten. I had no contractions, no pain. Just problems sleeping. I had to work the next morning, so I was trying my best to be comfortable. Did I mention I was already three centimeters dilated and 80% effaced? I found this out the prior week at the hospital, when I thought I was in labor. Anyway, I had an appointment the next morning and then I would head straight to work afterwards. Or so I thought. I woke up about midnight to go to the bathroom to find that I couldn't hold it in. I had wet my underwear and thought i peed myself. So, I thought nothing of it. Less than an hour later, I wake up in pain. False contractions I convince myself. A few minutes later, another one. It hurt, a lot. A few minutes later, another one. Could this be it?, as I cringe in pain. After about half an hour I'm in so much pain that my whimpering wakes up Scott. He looks over, half asleep, and asks what's wrong. I tell him the contractions are every two or three minutes and they hurt much more than the last time. He immediately springs into action getting his clothes on and helping me get ready. I tell my mother that he and I are going to the hospital and we'll call her if there is any progress. We grabbed our already packed bags and head to the hospital.

I call the hospital ahead of time and we arrive at the Labor and Delivery unit at around 1:30 in the morning. The nurse examines me to find that I'm still at 3 cm but more effaced then what I was last week. They tell me and Scott to take a walk and return in an hour. So, we head out and walk around the hospital for an hour. In that hour, my apple juice came up ( I felt so sick to my stomach), and I moaned in pain every time I had a contraction. We were so tired and exhausted. Why did this have to happen at night? At the end of the hour I was only 4 cm dilated. At this rate I had at least six hours to go. Eek! They wanted to get me into a room of my own, but there was one problem: every woman decided to go into labor that night and there were no rooms left. So, I had to wait and tough it out. They couldn't administer any pain medication until I was in my room. It was about 2:30 in the morning when we learn about the no vacancy thing. It was about 5:30 when they finally got me a room. The pain felt like it was getting worse and so unbearable. Worse part - they check me when I get into the room - 4 cm. I hadn't progressed at all. At this point I had had enough of the pain. Epidural please. Of course, it seemed like forever for the anesthesiologist to administer the epidural. But once that stuff was in my system, it was good bye to pain. It was so effective that I didn't even realize that i was having a contraction. Anyway, it was time to make all the calls now that I'm not screaming and crying every time I had a contraction. I called my manager early in the morning. I called my dad. Scott called his mom. I called my mother. My mother had an appointment in the morning, so she stayed at home. My dad came around 7:00 or so. And Scott's mother came immediately, even though we told her it was unnecessary to come that early. We sat around talking, I was too excited to sleep. Scott took a short nap. At about 8:00 in the morning my doctor arrived and I joked with her saying that my appointment was supposed to be at 8:30 with her and I won't be making it. She checked me out and found that I had progressed to 9 cm. At which point, we woke up Scott and shooed out the parents. The nurse came back a few minutes later to guide me in the pushing process. Whenever I had a contraction, i was told to take a deep breath and push, three times. The nurse left the room to get the doctor and to get some equipment. She instructed me to push with the next contraction, with Scott there to help me. Well, I did as instructed and Scott saw that the head was close to coming out and told me to stop. He certainly didn't want to deliver the baby for me. Thankfully the nurse and doctor arrived. My doctor told me to go ahead and push on the next contraction, while she was still smocking up. The head came out just as she got on her gown. It took one more push and he was out. I remember him and his first cries. I remember how Scott got to cut the umbilical cord - the life support of our baby, what kept him alive and thriving while in me. He was beautiful. He was remarkable. As he was being cleaned and swaddled, I was being cleaned up and stitched up. He was so alert, too. Looking around with his beautiful eyes. My beautiful baby boy arrived December 16th, 2005 at 8:23 AM.

To Be Continued...