presenting...

jeyu eliot kim

10-04-10

4:14pm

6# 13 oz

19.5"

this is our birth story...

3:30 am on monday october 4, 2010

i awoke with an upset stomach and vomited. the tummy ache continued throughout the night and i tossed and turned and wondered if these were contractions.

6 am

i began to notice a pattern to these crampy pains and started to keep track of the time on my cell phone...hmmm every 10-12 minutes.

7 am

uh oh...better get duke in on this. duke got out his stop watch and handy clip board (his shower gift from the jones family) and started timing my contractions (!?!)

5-7 minutes apart lasting about 1 minute each

8 am

we got out of bed, took showers, ate breakfast (well, i was too nauseous.) and headed into see the midwife for our regularly scheduled forty week appointment at 9:40. we planned ahead and packed the carseat, suitcase, laptop, camera and snacks...just in case they made us stay.

10 am

maggie declared us in pre-labor and sent us off to walk. "go for a hike on the nearby trails or maybe down to the waterfront. get a popsicle and come back to check in when the contractions get stronger and closer" we decided to stay on campus...thank god!

11:30 am

after wandering around OHSU, breathing heavily and contracting while duke rubs my back at every hand railing, we decided to head to the maternity floor. we thought that here, people would understand that i am supposed to be walking and no, we didn't want a wheel chair. unfortunately, i was still very nauseous and stopping in at every restroom.

12 pm

i'm not sure duke could bear watching me breath through one more contraction "on the outside." we went to labor and delivery. they escorted us into our room and the midwives came in to "check" me. "1 centimeter," she says. "you can go walk if you want to or go home...it's up to you. we are worried that you can't keep down water though. hang out for awhile and see if you can drink some, or we may have to put in a saline IV."

2:30 pm

the midwives come in from another birth to check on me. "i peed on the floor and lost my mucous plug," i say, anxious and embarrassed. i had been contracting quite hard, i thought, but what did i know...i've never been in labor before. they look at me sympathetically, as if to say, it's still too soon sweetie...and they "check" me again. i feel as though i was burning a hole through sally's (the midwife) head with thoughts of the high number when she says...you're at seven. oh yeah, that's right...7.

3:30 pm

by now, they were concerned with the biscuits fluctuating heartrate and so, my water has been broken, a fetal monitor has been attached to the top of his head (inside of my body), i am wearing an oxygen mask, have an IV and am wearing a blood pressure band around my arm along with fetal heart rate monitors around my belly. until this point, the midwives have been asking me not to push (i find this impossible...as my body just does it.) and to breathe as though i am blowing my bangs out of my face.

the midwives, what seems suddenly to me, come into my focus and say..."tstar you can push now. go ahead. push. you are fully dilated. go ahead and push this baby out!"

4:14

jeyu eliot kim...the. most beautiful little boy on the planet is born!!!

the midwives set out a huge mirror so that i could see his head emerge. i could feel the top of his hairy little head coming out. it was amazing! duke was my rock, anchoring my leg like a human stirrup, he had a front row seat for the birth of his boy. jeyu had decided to emerge into this world with his arm up like superman...using his super strength to be born as quickly as possible. the umbilical cord had been wrapped around his neck which was causing his little heartrate to fluctuate during the speedy arrival.

we had hoped for a calm, music filled, aromatherapy kind of labor...the waterbirth tub never had time to enter the room...biscuit had a whole other plan. it's his world now. his little eyes were wide, as the midwives laid our perfect little boy on my chest. he laid there until the placenta was gone and i was all stitched up. only then did they take him to be weighed and cleaned and put into the arms of his appa. proud, ecstatic appa.

the team of midwives and nurses that took care of us were excellent, efficient and nurturing.

special thanks go out to our wonderful friend, melissa (aka momo) who was with us during the birth. she has a calm, controlled energy around her that we cherish. she is the one who took these photos. please enjoy them.

(warning...photos contain double chins, nipples and blood...oh my!)

the beginning...