{The Birth Story of Samantha Estelle}

For my 38th week routine check up(Monday), I woke up hoping, wishing and wanting so badly to feel symptoms of labor,but alas no luck....doctor's comment was I was "thick and closed". She mentioned that i could consider induction as an option and we can schedule it Tuesday of next week since she will be on call. My doctor recommended that I be seen again before Tuesday to see if I have made any progress on being dilated. If I am dilated, then induction is definitely favorable since I was induced once before and had a great delivery experience.

Ed and I took the day off friday for my follow up check up. I wanted Ed to be in this appointment to ensure that we both hear and evaluate our Doctor's recommendation. This time the Doctor said that I was "thick and ripening but not dilated at all". She however was confident that I was going to be ok with an induction for Tuesday. We left the doctor's office slightly confused on what to do. The thought of induction was soooo tempting for this very pregnant lady. However, even with the doctor telling us that it was our choice, we feared that things were being pushed. That somehow in my desire to meet our unborn daughter, I was considering using drugs not out of medical necessity but out of my selfishness. Our brains were running wild with questions and what to do.

We decided to grab lunch and discuss Tuesday further. Will our girl come when she's ready? on her own? Is it wrong to kick her outta there with induction? I just want to make sure we give her enough time to develop. We were overwhelmed but decided to call back our doctor's office to cancel the scheduled induction. We figured when she's ready she'll let us know.

At around 5:45 pm, Ed asked me what I wanted for dinner. We were contemplating whether we should make something for dinner or grab the famous "Egg Plant Parmesan" from an Italian restaurant in town. Suddenly, I felt a lil bit of water down my skin. Did my water just broke? Or did I just lost control of my bladder? I went to the bathroom and changed. A few more trickle...hmmm... this is odd. I changed again. Then a couple more minutes later, water started gushing. It was undeniable my water did break! We called my sister to pick up William then headed to the hospital.

On the way to the hospital, Ed and I were so excited! Can't believe that our baby girl will be here soon. We checked in to the hospital. Here's a picture of us registering...

The nurse said that the doctor said that they will monitor me tonight, let me rest some and start me on Pitocin at 7AM Saturday morning. Around 9 PM, I started feeling contractions, nurse checked me and she said that I was 1 cm dilated. The contractions were peeking but no patterns at all. I'm a wimp so I told her as soon as I can get an epidural give it to me. The pain was starting to get intolerable. All I can think of is gosh if I will be induced 7AM tomorrow morning, I would need some relief. Nurse recommended some narcotics to cut the edge of pain. I hesitated but eventually take it coz I'd really like to get some rest. Narcotics didn't really helped and I was still in pain. Around, 10 PM nurse checked me and she said I was 4cm dilated. Wooo hooo. I can get epi. After I got my epidural, I felt so much better and decided to take advantage of this and grab as much rest as I can. At 12 midnight, nurse checked me and she said I was 7-8cm dilated. Seems like I am progressing fast. I woke up Ed and told him that we might have baby soon and be ready.

Around 2:30AM, I was 10 cm dilated. Nurse said I'm complete and they'll place the call to our on call doctor. What?? They haven't called the doctor? Luckily he lives closed by and was at the hospital 10 mins after the call. He checked me and said that in the next few mins, we're going to start pushing ---- 30 mins of pushing and out baby girl Samantha Estelle Guevarra Culler arrived on April 24, 2010, 3:31 AM. 7 lbs 8 oz and 2o inches. Ed and I were mesmerized with our girl. She looks just like her big brother, born with a head full of dark hair!

Beaming Dad!

Our family of four! William came in to visit early Saturday morning. He was a bit taken back by the fact that I'm laying on a hospital bed. We showed him Samantha and he said...no that's not Samantha, Samantha is in Mommy's belly. Which kinda made sense since for the longest time, we've been pointing to my belly.

A few minutes later he warmed up and was so in love with his baby sister and keeps giving her kisses.

Grandparents with our baby girl.
I'm so glad that my sister was able to see Samantha right away. My Dad had surgery early Monday of this week and is unable to travel. I told my parents that my Dad needs more time to recover and they can come see us in the next few weeks. It was nice to have family.
There was no shortage of warm welcome for the arrival of our baby girl. Our closest friends were on site to see her. It was one big party at our room :)

Less than 48 hrs after, we were given the go by our doctor to head home. They felt confident that we will be ok. We were ecstatic to do so and quickly changed our precious lil one in her going home outfit!

I know it's cliche to say this but we love our baby girl more than words can describe.

So there you have it, Samantha's birth story. A very succesful birthing experience. As always, Ed and I's ultimate goal was to have a healthy baby regardless of whatever means of delivery.