The wait is over...

No more "You're still pregnant?!"
No more "You haven't delivered yet?!"

I am happy to announce that Blub finally decided to join the rat race.

Where did I leave you last? Oh yeah, random contractions late at night. They never became regular, ranging from 5 minutes to 18 minutes. They did however become more intense as the night wore on.

At 11:00pm, I decided that I was hungry. I was about 80% sure that I was going into labor so I didn't want to eat too much lest I throw it all up at the hospital. No need to make a messy situtation (birth is very messy) gross with vomit. However, since dinner was at 5:30pm, I thought it was prudent to get something in my stomach since I knew it would be a long while before my next meal. So at 11:00pm, I had a bowl of cereal before heading off to bed to rest. I catnapped in between contractions until something started nagging me that I needed to get out of bed. They still weren't consistent but the intensity was increasing. I got Truong out of bed just before 1:00am and we started to take stuff to the car. By 1:00am we were racing on the 55 to St. Joseph's. I called Shana and realized that I already started getting the shakes -- a sure sign for me that I was going through transition. I told Truong to step on it. I wanted to be in L&D before it got bad.

We got to the hospital and did the check in process. Because my contractions were coming so fast, they made me sit in a wheelchair to get to the Mother Baby Unit. Unfortunately, when in a wheelchair, I had no control over how fast we got to our destination. The girl was a very slow walker and it took all I had to not bark out "STEP ON IT SISTER! I'M HAVING A BABY!"

We get there and I find out that the hospital is maxed out. Seriously maxed out. As in there are no available rooms or nurses for me. What the hell does that mean? Am I supposed to deliver in the hallway? The janitor's closet? What?! They take me to the overflow recovery room where's there's one lady recovering from a C-section, waiting for a room. The recovery room is exactly that: one large room with cloth wall dividers. And that's where I ended up at 1:30am. Where I labored. Where I rode through my contractions. Not exactly the lasting memory I wanted for the birth of my last child. But you know what? I was already dilated to 6cm and 80% -- I had other things to worry about.

Finally at around 2:45am, they find me a room. They wheel me around and I'm seriously having contractions one on top of the other. Just before we leave the recovery room, Jennifer (my nurse) checks me and I'm 7cm and my bag of water is bulging. Things are getting pretty hairy and I'm starting to get a little mindless with the pain. On the way to my new room, in the hallway, I inform Jen that I needed to push. Both she and Truong tell me "DON'T PUSH!" We get to the room and I inform them again that I needed to push. She checks me and I'm at 8cm. She tells me again "Don't push. I'm going to get things ready. Page me if you need me. PAGE ME!"

She leaves the room and it's just me and Truong. I'm practically crawling up the wall with each contraction and I tell Truong I need to push. I start pushing -- I can't help it. Truong tells me not to. Then I feel a small gush -- my water breaks.

Uh-oh. The last time this happened with Malia, she soon followed. I tell Truong and for the first time tonight, I sense panic in his voice. He immediately pages Jen:"Comebackrightnow -- Sonya'swaterbrokeandsheneedstopush!!"

I say again "I need to push!" and I start pushing. The need to push is like the tide - it can overwhelm your body and control you. Truong's starting to panic "No, don't push!" Jen runs in with an armful of baby blankets. I tell her in a pretty calm voice: "I need to push and I can feel the baby crowning." I was very matter of fact. She all but throws the blankets onto the baby warmer and speed walks over, while snapping on some gloves. She pulls up my gown and says: "Well, look at that! You're right -- the baby is crowning!" I'm mindless in my pushing. I start chanting: "The baby's crowning, the baby's coming!" I try to stop, knowing that the OB hasn't even been called but I can't. Jen on my right side, calmly tells Truong who's on my left: "Hey Truong, can you pick up that white phone, dial 1 something something and tell them that we need some nurses in here?" I can dimly hear Truong say into the phone: "Hi, we're in Room 18 and we need some help, the baby's coming out, Jen's in here by herself and the doctor's not here!"

If I wasn't practically levitating off the bed, I would have laughed.

I feel the burn of the head crowning and then I feel the head pass. Weirdly, I'm still feeling pressure. Jen comes around to my feet and tells me to push one more time. I do and then I feel shoulders and the rest of the baby come out. Then I let out a huge sigh of relief -- it's done!

It's 3:05am. We were in my L&D room for less than 10 minutes. Once again, my nurse catches my baby and I deliver without an OB present. Jen laughs and tells me I delivered the baby practically by myself.

So stats:
Weight - 5 lbs, 12oz
Length - 19 inches

Oh yeah... it's a BOY!

Taede Vinh Mai

Taede (Croatian) - strong
Vinh (Vietnamese) - victory

Whew!

I've got a Kael, a Malia, and a Taede -- I'm done.