Birth of Ashley 1

Ashley's birthday is coming up soon next month (can you believe it?). There were so many stories about her birth and yet, I haven't written down anything. So, here I am, thinking that while these memories are still fresh, I'd better write them down before they fade away.
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I can still remember vividly the week leading towards Ashley's birth, the week of August 25th, 2008. It was a scorching hot summer week, one of those few weeks we get in Northern California once a while. It was so hot that you feel so uncomfortable to stay indoor; the entire house feels like sitting on a hot oven; you sweat right away the very first moment you get out of the shower, and the air seems to be still.

I took 2 weeks off prior to the due date, now thinking about it, I should have taken the whole 4 weeks off. During the week, I went out everyday to get the last minute stuff ready for the baby. At the end of each day, I was exhausted, and the heat didn't help.

At the beginning of the week during the regular checkup, I was already 1cm dilated. At the time, I asked the doctor if this was the sign that the baby might be coming this week. The doctor answered, "No, it doesn't mean much. The baby can come anytime. It could be this week, next week, or the week after."

Thursday night was hot as any other day. For some strange reason, I insisted to have watermelon and it was 10 o'clock at night. I had the need to have it that particular night. So AJ and I walked over to Lucky's and carried two big watermelon home (of course, I didn't do much of carrying). By the time we got home and finally had some watermelon, it was probably about 11PM.

Friday was hot as well. Contractions started kicking in Friday morning. It started very slow and mild and came every once and by the afternoon, it started to come a little bit more frequent. I still had to get some stuff from Walgreens, so I decided to walk to Walgreens in the hot, sizzling sun.

The tummy seemed to be getting heavier and heavier with each step. The breathe was getting shorter and shorter. The contractions came every now and then and my feet was getting heavier and sore. It seemed ages before I reached Walgreens. By the time I got home, I was completely exhausted and hit the bed right away.

By the time AJ came home around 5PM, the contractions was becoming more regular. So I told him, "I think the baby is coming soon!"

My mom was flying in on the next morning Saturday, so I said, "We need to clean the condo!"
Well, you know what they all say about expectant moms have the urgency to clean right before the baby comes, it's very very true!

"I want to go out for dinner for last time together in the next 15 years!" I added.

AJ thought about it, and said, "Sure, but I want to go for a motorcycle ride for the last time."

"OK, how about we clean, then you go out for a ride, and we then go for dinner?"

So, believe it or not, while I was having contractions, we cleaned up the condo, AJ went out for a bike ride, I took a shower and by the time we went out for dinner, it was past 9PM.

I still remember the dinner. It was at Pasta Pomodoro. Instead of usual Frutti di Mare, I ordered Spaghetti Polpette (spaghetti with beef and pork meatballs). I must had thought that I needed the carbohydrate for the labor and didn't want to take any chances with bad seafood. It was a dinner I could never forget, every now and then during the dinner, I would said, "hold on, contraction is coming." And I would put my fork and spoon down, and hold my head. I could barely taste the food. At the time, the contraction was getting a bit painful, but it was still manageable. They came like every 10 -8 minutes, the doctor said to go to the hospital when the contractions come every 5 minutes. So, we knew it must be coming pretty soon.

I don't remember how we finished the dinner. By the time we got home, it must be almost 11 PM. So, we packed up the last minute stuff, and I called a friend to pick up my mom from the airport in case I was in labor the next morning.

All that set and done, we went to bed.