(and to exemplify I wrote the above passage nearly an hour ago before Ruqaiya started crying)
The weeks before her birth were all a flurry for me because she was overdue. Her expected date was August 25 but when that rolled by and still no contractions I was in a panic. I already had a few early alerts when I thought I had contractions but still no dilation. I was looking up all these tips on identifying labor and kept calling the childbirth center. I'm sure they were sick of me. Thing is my contractions were not regular. Sometimes they were 13 mins apart, other times 5 mins apart and then 30 mins apart and everyone was telling me they would be in a regular pattern. And when they were regular, they were like minor cramps to me and they told me they would be much stronger. Finally I just went in because I was starting to cry from the pain. Seriously, after praying Maghrib I was on the floor crying.
And when I went in I was 8 cm dilated! And the first thing I said was that I wanted a epidural! Before I thought I would go without medication but after experiencing the pain of the early contractions I know I won't be able to stand transition phase and the birth. Ahhhhh...epidural...how I loved you so.
I was able to sleep (and during the time Umar was able to come from Syracuse to Troy) during the night. I think it was about an hour before Fajr that I woke up and felt the need to push. The delivery took an hour. Several people told me that was a relatively quick delivery. An hour....quick. Nooo...an hour is still too long. Quick would be 5 minutes. I won't give the details but I was crying and yelling and finally Ruqaiya was born on August 31! Anak merdeka!
She was 21 inches long and 7 lbs and 13 oz. Huge for a person my size. No wonder I felt like my skin was going to rip apart.
Isn't she cute?
And now she's 2 months old. She's gained over 4 lbs since born and grew nearly 2 inches. She can't wear any outfit labeled for 0-3 months and her 3-6 months outfits are starting to become tight and small. She's growing so fast.
And now she's crying.
