Samuel Hunter Chan

Sam arrived Saturday morning October 25 at 5:03 am.  We are all still adjusting, but I wanted to write down his arrival before I forgot in the blur of sleeplessness. 

Friday started off as a fairly uneventful day. I was 3cm dilated but still felt pretty mobile for being 39 weeks along. That night at 1:30am we were awakened by Max crying. As I laid in bed listening to Terah put Max back to bed, I noticed I was feeling a slight cramping that repeated itself a few times. Terah immediately went on high alert and convinced me to call my parents. 

I felt a little silly that we were rushing to the hospital so soon but since I was VERY interested in making sure I got my epidural in time, Terah and my mom convinced me better now than later. We arrived at the hospital by 3am and I was 4 cm with contractions around 6-7 min apart. Since they weren't super painful yet, much to Terah's hesitation, I decided to wait it out before getting the epidural. For some reason I kept thinking I still had plenty of time. 

Around 4:30am I decided they were getting unbearably uncomfortable and asked for the epidural. I was 8cm dilated. The anesthesiologist worked quickly but it still took about 10-15 minutes to set up. My contractions were ramping up in pain exponentially. As he was just about to finish, I hear this Pow! sound over the baby heart rate monitor machine, my water had broke. I immediately scream "I NEED TO PUSH NOW!"

Everything after that was a blur, but I remember vaguely the nurse asking if I could hold the pushing, they were going to try to finish the shot. I thought she was nuts. There was a flurry of activity and somehow they got me to lie down and finish the shot all at once. (Turns out they never even bothered to hook me up to the epidural, they just gave me a shot of something else that gives immediate relief and wears off after an hour.) After one more incredibly painful contraction, the shot kicked in and took the edge off the pain and my desperate need to push. I finally notice a crowd of nurses and doctors had descended upon the room, all ready to go. Everybody seemed to be looking at me but no one was telling me what to do, so I blankly asked, "Am I supposed to push now?" They told me it was up to me whether I wanted to wait for my own doctor to arrive. 

I go through one more contraction and decide not to wait. 2-3 pushes later, my doctor arrives. I make one final push and Sam was out. The nurse later told me that was one of the fastest transitions she had seen. A little more of a dramatic ending then preferred, but in the end, I got my pain meds (well barely) and Sam arrived safe and sound. 

I'm just glad that part is over!