This baby has been always on time. She IS Japanese. She knows the beauty of following schedule.
Toli and I said "maybe it's time for a baby." I was pregnant the next month.
Our pre-baby vacation in Maui in end of August was as awesome as we planned. With a big belly but I still felt good enough to do some light hike and snorkeling.
At all the hospital visits, her growth chart was following the one on textbook.
Of course, she was born exactly on the due date.
さすが日本人の我が娘。産まれるまでずーっと、スケジュールに沿った経過でした。
「そろそろ本気で赤ちゃんを」ってトリと話した翌月に妊娠。
マウイ島のバケーションも、予定していた通り、まだ軽いハイキングやシュノーケリングができるくらいのお腹具合で楽しめたし。
病院の診察ではいつも教科書通りの育ち具合。
そしてもちろん、予定日に出て来てくれました。
It's not a short one but this is the story of the day of her birth.
少し長くなりますが、おにぎり姫の誕生物語です。
Nov. 30. Fri. 9:30am
I was going to take shower before my midwife's appointment at 10:30am.
I heard a popping sound and noticed my water broke.
I told Toli's mom, Lena who arrived from St. Louis two nights ago that she is coming to the hospital with me and more likely I would be staying there. She called Toli at work to let him know he may need to leave work early today.
I took quick shower, called the hospital (cancel the midwife's appointment and giving heads up to the labor & delivery instead), did some final packing of our bags and drove five minutes to the hospital down the hill with Lena.
１０時半の助産師さんの診察予約に行く準備をしようとしているところ、「パツン！」と音がして破水。これまでの助産師さんの指導や出産教室のお陰で、意外と落ち着いていた私。病院に電話し診察のキャンセルと分娩フロアへ直接行く旨を連絡し、予め準備しておいた荷物を持って外出。二日前にサンフランシスコ入りしていた義母に同伴してもらい自分で運転して自宅から５分ほどの病院へ。少しの不安といっぱいワクワク。来るぞ来るぞ〜！！
10:30am
At labor and delivery floor, change to a hospital gown, put on monitors and wait for contraction to start.
Told Toli to finish up whatever he is doing and start to head over.
(My main concern was to move the car parked in front of the hospital....)
病院で心拍をモニターしつつ陣痛待ち。トリにも仕事をまとめて向かう様に連絡。（この時一番気になってたのは、病院の前に停めた車、長く停めといてレッカーされたりしないよね。。。って事。）
*LINE conversation with 7 of my Japanese friends.
My messages on the right column and their messages on the left.
７人の友達とのやりとり。右側が私からのメッセージ、左側が友達たちから。
Contraction doesn't seem to start naturally. To prevent infection, decided to get induction.
Today's doctor is my favorite! Dr. Botha.
(Tho I didn't see her at all.)
Meanwhile I chat on LINE app with Japanese Mom friends in the bay and give heads up to other family and friends on texts, emails and phone calls.
.....I was both bored and overly excited and needed to do something to get my mind off from thinking what would happen in the nearest future. (Life changing event obviously, but I intentionally didn't realized that at this moment.)
陣痛が始まらないので、促進剤を打つ事に。
医者のゴーサインを待ったり、促進剤の準備をしたり、、、かなり長い時間があるけど眠いのに眠れないし。。。（冷静を装いつつもやっぱりかなり興奮状態だったんだろうね、これから起ころうとしている事を無意識にも考えちゃうと。。。）
ずーっと日本人ママ友に携帯でチャットしたり、他の家族や友人にもメールやテキストを送ったり。なんだかんだとできるだけ気を紛らわせて。。。かれこれ丸一日経とうとしているし。
I didn't have much plan other than the morning appointment with midwife this day, but I remembered that I wanted to go to the opening of the new and the first MUJI store in San Francisco.
OH NO!!
この日、助産師さんの診察予約以外は特に予定がなかったけど、そういえば待ちに待った無印良品のサンフランシスコ初出店、オープニングの日だった！
ううーん、しばらく行けなさそう。残念。
5:30pm
With Pitocin (Oxytocin Induction), the contraction starts.
陣痛促進剤が効いてきて、かなりの痛みに。
I sent Toli home to have dinner and pick up some stuff.
Meanwhile I suffered from full-on contraction.
I tried lying down, getting up, sitting on a birth ball, leaning on one, ..... only the distraction which seemed to work was to find the perfect EMOJI to express my pain to send to my friends on LINE.
トリに「一旦家に帰って晩ご飯食べてから戻って来て」って送り出した辺りから、本気の陣痛が始まる。横になったり、立ってぶらぶらしたり、バースボールに座ったり寄りかかったり。。。いろいろしてみたけど、一番気が紛れるのはLINEのチャットで今感じてる痛みを表すステッカーを送り続ける事くらい。
My friend who recently gave birth to her second son laughs at my suffering....
最近二人目の出産を終えたまりちゃんは私の人生最大の痛みを指差して笑ってるし。。。。さすが二児の母。
11:30pm
Epidural started to work and felt no pain.
I was so glad that I didn't try to suffer any longer.
Now I can get some sleep. Both Toli and I had some good night sleep.
エピデュラル（硬膜外麻酔）を打って下半身の感覚ををすっかり失った私。エピ最高！
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Good night for now.
今日はこれでおやすみなさい。 |
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Toli decorated the delivery room with lanterns.
トリが分娩室にランタンを飾ってくれました。 |
Dec. 1. Sat. 8:30am
Next morning. I'm not feeling any pain, so I could sit here longer only if I was not starving... (Cannot eat anything since I'm taking epidural.) And of course I want to see the baby soon!
To avoid infection, they want to keep minimum to go in and check the dilation. At the first time they checked, it was already fully dilated and baby's head was at level 0.
Ready to PUSH! PUSH!
翌朝。痛みは感じていないものの、お腹はぺこぺこだし、でもエピを打ってるから食べられないし、早く赤ちゃんに会いたいし。
破水してるので内診を極力避けたいという看護婦さんにお願いし、子宮口を確認してもらうと、すでに全開！
「よっしゃ、助産師さん呼んでプッシュ、プッシュ始めるぞ！」との事。
We could still enjoy making jokes and posting a photo like this on Facebook at this time....
この時はこんな写真をトリと撮ってFacebookにポストする余裕もあったりして。
The midwife, Denise turned down the dosage of epidural and we got ready to push around 9:30. Soon, I started getting my legs' feeling back and started noticing the contractions.
The pushing process felt a lot more intimate than what I imagined. Denise was there to guide all of us. Jen, the nurse and Toli were holding my legs. They all were cheering me to push. They asked me questions like "where's the favorite Sushi place in the city?" to distract me from the pain in between the contractions. (Pain from the contractions were manageable, but I had very strong pain on my back to suffer entire time.)
９時半頃にエピデュラルの投与値を下げるとすぐに陣痛を感じ始める。これはケースバイケースってのもあるし、助産師さんの好みの問題もありそうだけど、私の場合「無痛分娩」じゃなかったのー！？！？ってくらい、薬を切られちゃって、最終的にはかなりの痛みと戦う事に。
助産師さんのデニースが舵を取り、看護婦さんのジェニファーとトリに足を支えてもらいながらプッシュプッシュ。
背中の激痛から気を紛らわせるために「好きな寿司屋はどこだ？」なんていう呑気な質問をされるのに真面目に答えたりしつつ、プッシュプッシュ。
Denise set the goal to have Maya out by 11:30. Though they left for their "quick" morning meeting for EVER around 10.
Maya finally arrived at 12:24pm.
Toli picked her up and put her on my chest right away.
１２時２４分、トリが真弥を取り上げ、すぐに私の胸へ。
（今でも感極まっちゃって、この時の感覚は言葉で表せないわ。。。）
Maya Tamara Kuznets
真弥 タマラ クズネッツ
was born
at St. Luke's Hospital, San Francisco
(3rd floor of the hospital you can see from home)
7 lb 10 oz (3480g)
20 inches (50.8 cm)
元気に産まれて来てくれてありがとう。
Dec. 9. 
病院で心拍をモニターしつつ陣痛待ち。トリにも仕事をまとめて向かう様に連絡。（この時一番気になってたのは、病院の前に停めた車、長く停めといてレッカーされたりしないよね。。。って事。）
