The Birth Story

April 14, 2013. It was a beautiful day.  My inlaws decided to take mom and I to Icebergs at Bondi. If you haven't heard of Iceberg, it's a gorgeous bistro/rsl club on the water of the most famous beach in the world. The food is good..but if you are an arab, and they do not provide you with a large oval plate spilling with meat and rice, you say you like it but deep down inside, you really don't think it's worth it. 

But it IS worth going for a light lunch and the view is breathtaking.

Before we went there for lunch we decided to go for a little walk on the bondi-coogee walk. I was doing everything I could to get myself into labour since I was due. I forgot how LARGE some of the steps were. I lasted a few minutes before heading towards Ice berg.

I ordered a chili squid salad.

My water broke.

in Icebergs.

In front of my father in law.

Now, before you freak out. Rest assured. When your water breaks, it's not like in the movies. No one notices anything.

I thought I just had an accident. That's all

So when it happened, I just let out a gasp and my father in law looked at me strangely. He kept asking what's wrong (SHBEEESHH??) and I just muttered that I forgot my cell phone in the bathroom. When I came out of the bathroom he said "what was taking you soooooo long? I kept calling you!!" and my response was "oh, I was washing my hands."

I tried to walk past him to go to my mom and mother in law to tell them what happened but he kept following me and asking me questions. When I finally went to my mom and aunti, I whispered to them "I think my water broke, but I could have just had an accident."

They went from being so excited to completely confused. I ruined a special moment because I was trying not to get too excited and I wanted to save my pride. I thought if I really did have an accident, at least I admit that I thought it might be it. It made a lot of sense in my head at that time.

So we finally tell my father in law that I must be going into labour and we drove to the hospital. They told me to call Amar but I was determined to find out first if I really did break my water. Aunti asked me if my back was hurting and I exclaimed "yessss it's killingg meee" It didn't help their nerve when I started making jokes the entire way there.  

As soon as I saw my midwife and I asked her, she looked at me like I was retarded. We became kind of friends during my pregnancy, so I didn't take it too personally. 

When Amar found out, he called and freaked out on the phone, telling me that he didn't understand why I wasn't calling him. The poor guy had an exam in a week and I didn't want to bother him in case I had an accident! It does happen to pregnant ladies, you know. I'm not crazy.

So, I was finally convinced that I was in labour but the ward already made that conclusion, dressed me up and hooked the monitors on me. 

I ended up needing to do a c-section because Hasouni's heart beat was going down after some of the  strong contractions. We were going to see how far I could go into natural labour but the doctor's said "oh, actually, if you do want to do a c-section, you will need to do it now because staff turnover is happening soon." Of course staff turnover happens around the time I was going into labour. 

Wait, before I go on... I want to tell every woman out there who hasn't experienced contractions yet that I know deep down inside you are hoping that it doesn't hurt as much as people say. When I was still in the ward, the contractions hurt but they weren't that bad. I thought I was such a hero for being able to handle it. I didn't realize I was  just in pre labour.

Couple of hours later when I was getting pushed into surgery, they stopped RIGHT AT THE DOOR OF THE SURGERY ROOM. I was like "WHYYYYYY" The staff had to get themselves ready. We were waiting for my doctor who was having a discussion with my husband. He was telling Amar that  he wasn't the one that was going to perform the operation but someone else was.  After Amar convinced him to stay since he was the one that has been monitoring me throughout my pregnancy, he then tells Amar that he will perform the surgery but will leave after and someone else will stitch me back up.

ARE YOU SERIOUS??

So, Amar very nicely asked the doctor to not leave when I am opened and to kindly close me up before he goes home for the day. He told him that it was probably not the greatest plan to switch staff between that time.

At that stage, I thought I was going to die from the pain. I made an official conclusion that people who do natural labour and endure these contractions are not real.  

At last, we were in the room and they gave me the sweet sweet drugs.

When Hasouni was getting pulled out, Amar and the doctor's decided to take photographs. They literally adjusting the light (that was supposed to be for the surgeons to see what they were doing), to shine on Hasouni so that Amar has a good picture. Ummm...HELLO!!!

Most amazing moment of my life was when they showed me Hasouni. I was stunned.  I don't think anyone can ever prepare to see their baby. I was so shocked to see that Hasouni was a full grown baby. He had eyes, cheeks, nose, legs, arms, stomach. The works. Before that, I only saw him on the ultrasound and in my mind he was just black and white in 2D.

The next day I asked the doctor if he removed my placenta. He looked me very strangely and replied. "of course I did?." Well, sorry. He just hasn't MENTIONED it.  I just wanted to double check.