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Tristan Alexander Wong's Birth

It was Friday, November 17, 1995. I had been feeling minor contractions since 2:00 in the afternoon. Because I had experienced false labour two days before, caused by an internal examination by my doctor earlier that day, I didn't think they were real, so I didn't bother to call the doctor or Anthony, my husband. I started feeling worse as the evening wore on, but the contractions didn't seem to get stronger. I went for a walk with Anthony hoping that if this were the "real thing" it would speed up the labour process.

Nothing seemed to be happening so we turned in for the night. At 12:30 AM, on Saturday, November 18, I woke up, too uncomfortable to sleep because of back pains, neaseaous feelings, and the continuing contractions. I stayed awake and timed my contractions. It was really frustrating! They weren't getting any stronger, and yet they were strong enough that it made it impossible for me to sleep. At about 3:30 AM, I finally noticed that the contractions were getting stronger. However, when I timed them, they were erratic. I decided that I wouldn't my husband up or nor would I call my doctor until I was 100% sure that this was it.

At 5:15 AM, Anthony woke up after hearing me groaning in pain. Now that the contractions had moved to my back, they were lasting only 40-50 seconds, with 5-6 minutes apart. Anthony "advised" me to call our doctor, but I wanted to wait a bit more (seeing how I had awaken him at 3:00 AM four days earlier... the poor guy). At 6:30 AM, the pain was getting unbearable, so I thought, "This must be it. I'd better call now." Our doctor wanted us to meet him at his office (which was close to the hospital and our house) at 7:15 AM, for assessment. After a quick examination, I found I was 6.5cm dilated, and the doctor told us that we should head for the hospital.

We arrived at B.C. Women's Hospital at around 7:25 AM and were checked into a delivery suite. Diana, the nurse, checked me, and I was now 7cm dilated. I contractions were now very strong, so I entered the shower to try to relieve some of the pain. At 8:00 AM, while still in the shower, my water broke (with a 'pop' and a huge gush of pink liquid, during a contraction. Diana told me to dry off and come out as the contractions were now going to get "real bad". After trying various positions, I settled for leaning over the bed, with my husband massaging my back. As the pain grew, I tried inhaling nitrous oxide to take the edge off the pain. I didn't feel anything (except I was very dizzy after each contraction), so I gave it up.

At 8:17, Diana checked me again, and I was still only 7.5cm dilated. After an excruciating contraction, I felt the urge to push, so Diana checked me again. I was now fully dilated at 10cm, so the nurse said that it was alright to push. It was now 8:21, and our doctor hadn't arrived yet, but I felt at ease since our nurse was so comforting and supportive. They paged our doctor and said that he'd be in within 30 seconds and that they had a resident standing by "just in case". The contraction came and I pushed. After a few pushes, our doctor arrived, scrubbed- and gowned-up, and tried to do a perinial massage to help. The contractions came and I pushed some more. My husband saw the head showing and was getting very excited. It "burned" everytime I pushed. The pain was worse than my first labour. The head starting to emerge, but, like with my first labour, the baby had problems coming out. (During our first child's delivery, after two hours of hard pushing, I had needed major episiotomy and the doctor used forceps.) So after what seemed like eons of pushing, my doctor finally gave me a small episiotomy which helped our baby come out. Thankfully, we didn't need forceps this time. After that, the baby's head came out. Anthony saw there was something "wrong". Upon tuning into the conversation between the nurse and the doctor, he discovered that the cord had been wrapped TWICE around the baby's neck! Luckily, he was okay. At 8:41, I gave one more push, and out the baby came! He was a boy! The doctor placed him on my stomach. The first thing I said was, "Hey, wow! Look at all that hair!" (My husband was a bald little baby, so I thought if we had a son, he'd be bald as well.)

Our son felt so warm and "squishy". Anthony noticed that the first thing the baby did was try to put his right hand into his mouth. Anthony was not present during the birth of our daughter, Aleesia, but upon witnessing our son's birth, was so happy everything was alright, he cried.

The doctor and nurse did all the usual "afterbirth" activities, cleaned the baby up and recorded some information. Our son was then returned to us for some cuddling. He was so quiet... didn't cry at all. He remained wide-eyed and awake for the next three hours.

We stayed at the hospital for two days. Aleesia came to visit her new baby brother a few times and thought he was neat. After a 48 hour stay, we felt comfortable enough to leave. The nurses and our doctor asked if we wanted to extend our stay another day or two, but we said "no".

The staff at the B.C. Women's Hospital were fantastic! They really made me feel at ease.

As of this writing, he is now 6 days old, and healthy as a horse. We are so happy. It's been a while since we've had such a little baby in our family. (Our daugher, Aleesia is now 6.) My husband is getting back into the swing of things. He says he's a little out of practice, but he super-duper as far as I'm concerned.

And Tristan still finds comfort by sucking on his right hand. :)

Tristan Alexander, born November 18, 1995 at 8:41 AM, weighing 6lb 15oz.

Elsy & Anthony Wong,

Parents of Aleesia and Tristan