Birth Story

DISCLAIMER: This is my journal entry so it is very long and detailed because I want to remember everything! Feel free to skim :).

Oliver Thomas Christensen
Born September 21, 2012 at 4:26 p.m.
9 lb 9 oz and 20.5 inches

On Tuesday, September 18th I took the train to Shanghai for a doctor's appointment, and this time I wasn't coming back without a baby! At the train station in Nanjing I got to the ticket window and asked in Chinese for a ticket on the D361 train to the Shanghai Hongqiao Station. The man responded in a lot of Chinese, of which the only words I caught were mei you (which means, "don't have"). So I figured they were sold out and asked for a ticket on the next train after that. He pulled up on the computer screen screen two possible tickets options - one on the train I had wanted originally and one on the next train (a faster, but more expensive train). I was a little confused because I thought he had just told me I couldn't get a ticket for the first train, but I figured I had heard wrong and there were actually seats left - so I bought one. It wasn't until I was standing on the platform getting ready to board the train that I looked down at my ticket and realized that my ticket had a car number but no seat number. I had never seen that before and when I entered the train car with the seats numbered as usual I was a little confused. I showed my ticket to a girl who looked like she might speak English and asked if she knew why I didn't have a seat number. She didn't but the man sitting next to her stood up and told me to take his seat. I tried and tried not to accept but he wouldn't take no for an answer. As soon as I sat down I called Brandon and asked him what was going on. He said angrily, "That idiot sold you a no-seat ticket! Can't he see you're 9 months pregnant?!" Brandon is very protective :). Turns out you can buy a ticket without a seat (same price) and just stand in the aisle. And this kind man was willing to give me his seat and stand for two hours! Sometimes I am blown away by the goodness of these people, I hope he got extra blessings that day. As soon as I hung up with Brandon I tried to make the man take his seat back but he wouldn't and left the train car. Later I saw him sitting in the dining car. I think this is the first time the language barrier has gotten me into trouble (except for minor instances, like when I ordered pig intestine soup). I made it to the hospital and my appointment went well. They did an ultrasound and Oliver was looking very healthy. My due date was that Saturday, the 22nd, and my doctor said that they would induce me the following Thursday, the 27th, so that we could have the baby and get back to Nanjing before the Mid-Autumn Festival and the crazy crowds that come with it (this was at my request). After my appointment I took a taxi to the Birds' apartment where I would be staying until I had the baby. Roger and Paige Bird were in our branch this summer (Brother Bird is in the district presidency and Brandon's mom knows his sister so we were in contact with them before we even came to China) and so kindly offered to let me stay with them. They live in an incredible 4 bedroom apartment in the Ritz-Carlton. As hard as it was to wait for Oliver those last few days, I can't say I wasn't living in comfort :). Paige took me to get a pedicure right when I got there (I was hoping the pedicure would trigger labor like it did for Winter, but no such luck ;). The next couple days were spent crocheting and watching movies in my room, studying Chinese, reading in the "reading room" (there's this room in their building with shelves of books, couches and arm chairs, massage chairs, iPads, and complimentary cookies), wandering around the neighborhood, and hanging out with the Birds. Sounds productive, right? :) Needless to say, I was getting very impatient! On Thursday night around midnight I was about to go to bed when I started to feel contractions. They didn't really hurt and were about 10-12 minutes apart so I monitored them for a while and then fell asleep. At 3:30 a.m. I woke up to contractions about 5 minutes apart. They were a little stronger than before, but still not very painful. I started to really keep track of the duration and frequency of the contractions while I got ready and packed up my stuff. I called Brandon but he didn't answer so I called him every few minutes while I was getting ready to go. Finally around 4:30 the contractions were every 3 minutes and I still hadn't gotten a hold of Brandon. I was getting desperate, it takes a few hours to get from Nanjing to Shanghai! So I started calling our flagship friends who live in our building until one of them answered (thank you, Samy and Joe!) and asked them to go upstairs and knock on the door to wake Brandon up. So a few minutes later Brandon woke up to Joe knocking on his door and me calling. I told him to hurry and pack and hop on the 6 a.m. bullet train (the first one of the day). Brandon had been planning on coming later that day to spend the weekend in Shanghai with me so all he missed on Friday was a 30 minute meeting with his professor. Excellent timing :). At 5 a.m. I left a note for the Birds and took a taxi to the hospital. They monitored my contractions and baby's heart rate from 5:30 to 7:30 and then told me that the contractions weren't strong enough and that I should walk around outside for an hour or two and then come back and maybe they would admit me. I proceeded to tell the nurse that she must have put the contraction monitor in the wrong place because they were plenty strong and only 3 minutes apart! If that's not labor I don't know what is. But alas, the contraction monitor was perfectly placed and I was dilated to less than 1 cm so I consented to leave for a while. I wouldn't have minded this so much if I could just hop in my car and labor at home for a while, but if they didn't admit me I would have to take a taxi back to the Birds and then a taxi back with all my luggage (I had a lot of stuff because I had had to pack for possibly 10 days in Shanghai). Actually, right around this time President Bird called me to see how things were going. They were very surprised to wake up to a note and an empty room ;). He told me that if they didn't admit me to call them and they would have their driver take me back to their place and then back to the hospital whenever it was time. He even offered to have their driver bring Brandon from the train station to the hospital, not necessary of course but they are such good people. I waited in the lobby for Brandon and he got there around 8 a.m., what a relief! By this time the contractions were very, very painful. Brandon and I walked to a McDonald's and got breakfast. The walk normally would have taken 10 minutes each way but it ended up being 2 hours before we were back at the hospital because the contractions were coming about 1 minute apart and lasting about a minute. So we would very slowly walk a few feet and then stop and breathe (more like moan) through a contraction. We were getting some interesting looks :). We got back to the hospital and I was still only dilated to 1.5 cm but the contractions were stronger (I would have punched someone if they told me my contractions weren't "strong enough") and I was partially effaced so they admitted me! Hurray! This was around 10:30 a.m. and for the next couple hours Brandon comforted me and talked me through intense contractions. For some reason I have always had this romanticized view of labor and delivery. I have lots of memories of hanging out in the hospital, playing cards and anxiously awaiting the birth of a new niece or nephew. I've even been present during the delivery of a few of my nieces and nephews and I just remember them being so amazing and so beautiful. But I guess I've never quite appreciated just how much pain the mother goes through! So I had pictured Brandon and I playing cards and watching movies while I was in labor but I hadn't taken into account the fact that you can't always get an epidural right away. After a couple hours of contractions the midwife could see that I was getting pretty exhausted. I still wasn't dilated enough to get an epidural so she broke my water and that had a huge effect on my progress! I felt like the contractions doubled in intensity. So when the midwife came to check on me like an hour later and could see how much pain I was in she didn't even bother to check my progress but called the anesthesiologist in ASAP. Epidurals are so wonderful. Throughout my pregnancy I read about a lot of different pain relief options and considered doing a natural delivery at one point but I finally came to the conclusion that there is a reason epidurals are so widely used! Low risk and very high patient satisfaction with the birth experience. And I am so on that boat! After I got the epidural and experienced immediate, sweet relief I was so happy I was practically laughing. I kept telling the anesthesiologist she was a miracle worker and I probably said to Brandon ten times, "I am so happy! This is so wonderful!" Apparently I am the biggest wimp! We took advantage of the pain relief and got some rest. I was dilated to a 4 right after the epidural and to a 6 about an hour after that. Around 4 p.m. the epidural was starting to wear off and the anesthesiologist gave me another dose of medication, but it never did kick in. I started to really feel the contractions again! The nurse and midwife helped me to the bathroom and Brandon woke up from his nap to me screaming to the midwife that I was going to have the baby in the toilet. She calmly told me that she would be really proud of me if I did :). Turns out I was indeed ready to have the baby! I had grand plans for Brandon to film the beautiful, calm delivery but when it came down to it the last thing I wanted was to be on camera. The doctor arrived and she, Brandon, and the midwife talked me through about 10 minutes of pushing. It might as well have been a natural delivery because I am certain the epidural had no effect. I was screaming like in the movies at first, then the midwife told me to "pull myself together" and that she "didn't want to hear a sound out of my mouth". Interesting method for helping someone who is giving birth but I suppose it worked, because I was able to focus more on taking deep breaths and pushing effectively. As painful as it was it was still an amazing and beautiful experience. And then suddenly it was over and our sweet baby was lying on my chest! After nine months of anticipation and 12 hours of labor he was finally here. Holding Oliver for the first time was one of the single greatest moments of my life and I will never forget the pure joy that I felt to have him in my arms. Brandon and I feel like the happiest two people in the world. We are so blessed to have a beautiful and healthy baby boy. It still feels surreal that we're his mom and dad! My emotions were very close to the surface those first few days after Oliver was born and a couple times a day I would start sobbing because I truly could not believe how blessed I was to have two such amazing boys in my life. After this had happened a few times I told Brandon that I didn't think I was emotionally capable of handling this much happiness :). It's been about a week and we just love Oliver more and more everyday. He is perfect in every way and we couldn't be a happier family!

Waiting...

He's here!

This is where we live.

Today I had fun exploring our neighborhood through my camera lens...my new 50 mm camera lens! It came in the mail this week, thanks babe!! And I'm on a black and white kick. So I apologize that you can't see the colors of China in these pictures, but I was going for artistic ;). Enjoy!

Lots of produce!

Makin' food and eatin' food.

The 50-story building where we live.

One of many markets on the street near our apartment. And the bottom left picture is an actual grocery store where we often shop.

I had fun taking pictures, and as long as I kept a friendly smile on my face no one seemed to mind being photographed. We like this place :).

I made oatmeal chocolate chip muffins in my toaster oven. And my cute husband loved them :).

Also, here's a recent picture of my growing belly :).

I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday...which meant commuting to Shanghai. Here's what my day looked like: I left out apartment at 9 am, took a taxi to the train station, took the bullet train to Shanghai, took another taxi from the train station to the doctor's office, saw the doctor for 10 minutes, taxi back to train station, train to Nanjing, taxi to apartment, home by 5 pm. Whew! It's worth it to be delivering at a nice hospital (I've heard some scary stories about local hospitals) but I sure am glad I was in Shanghai for the summer so I only have to do that once. I have another appointment next Tuesday but I won't be coming back to Nanjing without a baby :). I'm bringing all my stuff and staying with a family from our Shanghai branch until the baby comes. My doctor induces 10 days after the due date so we will have a baby in no more than 18 days!! But hopefully much less than that. Everything is looking good. Oliver's head is still down and he is fully engaged...which means I experience a lovely amount of "pressure" (medical term for pain) with just about every movement. My doctor was surprised to see that even though the baby has descended, his feet are still way up by my ribs. We are going to have one tall baby, but did anyone think otherwise? :) Can't wait to meet him.

Xuanwu Lake

A couple weeks ago our Relief Society president had the Flagship girls and a few other sisters in the branch over for lunch. A delightful American lunch of pizza, chips, fruit, and brownies for dessert! So delicious :). Afterward we walked to Xuanwu Lake which is very close to her apartment. The lake and park surrounding it are absolutely beautiful. It was nice to enjoy a beautiful part of Nanjing and to spend time with friends. Thanks to Alisha for taking pictures which I have stolen for my own use :).

Quite a park entrance!

Lotus :)

I am always hot! This fan has served me well.

A bunch of the girls bought fans too, it's hot in China! And fans are pretty :)

Wow.

Great group of girls!

Our Place (and some other things...)

This post is going to be mostly pictures. We're all settled into our apartment and I finally got around to taking these! It's really quite a lovely place :).

This is the view from near the front door. See those doors on the left? Behind them is the "kitchen"...so if I don't feel like doing dishes, I can just hide the mess ;). Brilliant. Oh and there's the hospital bag on the right, all ready to go at a moment's notice :).

Behind door number one we have the kitchen! See the two burners? I couldn't be happier about that (our apartment in Shanghai just had one...and about half the cupboard space)!

Across the hall from the kitchen is the bathroom, I love the tiled walls.

That's our washer to the right of the shower. No dryer of course, but I've gotten used to hanging our clothes up to dry.  It's not so bad...in fact, I kind of like it! It feels like I'm living in a simpler time ;).

Our purple bed :). The mattress was absolutely horrible (like bruise-your-hips hard) but we bought a foam pad to put on top and now it's super comfortable. And the biggest bed we've ever had! We don't have a couch, so we spend a lot of our time chillin' on the bed. It's a little strange...

Red fridge, nice TV, and Oliver's little corner. And notice the toaster oven next to the TV? No ovens in China, and our apartment didn't have a microwave either. So we decided to buy this toaster oven and I've already used it like 5 times in the past week, I think we'll definitely get our money's worth. And we certainly couldn't spare any counter space in the kitchen, so next to the TV it sits :).

Sitting area and dining table. There's our Mesa temple fan sitting on the little table :).  And we bought that white shelf thing from Ikea (yes, they have one here!) cause there just wasn't enough room in the closet. I hang our clothes to dry on that railing thing by the window...I don't know if that's its purpose but it works nicely.

Made some brownies :).

I've discovered that a rice cooker can be used for many things. It can function a bit like a crock pot and can even be used for baking brownies :). I put about half the batter in and it took like an hour and a half to bake them.

They don't look very good, but they tasted okay! We just kept telling ourselves that any brownies is better than no brownies at all (not always true, but true in this case).

While the brownies were slowly baking in the rice cooker we went out and bought our toaster oven. So I baked the second half of the batter in the toaster oven and they turned out very different than the rice cooker brownies, but also good :).

And...I look awful in this picture, but here I am at 37 weeks! Technically full term! Someone needs to tell Oliver that it's okay for him to come now if he wants...he's not listening to me :).

The view from our apartment window. We live on the 42nd floor! My ears pop whenever I ride the elevator up to our apartment ;). The picture doesn't quite capture it but the last several days the setting sun has been bright red! It's beautiful.