Sunday, June 3, 2012

Dearest Ananta Malaya: on your 2nd rEvolution

Dearest Daughter,

You’re turning 2 today. You have grown so much in the last year, it’s unbelievable! (You now run, ride your tricycle, understand 4 languages, and we’ve since said goodbye to the daiper and the bottle!)
At this time (7.26am) you are still sleeping soundly on your bed…you’re not getting up till around 8.15 or so…or somewhere around the time zumba at the park starts.J

These days we live in Los Sauces, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in the apartment behind the park that’s close to Abuelita’s place. It’s a blessing to be so close to Abue, your previous daycare (recently you stopped going and Artyom has been taking care of you while I work at Mexico Fun), the “ruins” at the park, the bakery, the fruit place, the mountains etc…we love it here!
 
 
Today I wanted to write you about your birth story…it was a miraculous time! <3 I can’t seem to decide where to start though…from the time we got to the hospital? from the first contraction? from the time I first spotted (which is sign that labor is about to start)?
I had already been waiting for you to arrive, you see. If I remember correctly, your estimated date of birth was gregorian may 28…so by the time june 3rd came around, I was pretty eager to finally have you in my arms instead of in my belly! It wasn’t uncomfortable at all…you blessed me with a very easy pregnancy! I just wanted to meet you already!

I worked at the office until the last possible day. If I am not mistaken, gregorian may 31st was my last day at Mexico Fun. After having stained myself as I was preparing to leave work, a co-worker named Wanda excitedly told me that that was the start of it. (She’s a really nice Puerto Rican lady who organized the bets for your birth date and weight among the girls, which Amanda eventually won.)
The next day I went to the IMSS hospital to get official about it…I had not felt any contractions at that point, so I felt a bit awkward being there knowing it wasn’t my/your time yet. A nice, young-ish male doctor checked me out, and told me to return as soon as the contractions start or if my water breaks etc. Still no you…bummer!
 
So your Papi and I tried walking around and other stretching tactics...nothing worked. So we decided go to the movies and see Avatar (please watch this movie!) to see if whether the excitement would help jumpstart you out of (down) there. Sure enough, at around 5am the next day, the contractions started.J

Let me tell you that I didn’t feel a lot pain during those early contractions. I’m not really one to have cramps when I get my period, so at that point it was just a mild discomfort. But being as excited as I was, as soon as I felt one I started to time them (as per doctor’s instructions), and since they started coming every 3minutes or so I started to prepare for the hospital. I double-double checked the bag was complete; I cut up a melon and made 2 sandwiches, one for me and one for your Papi. He was sleeping around this time, I didn’t want to wake him until the last possible minute that we had to leave the house (which, at that time was behind the Medassist Hospital close to work…no way I was having you there though!), as I knew he would get all nervous if I told him you were already coming.

After telling Abuelita it was time, we left and rendezvoused at the hospital at around 7. We waited our turn and eventually entered, and were again attended to by the same male doctor that saw us prior, who was surprised to see you still in there!J He said it was still too early though, so we walked to Lucy’s house (Abue’s friend whom she met back in Manila), who happened to live 2 streets away from the hospital.
By then I could feel the contractions a bit more intensely…its still not painful, but I could feel the stretch inside, so that outside I had to do the same. Luckily, Lucy had these super comfortable light pink, suede-ish reclining chair she had brought back from the Philippines, which I completely owned for the next couple of hours while I texted friends from Manila (and elsewhere) that the show was about to begin. J
At around 9am Lucy drove us and we were finally admitted. A nice young nurse set us up, and wheeled us into the room where 2 other Goddesses are about to have their own little miracle. <3
It was a bit of an interesting time. There were nurses, doctors in training, hospital staff, all of them going about life just like any other day, while us 3 ladies stretched out on the wheeled beds…waiting, feeling, breathing a new existence into being, one breath at a time.

One of the nurses tells me she is surprised to see a first-time mom like me so at ease all morning…I tell her living the first 7 months of the pregnancy on a house 200 steps up a hill (overlooking the Pacific) must have helped…but that also, the contractions stopped.J
Being a social security hospital where one doesn’t have to pay for anything (although a certain percentage is deducted off your monthly paycheck for this service), I think they were pretty eager to get the line going, so to speak. So at around 11 or 12 they added the inducer-juice into my IV line…and then the show really began!JJJ

Now that I am writing this…I come to realize that: Yoga, really IS, Life. You, the union of body and Soul, came into this world through yoga (hallelujah for pranayama). As I started to become aware of each breath, I listened to my body more and more…I trust my sacred body, She knows what to do was my mantra (thank you, guru Anna, for teaching me this)…and I flowed with each wave of contractions, opening myself more and more every time.

The same nurse that said I had been so calm saw I was ready. She told another nurse, they both looked at me looking at them, breathing, and they started to prepare the delivery room that was right across me. I didn’t realize I had been so close all that time.

Once inside…it was funny, but somehow they expected me to move bed,s already being 10cm dilated and experiencing bigger contractions, all by myself. Ooook :S
Once on the second gurney however, the one with the contraption to hold your legs up, it all happened pretty quickly.J

They cleaned me up and hovered around, I kept breathing, the resident doctor came in, congratulated me for doing a job well done so far, and told me to push ONLY when they said so.
Easy enough…you were out in 3 pushes!
No epidural, but they did cut me up…it took them longer to sew me back up than I did to deliver you!
 
Ananta Malaya. kg. 51cm.
Born on gregorian june 3rd 2012, 1.55pm…
Crystal Moon 11, Day 5, Yellow Self-Existing Warrior.
Today, White Rhythmic Worldbridger.

 
Its 9.04am, you’re still sleeping. We will be having lunch at one of my favorite restaurants in town, Coexist CafĂ©, having cajeta cake from Suspiros (my favorite cake place!), with more or less the same Circle of Love that celebrated your first rEvolution and blessing last year. Then, in the evening…temazcal de mujeres at Rancho Madre Tierra…what a beautiful day this will be! <3
 
Happy Birthday, Ananta Malaya!!!
 
Mom loves you with all her being, from the depths of her Soul…always, in all ways…to infinity and beyond.