Dunia's Brain
Sometimes there is enough time in a day. Then we sleep.
- simon.sinnreich.com
- Quest for Inner Fire
- Trying something
- Trying something
- It's been a long time
- A Son is Born
- Dunia is in labor
- picture of me and the belly
- Comments
- Hurrah for Life
- 08/01/2003 - 09/01/2003
- 09/01/2003 - 10/01/2003
- 10/01/2003 - 11/01/2003
- 11/01/2003 - 12/01/2003
- 12/01/2003 - 01/01/2004
- 01/01/2004 - 02/01/2004
- 02/01/2004 - 03/01/2004
- 03/01/2004 - 04/01/2004
- 04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004
- 05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004
- 07/01/2004 - 08/01/2004
- 09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004
- 11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004
- 03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Wednesday, September 08, 2004
Trying something
RHAPSODY Link
This I believe links to a piece of music I am listening to. I'm at work again and missing my Simon terribly. The good news is that the blog will probably start up again...
This I believe links to a piece of music I am listening to. I'm at work again and missing my Simon terribly. The good news is that the blog will probably start up again...
Trying something
RHAPSODY Link
This I believe links to a piece of music I am listening to. I'm at work again and missing my Simon terribly. The good news is that the blog will probably start up again...
This I believe links to a piece of music I am listening to. I'm at work again and missing my Simon terribly. The good news is that the blog will probably start up again...
Friday, July 30, 2004
It's been a long time
I poke my head, finally, from underneath a pile of dirty clothing and unpacked boxes to recount the story of young Simon's birth.
First I'd like to say that no amount of storytelling can prepare a woman for the pain of childbirth. Even if you get the kind of menstrual cramps I get - the kind that force you into a little ball in the corner of the room, weeping and pleading for mercy - you are not prepared. Although I do not recommend the epidural, though hospitals try to push it.
That said, I will continue
I went into labor on Tuesday. More accurately, I went into prelabor. It felt like bad cramps. Good, I thought, Simon will be on time.
Wrong.
Early Thursday morning I felt like stuff was getting ready to go. Being a yoga type, I could pretty much feel my cervix dilating and I could feel Simon getting ready to come out. We did the trip to the hospital thing, pretty sure they would admit us.
Wrong.
They said we could stay, but it wasn't advised. They said to leave and relax and walk around and come back later. I called Ahmed since he lives only a few blocks from the hospital and asked if we could sleep on the aerobed at his place while I went through my pain. It was stay-awake painful. I tried to sleep through this part of the labor. I did definitely relax though. My eyes rolled around a lot. I think I succeeded in not waking Aram.
We went home after not progressing much more in the dilation process. Some ladies Jesse hired to clean our house showed up. I screamed in pain the whole time they were there. They didn't come near the bedroom.
I waited for my nesting instinct to kick in. I kept reading about the urge and sudden energy to clean everything. I wanted to know what that felt like. I was delirious and I wanted the pain to stop. But I knew this was all part of the process. Breathe.
Early Friday morning, we showed up again at the hospital, this time with Jesse in tow. We got a wheelchair. It was all very wild. I was not thinking any more. This had to be the real thing.
Wrong.
The doctor check me out and said I was only at 4 centimeters or something. Not even halfway to the requisite 10 centimeters required to deliver the little guy.
Boo. Hiss.
Walk around for an hour she said. AN HOUR??? I hadn't slept in two and half days, I was speaking in tongues from pain and she wanted me to WALK for an hour.
So I walked. Aram held me up and we paced the hospital corridor. There were areas we were not allowed - most of the maternity floor, actually. So we walked back and forth along this one hallway, I collapsing half the time from fatigue and pain. It was one of the longest hours of my life.
Afterwards, I got checked by the doctor. Five centimeters. Finally I could be admitted. I was hooked up to a fetal monitor, much to my chagrin. It forced me to stop moving. If you move, the monitor doesn't read right. So they've got the monitor on me, and the doctor said there was a problem but it would probably clear up. The baby's heart rate kept dropping. "It was probably nothing," but to be on the safe side they wheeled me into a room where I could be observed. Bummer.
At the hospital there are 2 delivery areas a beautiful area if you are having no problems and a cramped miserable area if you are. I dreamed of the beautiful area with the rocking chair and private bathroom. That is not what I got.
So there I was in this little room screaming my tired lungs out, while poor Aram tried to sleep on a reclining chair.
A couple of doctors came in and pitched the epidural to me. I said I expected to feel pain, it was childbirth, but I may ask for morphine. The baby's heart rate continued to drop at times. They told me that if it kept happening they would do a cesarean to save the baby's life. I was alright with that. Shit happens.
So I lay there in pain in the tight little room with some ice chips to sustain me when suddenly...POP! My water broke. The bed was covered. I gasped to Aram to wake him up. "water broke...water broke." He startled awake and told me to buzz the nurse.
They tested the broken water. Fecal matter. Fetal distress. More likelihood of a cesarean. And something I wasn't expecting...MORE PAIN.
"Please," I gasped, "may I have some morphine?" They were happy to oblige, but not before telling me that I would still feel pain. I told them that I didn't mind feeling some pain, it was childbirth. No thanks to the epidural for the last freaking time.
A shot in the arm and a shot in the butt. Morphine feels good. It was one of those moments where I decided I would never try heroine for fear of becoming a junkie.
The contractions started coming fast and furious. Really fast. Too fast. I was informed that the contractions were going faster than my cervix was dilating. That the baby was in real distress and they were going to operate.
From then it was like ER. Aram wanted to stay in the room with me but since I hadn't done the epidural they had to put me under and he couldn't be around for that. They lifted me, wheeled me, shined bright lights in my face, used a machine that went "ping". I saw the upside down face of an anesthesiologist telling me he would put me under and I felt the faint slice of a blade through the skin of my lower abdomen. Then I was out.
General anesthesia felt pretty good too.
When I came to, I look over at this little head of dark straight hair in mild disbelief. That couldn't be my guy, too much hair, too straight. But that was him, born at 4:56 Friday May 21st. I wanted to breastfeed, but the anesthesia was so powerful I couldn't find my breasts. Also, Simon was wiped out from the ordeal.
I saw Aram and Ahmed and Jesse. They had all already seen the baby. His eyes were blue they said. His little eyes opened. He was beautiful. Way cuter than I could have ever imagined. My baby. My little guy. I will talk about the following days in the hospital later.
First I'd like to say that no amount of storytelling can prepare a woman for the pain of childbirth. Even if you get the kind of menstrual cramps I get - the kind that force you into a little ball in the corner of the room, weeping and pleading for mercy - you are not prepared. Although I do not recommend the epidural, though hospitals try to push it.
That said, I will continue
I went into labor on Tuesday. More accurately, I went into prelabor. It felt like bad cramps. Good, I thought, Simon will be on time.
Wrong.
Early Thursday morning I felt like stuff was getting ready to go. Being a yoga type, I could pretty much feel my cervix dilating and I could feel Simon getting ready to come out. We did the trip to the hospital thing, pretty sure they would admit us.
Wrong.
They said we could stay, but it wasn't advised. They said to leave and relax and walk around and come back later. I called Ahmed since he lives only a few blocks from the hospital and asked if we could sleep on the aerobed at his place while I went through my pain. It was stay-awake painful. I tried to sleep through this part of the labor. I did definitely relax though. My eyes rolled around a lot. I think I succeeded in not waking Aram.
We went home after not progressing much more in the dilation process. Some ladies Jesse hired to clean our house showed up. I screamed in pain the whole time they were there. They didn't come near the bedroom.
I waited for my nesting instinct to kick in. I kept reading about the urge and sudden energy to clean everything. I wanted to know what that felt like. I was delirious and I wanted the pain to stop. But I knew this was all part of the process. Breathe.
Early Friday morning, we showed up again at the hospital, this time with Jesse in tow. We got a wheelchair. It was all very wild. I was not thinking any more. This had to be the real thing.
Wrong.
The doctor check me out and said I was only at 4 centimeters or something. Not even halfway to the requisite 10 centimeters required to deliver the little guy.
Boo. Hiss.
Walk around for an hour she said. AN HOUR??? I hadn't slept in two and half days, I was speaking in tongues from pain and she wanted me to WALK for an hour.
So I walked. Aram held me up and we paced the hospital corridor. There were areas we were not allowed - most of the maternity floor, actually. So we walked back and forth along this one hallway, I collapsing half the time from fatigue and pain. It was one of the longest hours of my life.
Afterwards, I got checked by the doctor. Five centimeters. Finally I could be admitted. I was hooked up to a fetal monitor, much to my chagrin. It forced me to stop moving. If you move, the monitor doesn't read right. So they've got the monitor on me, and the doctor said there was a problem but it would probably clear up. The baby's heart rate kept dropping. "It was probably nothing," but to be on the safe side they wheeled me into a room where I could be observed. Bummer.
At the hospital there are 2 delivery areas a beautiful area if you are having no problems and a cramped miserable area if you are. I dreamed of the beautiful area with the rocking chair and private bathroom. That is not what I got.
So there I was in this little room screaming my tired lungs out, while poor Aram tried to sleep on a reclining chair.
A couple of doctors came in and pitched the epidural to me. I said I expected to feel pain, it was childbirth, but I may ask for morphine. The baby's heart rate continued to drop at times. They told me that if it kept happening they would do a cesarean to save the baby's life. I was alright with that. Shit happens.
So I lay there in pain in the tight little room with some ice chips to sustain me when suddenly...POP! My water broke. The bed was covered. I gasped to Aram to wake him up. "water broke...water broke." He startled awake and told me to buzz the nurse.
They tested the broken water. Fecal matter. Fetal distress. More likelihood of a cesarean. And something I wasn't expecting...MORE PAIN.
"Please," I gasped, "may I have some morphine?" They were happy to oblige, but not before telling me that I would still feel pain. I told them that I didn't mind feeling some pain, it was childbirth. No thanks to the epidural for the last freaking time.
A shot in the arm and a shot in the butt. Morphine feels good. It was one of those moments where I decided I would never try heroine for fear of becoming a junkie.
The contractions started coming fast and furious. Really fast. Too fast. I was informed that the contractions were going faster than my cervix was dilating. That the baby was in real distress and they were going to operate.
From then it was like ER. Aram wanted to stay in the room with me but since I hadn't done the epidural they had to put me under and he couldn't be around for that. They lifted me, wheeled me, shined bright lights in my face, used a machine that went "ping". I saw the upside down face of an anesthesiologist telling me he would put me under and I felt the faint slice of a blade through the skin of my lower abdomen. Then I was out.
General anesthesia felt pretty good too.
When I came to, I look over at this little head of dark straight hair in mild disbelief. That couldn't be my guy, too much hair, too straight. But that was him, born at 4:56 Friday May 21st. I wanted to breastfeed, but the anesthesia was so powerful I couldn't find my breasts. Also, Simon was wiped out from the ordeal.
I saw Aram and Ahmed and Jesse. They had all already seen the baby. His eyes were blue they said. His little eyes opened. He was beautiful. Way cuter than I could have ever imagined. My baby. My little guy. I will talk about the following days in the hospital later.
Saturday, May 22, 2004
A Son is Born
Dunia gave birth (via c-section) to Simon Adrian Sphere Sinnreich at 5am pacific time on May 21, 2004. Mother and baby are both doing great (despite some pre-birth trauma). Here are some initial photos, courtesy of our good friend Richard.
Simon Sleeping:
Mother and Child:
Dad making a strange face:
Simon Sleeping:
Mother and Child:
Dad making a strange face:
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Dunia is in labor
Dunia is in labor! She's having contractions every 10 minutes or so, and is taking it like a trooper (though she's too uncomfortable to post to the blog). Guess the lil tyke will arrive some time in the next day or so...
