Ina turns two today. She's growing up to be the charming little girl that she is. She is your typical youngest who makes her mother melt and give in even if you're in your worst or peak of anger with just her "I love you" and miniature hugs and kisses.
She was born at 6:20pm in a public hospital in my province. She weighed 3.21 kgs through nvd (normal vaginal delivery). Looking back, I remembered the two (yes, TWO!) injections of anaesthesia that they gave me in which until now I still believe is the cause of my occasional memory lapse. I also remembered the 5-6 faces (composed of my OB, Pedia, nurse, medical residents, etc.) that were staring at me inside the delivery room and when I say stare, I mean peer and examine that part where my baby will come out. This was an embarrassing and unexpected set-up because it was a far cry from my previous "birthing" experience where only the midwife, doctor and my husband were inside the delivery room. Makes me wonder what the real standard setup should be or if there are different SOPs in different parts of the world. Whew! I guess I just have to try another country next time.
The birth of Ina is something extra special for me and my husband. She was conceived when we weren't really planning to have one although we weren't really exerting much effort to control having another one. When I was on my 14th week of conception, we were asked by my Indian Ob-Gyne, who is a well-known OB in Dubai, if we wanted to test my baby for Down Syndrome. Beats me what her reasons are for randomly asking us to do so. Confidently, we obliged knowing that it would turn out negative. Unfortunately, my blood test came out positive with a 1:200 chance caused us too much sadness and worry. Then, came another blood test for confirmation which turned negative this time. With this, my doctor, my husband and I decided to just have the final and most accurate test which is the amniocentesis to ease our confusion with the two different results. This test will be administered by an ob/amnio specialist trained specifically for this. The test will require no anaesthesia at all and will just take a few minutes. The procedure will require the doctor to insert a huge empty syringe four or five times bigger than your ordinary injection where he gets 10cc of amniotic fluid from my belly with the guidance of the ultrasound closely monitoring my baby Ina. It was my longest 5-minute test and the most painful, physically and mentally maybe because this came with the thought of maybe giving up our baby by abortion. But our agony didn't stop there, we still have to wait for the result after 3 days and this was the most emotionally tiring days in my life because the result might mean not seeing the birth of our youngest.
We were blessed. We did not have to go thru another emotional episode. The result was negative and the go signal was given. After all the emotional rollercoaster that me and my husband went through, the end of it was the sweetest. Then everything went well as God has planned.
We named her Kaitlin Alaina. The initials KA was sorta spin-off from Katherine Amber's, our eldest. Katherine and Kaitlin, are the same in meaning but of different origins. Ina's names are of Irish origin where Kaitlin means Pure while Alaina means Dear Child. For us, after all the ordeal that we had to undergo before her birth, there is no better name to describe our youngest but the above.
.....Dear God, thank you for giving us our dear, dear Ina. In your hands, we took a little angel who will forever be a reminder of Your Grace. With your guidance, protection and love, we promise to nurture, protect and love her for the rest of our lives.J
She was born at 6:20pm in a public hospital in my province. She weighed 3.21 kgs through nvd (normal vaginal delivery). Looking back, I remembered the two (yes, TWO!) injections of anaesthesia that they gave me in which until now I still believe is the cause of my occasional memory lapse. I also remembered the 5-6 faces (composed of my OB, Pedia, nurse, medical residents, etc.) that were staring at me inside the delivery room and when I say stare, I mean peer and examine that part where my baby will come out. This was an embarrassing and unexpected set-up because it was a far cry from my previous "birthing" experience where only the midwife, doctor and my husband were inside the delivery room. Makes me wonder what the real standard setup should be or if there are different SOPs in different parts of the world. Whew! I guess I just have to try another country next time.
The birth of Ina is something extra special for me and my husband. She was conceived when we weren't really planning to have one although we weren't really exerting much effort to control having another one. When I was on my 14th week of conception, we were asked by my Indian Ob-Gyne, who is a well-known OB in Dubai, if we wanted to test my baby for Down Syndrome. Beats me what her reasons are for randomly asking us to do so. Confidently, we obliged knowing that it would turn out negative. Unfortunately, my blood test came out positive with a 1:200 chance caused us too much sadness and worry. Then, came another blood test for confirmation which turned negative this time. With this, my doctor, my husband and I decided to just have the final and most accurate test which is the amniocentesis to ease our confusion with the two different results. This test will be administered by an ob/amnio specialist trained specifically for this. The test will require no anaesthesia at all and will just take a few minutes. The procedure will require the doctor to insert a huge empty syringe four or five times bigger than your ordinary injection where he gets 10cc of amniotic fluid from my belly with the guidance of the ultrasound closely monitoring my baby Ina. It was my longest 5-minute test and the most painful, physically and mentally maybe because this came with the thought of maybe giving up our baby by abortion. But our agony didn't stop there, we still have to wait for the result after 3 days and this was the most emotionally tiring days in my life because the result might mean not seeing the birth of our youngest.
We were blessed. We did not have to go thru another emotional episode. The result was negative and the go signal was given. After all the emotional rollercoaster that me and my husband went through, the end of it was the sweetest. Then everything went well as God has planned.
We named her Kaitlin Alaina. The initials KA was sorta spin-off from Katherine Amber's, our eldest. Katherine and Kaitlin, are the same in meaning but of different origins. Ina's names are of Irish origin where Kaitlin means Pure while Alaina means Dear Child. For us, after all the ordeal that we had to undergo before her birth, there is no better name to describe our youngest but the above.
.....Dear God, thank you for giving us our dear, dear Ina. In your hands, we took a little angel who will forever be a reminder of Your Grace. With your guidance, protection and love, we promise to nurture, protect and love her for the rest of our lives.J
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