Kaitlyn Ling 甯天慧

- walked to the hospital; arrived at ~noon
- got everything done & set up by 1:30 pm

Mel’s happy about getting the big birthing/delivery room.

- contractions became more frequent about an hour later
- some time before 3, we decided to go with the name “Kaitlyn” (sorry, “Emma” & “Keisy”) & 「天慧」
- by 3 pm, the pain was quite bad
- asked for epidural at 4 pm
- finally got epidural at 6:30 pm
- she was about 4 cm dilated by then

Mel’s happy about finally getting the epidural.

- nurses came & broke Mel’s water @ around 7… or was it 8?…

Baby’s heartbeat was a little irregular, so Mel had to lay on her left & was given some oxygen. Oxygen makes her happy.

- Lisa (Dr. Eng, aka Mel’s “cousin”) showed up at around 8:30 pm, I think.
- Mel was like 6-7 cm dilated
- Lisa upped the oxytocin

…then she had to lay on her right. She was feeling more pressure (from the contractions) by then; her legs also started to shake: signs of the baby is ready to come out.

- finally, at about 10:05 pm, Mel was ready (10 cm dilated) so Lisa & Shar (our evening nurse) got ready.
- after about 10-12 hard pushes, plus a little help from a cool-looking suction cup thingy, she was out at 10:26 pm.

here’s a snap of her head of hair right before the nurse put the beanie on

just like the sonograms we had of her, she still likes to touch her face with her hands (like her mommy).

Lisa & Shar are cool. They quickly wipe Kaitlyn down, wrapped her up, gave her a shot, then let Mel have some good quality time with her.

That’s all for now. I’ll put up video later (because it’s 3:15 am already & I’m dying for some sleep). If you have time, I know Mel would love to see you all at the hospital tomorrow anytime (between 10 am & 8 pm). Give us a call if you need directions. She’ll be discharged by Monday morning.

Bye for now.