We had a baby!

Six months to the day since our beautiful daughter first entered the world. Half a year since our lives changed forever. Sure to be the first of many stories we share of little Rose, but this is the story of how it all began …

Rose Elizabeth Sudarsono was born on Wednesday, July 21st, 2021 at 5:38PM PT.

Sharon started having mild contractions Tuesday morning at about 7:30AM. We thought to ourselves, “This must be it.” We happened to have an OBGYN appointment that morning at 9:30AM, so we figured we could keep the appointment and simply have the doctor confirm it was time to have the baby! So we made sure our bags were packed, car loaded, papers ready, and we were out the door. BUT FIRST - we had to make a very important last stop before baby arrived: Chick-fil-A.

Two chicken breakfast burritos and hash browns (with garlic herb ranch, of course) in tow and we were on our way to the doctor. Let’s go have this baby!

At the 9:30AM appointment, the nurses hooked Sharon up to a machine that monitored the baby’s heartbeat to determine the stage of labor she was in. We sat in the room, listening to the circular rhythms of the machine that sounded reminiscent of the ultrasound appointments we had been to over the months of pregnancy. Then off to see the doctor, who would determine how many centimeters dilated Sharon was - 5cm and you head to the hospital. Sharon was 3.

Back home for us.

The next 18 or so hours were quite interesting - Sharon’s contractions increased in both frequency and intensity as the day wore on, but we were given the 5-1-1 rule: the contractions needed to be 5 minutes apart, last for 1 min, and continue for 1 hour. We did just about anything to distract Sharon from the contractions - we ate lunch, watched the Bucks win the NBA championship, and we even played Bananagrams (Sharon schooled me that night, while pausing every few minutes to breathe through a contraction. Embarrassing, I know.).

The contractions began to get rather intense and painful as the night wore on (this is from James’ perspective. What do I know? They sure seemed painful to me!). It was almost midnight and we wanted to sleep, but having sharp pains in your abdomen every 8-10min isn’t exactly going to help you drift off. We stayed up for the next hour or two as Sharon withstood the painful cycles and I logged each contraction’s duration on the “Contraction Timer” app. There really is an app for everything.

Around 3:00AM, as I was drifting in and out of sleep between Sharon’s contractions, we finally hit the 5-1-1. Average time between contractions was about 5 minutes, and they lasted for 1 minute each. It was time.

We climb into the car, bags still packed from the morning before, and head straight to the hospital. Sharon is in rather unbearable pain at this point, and I calmly yet quickly step on it. Half an hour later we pull into Methodist Hospital - Sharon is in so much pain now that it would have been extremely difficult to walk, so the security guard helps me wheel her in through the doors as I get our papers and bags in order. They admit her straight into Labor & Delivery since she seems to be ready to go. The team wheels us through the door, checks our paperwork, and brings her straight into one of the private rooms to check how many centimeters she was dilated. She was in pretty excruciating pain at this point, and I figured she had to be at 8 or 9cm. It couldn’t be long. The nurse came in, strapped some more machinery to Sharon’s bulging belly, and proceeded to check how far along she was. She was still 3cm.

JUST THREE?! I’M DILATED THREE. (Friends S8E23)

I could go on, but the true champ of the story ought to be the one to tell it from her perspective. Enter Sharon:

Every new mama waits in expectation throughout her 9 months of pregnancy, wondering how that final day will come about – the day you give birth to and finally meet your precious miracle. Everything changes in that very moment. Your identity shifts from being a young woman, a wife, and a daughter, to the official role of loving, nurturing, and caring for another human being – the beautiful role of motherhood. 

Leading up to July 21st, I was a mix of emotions. I was ready and excited to meet our baby girl, I was anxious and upset that she didn’t come on her originally due date (July 17th), and I was super hopeful that her birth would go smoothly and that I would be strong enough to bear whatever pain it took to bring this girl into the world. I was asked many times if I was scared of childbirth and my answer was always a confident, “no”. Not sure why, but I wasn’t afraid of the pain. If this was God’s intended way for people to come into the world, he must’ve built us women with complete and adequate strength to do so. 

Come July 21st, I’d say all these thoughts flew out the window as I was breathing hard, holding onto my belly, and wondering, “How on earth am I going to get through this!?!” As we were in the hospital room that early morning, I looked at James in between contractions and told him I couldn’t do it and that I needed to have a C-section. The pain was just too much! I tried to rest and focus on the fact that I would soon be meeting our sweet baby, but the pain was all consuming and unbearable. All I can say is, thank you Jesus for epidurals. Once I was dilated 5cm, they admitted me into my delivery room and after 30min or so, they were able to give me pain killers and an epidural which gave me much needed relief. I’m truly so thankful for the gift of medicine.

From there we entered a waiting period of resting and contractions (which were either unfelt or milder now that the epidural kicked in), waiting for the official 10cm before I could officially begin pushing. We had the sweetest nurse, Camille, who was so kind and cared for us throughout the whole process. During those hours I tried to sleep, ate some jello, felt extremely uncomfortable with a heavy, fully numb leg (one negative effect of my epidural), and Facetimed family. I had created a playlist weeks before of some worship songs to play in the hospital. We listened to the songs as we waited and welcomed the peace of God to rest in that room.

Around 4:30pm, nurse Camille checked to see if I was fully dilated, and sure enough, I was! She called my doctor in, along with a couple other nurses, and the long awaited moment arrived. It was time to meet baby girl.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when it came to pushing out a baby. I won’t get into too many details, but I’m so thankful for my doctor and the team of nurses that coached me and encouraged me in those 45 minutes of pushing. I had watched a couple youtube videos beforehand on breathing tips, but I didn’t take any official birthing classes, figuring that my doctor would help me come the day of. She certainly did a wonderful job of keeping me calm, while firmly instructing me how to give birth. 

By then my epidural had worn off a bit so I could feel the contractions just enough to know when to push. Those 45 minutes are somewhat of a blur now. There was pain and discomfort of course, but I remember distinctly thinking in those moments, “Wow. This is what it feels like to bring new life into the world. This is amazing.” 

After a couple pushes, my doctor cautioned me to push more gently as baby girl’s heart rate had dropped slightly. It was difficult to breathe with a mask (yes, we were required to wear masks throughout delivery due to covid), but I was so focused on just bringing in this baby into the world. After a few more gentle pushes, she arrived and breathed her first full breath. Our daughter was born and she was absolutely perfect in every way. 

The nurses had to carry her away immediately because she had apparently pooped during the birthing process (didn’t know that could happen!) and they didn’t want to risk infections. Once they cleaned her up they brought her over to me and I saw her for the very first time. 

I was overcome with so many thoughts and emotions in that moment, mainly the thought that I couldn’t believe that this baby was mine. I had a baby girl of my very own. I felt as if I was meeting someone completely unfamiliar, yet familiar. Meeting her face to face after months of feeling her kicks, stretches, hiccups, and punches from within was so surreal. Though I felt like I already knew her, I was being reintroduced in a whole new way.

I couldn’t stop staring at the precious life in my arms. I studied her every feature, held onto her ever so tiny fingers, and held her close. I teared up when I noticed we had the same ears (she has the exact same little fold on her right ear as I do). 

James held her afterwards and the love in his eyes was overwhelming. Throughout the pregnancy James would beam with pride and joy as he referred to us both as “his girls”. Seeing him now finally hold his little girl was a moment of pure, complete joy. This was our family now. 

In all, thirteen hours spent in the hospital - just over half a day that shifted the course of our lives forever. We will never have another day that we are not parents. And while only six months have gone by, it has been the sweetest start to the rest of our lives.