Happy First Birthday Arianne!
We had a lot of fun preparing for and celebrating Arianne’s first birthday! Because Arianne’s birthday falls during the Tet holidays, I decided just to have a small, simple party at the house. Gabriel gave me a long list of HIS friends that he wanted to invite, but I showed him on Facebook that those friends were all on vacation! If anyone is in town who wants to help us finish off that cake, let me know.
Unlike Gabriel, who smashed his cake into my face on his first birthday, Arianne was ALL about the cake. She ate two small pieces; she also tore right into the presents as quickly as she could.
One year ago, I had a long list of things to do on the last day before my scheduled c-section on February 18th. Baby Arianne, however, had other plans. I woke up in the morning on February 17th to stomach pains, which I suspected were contractions. After dropping Gabriel off at school for the day, I met my mom at Riverside Apartments where she was staying. By then, the pains were coming every 3 minutes or so. “Time to go the hospital!” said my mom. We cancelled my hair appointment and our spa date, packed our bags, and off we went to Hanh Phuc Hospital which is about a 30-minute drive from my house in District 2, Ho Chi Minh City.
After an excruciating wait for the doctor (contractions + separated pelvis from previous birth = contraction pain*20), and then his message that, “Zer is one more lady who needs c-section right now. Zee emergency is a bit more zan you. Just wait sirty minutes more,” I was brought flat on back into the operating room for the spinal. My mom told me later that they decided to give me a sedative because I was freaking out; I do remember my legs going numb and shaking with fear because I was worried about my pelvis. After the birth of my son, I couldn’t walk normally for more than 6 months due to the separated pelvis that happened during the vaginal birth. When they gave me the spinal, everything the nurses were doing felt so weird and I had no control of my lower body.
The anesthesiologist told me not to worry, the doctor would come in and explain every thing that was going to happen. Well, apparently the doctor had other plans, because the next thing I remember is the baby’s head peeking over the sheet; she was wet and had a thick head of dark hair. The doctor said, “Zee baby is a girl!” I was shocked because I had no idea he’d even started the operation! And so, Arianne was born, and it took me about 3 months to get through the things on my February 17th to-do list.
It’s been such an amazing year seeing her grow and seeing Gabriel interact with and build a relationship with her. Happy birthday to my sweet little one!