https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sat, 11 Apr 2026 21:40:12 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-plantains-birth-story#post-240578 Mon, 30 Jul 2012 09:34:42 +0000 mrsjyw 240578@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>WOW! Congrats!! She's beautiful!!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-plantains-birth-story#post-240335 Sun, 29 Jul 2012 21:45:28 +0000 lovehoneybee 240335@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Wow, that sounds like an intense L&amp;D, but she's absolutely gorgeous, and I love her name! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-plantains-birth-story#post-240270 Sun, 29 Jul 2012 20:30:22 +0000 heffalump 240270@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>What a beauty, she's perfect :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-plantains-birth-story#post-240236 Sun, 29 Jul 2012 19:58:24 +0000 chrispygal 240236@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Oh she is just beautiful! Congratulations!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-plantains-birth-story#post-239911 Sun, 29 Jul 2012 10:43:23 +0000 mrsjazz 239911@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Congrats! She's beautiful and I love her name. I love the face she's giving in the second photo. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-plantains-birth-story#post-239908 Sun, 29 Jul 2012 10:33:29 +0000 plantains 239908@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@TurtleDoves: Thanks very much:)</p> <p>@pregnantbee: Hi! Nice to be back in touch. I'm recovering nicely and my scar is not at all noticeable so it couldn't have gone any better! Lara is also nursing like a champ. How is your bub doing?</p> <p>@autumnlove: Thanks! Her middle name is Taiwanese. Shes Nigerian, Taiwanese, Japanese and Polish.</p> <p>@hilsy85: Thanks, they really are fabulous.</p> <p>@sorrycharlie: Thanks!</p> <p>@mrs. bird: Thanks! I'm not actually Igbo, I'm half Yoruba and half Edo, but great that you remembered I'm Nigerian! Lara is actually an abbreviation of Omolara, a Yoruba name. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-plantains-birth-story#post-239813 Sun, 29 Jul 2012 08:05:09 +0000 mrs. bird 239813@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Oh my goodness! What an ordeal! I'm sorry you had such a long and complicated birth! But your daughter seems to be no worse for the ware and I'm glad to hear you're recovering well. She's is georgeous! Lara is a very pretty name. Does she have an ibgo name as well? If I remember correctly (which sometimes I don't!), you're Igbo. Congrats to you and your family! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-plantains-birth-story#post-239811 Sun, 29 Jul 2012 08:03:29 +0000 sorrycharlie 239811@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Congratulations! She is adorable! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-plantains-birth-story#post-239809 Sun, 29 Jul 2012 07:55:05 +0000 hilsy85 239809@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>She is adorable! Congrats, mama :) Glad to hear that despite things not going as you had planned, everything still worked out great and you had a good experience at Mt. Sinai! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-plantains-birth-story#post-239722 Sat, 28 Jul 2012 23:22:53 +0000 autumnlove 239722@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Congrats! :-) She is beautiful! Is her middle name Chinese? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-plantains-birth-story#post-239721 Sat, 28 Jul 2012 23:13:53 +0000 pregnantbee 239721@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thanks so much for sharing your story. I'm sorry you had to be tapped 4 times and that it didn't go the way you wanted. However, Lara is gorgeous! Nice to hear from you again. I hope you're feeling well and recovering nicely. And yay for baby bday twins. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-plantains-birth-story#post-239718 Sat, 28 Jul 2012 23:07:04 +0000 CupQuakeWalk 239718@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>What a story! You're a total trooper. Congratulations:))) beautiful baby! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-plantains-birth-story#post-239712 Sat, 28 Jul 2012 22:46:18 +0000 plantains 239712@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'll probably never write her birth story properly as I would like to because I am always choosing sleepover everything else, so I'll just cross post from a WB thread.</p> <p>Hi Ladies! Sorry I have been AWOL so long, I'm still adjusting to this mommyhood business. I have been reading the posts however and generally trying to keep up with what everyone is up to.</p> <p>Due date: June 14th</p> <p>Birth date: June 21st</p> <p>Girl or boy: Girl</p> <p>Name: Lara Shau-Wen</p> <p>Weight: 8lbs 8oz</p> <p>Length: 20.25"</p> <p>Birth Story: I haven't written out my birth story yet, so here is the condensed version. I was checked into the hospital to begin overnight induction on June 20th as I was 6 days overdue at that point. When the doctor checked me, they decided that I had too much uterine activity for cervidil but was not dilated enough for pitocin so they inserted a foley bulb to kickstart the induction. Everything I had peviously read suggested that this part would be uncomfortable but I was surprised by how painful it was. I don't know if it was just the resident who was doing it or what, but it hurt like crazy. It also took her three tries to get it right, so that didn't help. Once it was in, I was surprised by just how fast and furious the contractions started coming. Pretty soon they were more painful than I wanted to deal with and I requested my epidural. </p> <p>From that point, things went kind of downhill. Without going into too much detail, my epidural had to be placed 3 times!!!! The first two times, after it was in they realised that the tube was defective and the medication wasn't getting through. I was in agony at this point, both from the contractions and the pain of having my spine punched twice. The third time they did something called a combined. I don't really know what that means, but it provided instant pain relief and we settled in for a long night of watching the induction progress.</p> <p>My doctor came in at 9 in the morning to check me and I was at 4cm so she started me on Pitocin and told me that the baby would probably be here by 1pm. Over the next several hours, they upped my pitocin to the maximum amount they could give me, but I barely made any progress. At noon, the doctor broke my water and eventually I began to fel very painful contractions on one side. The anaesthesolgy folks came back to see what the issue was, eventually, they deduced that my epdiural was completely one-sided. All the while I was experiencing horrible contractions and incredible pain on just one side of my body.</p> <p>At 6pm, my doctor checked me again and discovered that I was only 5cm. I had only progressed 1cm in 12 hours in spite of huge amounts of pitocin and breaking my water. At this point I was shaking violently and throwing up with a one-sided epidural and no progress in sight. It was at this point that my doctor told me that we would probably have to throw in the towel and get a c-section. Even though a c-section was teh last thing I wanted, at that point I just wanted it all to be over. I was tired of being in pain and wanted the baby out of me.</p> <p>Because pf my one-sided epidural, when they wheeled me in for the c-section they had to give me a spinal again. So all in all I was tapped 4 times. Ugh. I don't remember much about the procedure because I was so exhausted from 21 hours of labour. I couldn't keep my eyes open and they had to keep trying to wake me up. In the end it went well and our girl came out with no problems. When they were closing me up however, I felt as though I was in pain. I'm not sure if it was really pain or if I was just losin it from the whole experience, but they ended up knocking me out and I came round in the recovery room with my mother holding Lara to my breast to get her to feed.</p> <p>The experience sounds horrific as I am writing it, but the doctors and nurses at Mt Sinai hospital were incredible and they made the experience as comfprtable for me as they could. They did a brilliant job and I am eternally grateful to them. I am recovering really well and pretty much feel like myself, just a bit creakier :) Here are a few pics of my precious girl. </p> [attach=1440/12/m7wl58.600x450.IMG_2753.JPG] [attach=1440/12/m7wl5a.450x600.lara-bee.JPG] [attach=1440/12/m7wl5c.450x600.lara-bee-2.JPG]