I’m wrapping up two presents for my second son. He gets one for Christmas and one for his birthday😊.

You  might be wondering about his name – his full name is Ethan Second Timothy Catilo Tan. Yup, that’s a long name. The first three is his first name. His surname is just three letters, so a long name is justified 😁. We’ve been thinking of the name  ‘Ethan’ for our second. It became longer because of how I delivered him through natural birth after delivering my first through CS. It was a tough decision for me, but I am grateful that it turned out amazing after staying for 2 whole weeks in the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital on 12 Dec 2015 not because I was in labor, but I was having watery discharge with spots of blood. My midwife was shocked and visibly rattled to find out that there was a tear in my water bag, and a lot of the amniotic fluid had already leaked out. Still, at the doctor’s advice, we decided to wait it out for a week – at least until the 36th week of my term. The baby’s status was continuously monitored throughout. Ethan was so brave to stay for 6 days in his amniotic sac even if it’s already almost empty of water (It wasn’t his choice, actually 😛).

At midday on 17th December, it was decided to artificially induce the birth. I was prepared to have him via normal birth. However, by 9 pm, i was still at 4cm, far from the target 10cm. The pain was becoming more intense and regular. By 10 pm, the pain was too intense that I was already begging my husband to ask the midwife for CS instead, so he called the midwife.

By 10:30 pm, after praying over me, my husband brought my first son, Russell, who was in the room with us at the time and was starting to cry, outside to the waiting area. Minutes after he left, I started pushing – glory to God! The midwife called him back and Ethan was out by 11 pm. He was the only one among my 3 children that I delivered normally and experienced that amazing moment with him. I could still remember his first smell as he was placed right on my bare chest, covered with towels to keep him dry. It was so fulfilling for me as a woman and a mother. The pain wasn’t so bad after all, and I was happy that I had delivered him without the help of Epidural or any other pain relievers.

However, it didn’t end there. The midwife had an issue removing the placenta, and had to call the hospital’s midwife for help. I was bleeding a lot. I recall that the midwife was in panic, and I remember blurry that I was being rushed to the ER. The doctor came in and checked me. Since I had no Epidural, it was so traumatic that I felt both her hands inside me, checking what had gone wrong, and why the bleeding hadn’t stopped. It was a few days later, after talking to our nurse friend who was in duty at the operating theatre at the time (sis Nina, that was you!), that it was a code red. A bakri balloon was inserted in my uterus to stop the bleeding.

The next day, I was in HDU (High Dependency Unit) for recovery. All my movements were monitored via the smart bed I was on. My blood pressure was also monitored as it was quite low due to blood loss – I lost 2 litres of blood 😯 . This might be an unexpected situation, but this experience helped me to be strong and grateful. I thank God for giving me a chance to recover. I am blessed and I couldn’t thank God enough for such an opportunity to be able to stay with them.

As for Ethan, I am so grateful and thankful that nothing serious had happened to him. However, because he was born under the full term, he had to be monitored for some time. We were told that he was still developing his liver, thus, he had jaundice. The bilirubin level in his blood had to be checked regularly – the nurse regularly came to prick either of his heels to get more blood for testing. I had no milk yet at the time, so he was given formula instead. I was happy that the midwifes helped me so I could give him my colostrum to give him the nutrients he needed to boost his immune system, and to fight against infection.

Ethan and I stayed in the hospital for 9 more days. We celebrated our first Christmas here in NZ in the hospital. That’s what I remember. And, on the 26th of December, finally, we went home happy, grateful and truly the Lord God is so faithful that He protected us in this journey.

I’m sure that when Ethan is old enough, I will tell him what had happened. I will always be proud of him ❣️😊. He turns four today. I will always be here to continue to help and support him in everything. He might not be treated the same care as his kuya Russell, but I know he had one precious moment with me. I have known him since birth – He’s not just the second for I’m sure he will succeed further in his life’s journey. A very cheerful and happy kid, he might be quite a handful at times, but I can see his potentials will grow into something special. I wish him a happy birthday and  may he grow up in the loving hands of God, and God’s blessings come upon him always.

The ticklish kid 😎 I know, have a blessed birthday Ethan!❣️😍😇🙏😘