AYDEN JI-SUNG KWAK

The new profile picture is a recent one..it's from his 1st Thanksgiving...isn't he super cute!?!??!!! :) i love my baby <3

ps. for those people who have yet to see Ayden please call jeff or myself, so we can set up a good time... be safe!!!

here's to a new beginning...
after 9 days of prodromal labor...i finally gave birth on August 17, 2004. earlier that morning around 6:30am my water broke...at first i thought i had wet jeff's bed...but then i went to the bathroom and tinkled...and then i started walking back to the bed but then more water kept coming out...so i was like...o..m..g...and so i kept walking around..up and down the stairs, just to make sure my mind wasn't playing tricks on me because i wanted to have the baby so badly..but then i just knew this was it... my water is leaking!!! so i woke up jeff (which was extremely hard to do) and soon enuff we were off to the hospital...i got to the hospital around 7:30am (we stopped for breakfast because i knew the hospital wouldn't let me eat while in labor)and they hooked me to monitors and such.. and they gave me a little bit of pitocin to speed up my contractions...and they found out that i just had a tear on my bag of waters so they had to rupture it...it wasn't painful at all...and we all thought i would be there for a long time because i had been only 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced for the past 9 days, during my prodromal stage...so we all thought that i'd be giving birth late that nite or the next day...but soon my contractions started to come closer together and they became more intense and last longer...i thought i'd try to do it naturally with no epidural or anything...but who was i kidding...i got the epidural not once but twice because the anesthesiologist messed up the first time...and i got it done when my contractions were mild...but they hurt like crap to me...but soon afterward i saw the contractions on the monitor and the intensity was sky high and they were longer and about a minute apart...and i couldn't feel anything... it was great...from my tummy down i couldn't feel anything.. my legs were so numb i couldn't even move them.. i tried to lift my legs and my toes twitched...at around 2:00pm my doctor came in to check my progress because she was going to go on a 2 hour break..and as soon as she checked me she was like.."omg..i can see his head!!! we're going to have the baby!!" jeff was like wtf?!!? and we both thought she was just joking around...but then lights starting coming out of the ceiling and they were putting me in the awkward position with these huge boots and all these nurses were coming in and it was just so hectic and crazy... and so surreal...everything was happening so fast. before i knew it i was pushing...i pushed 3-4 times and he was out...he was born at 2:21pm. i had an episiotomy...i didn't feel it then but i sure felt it during the recovery process...it was not cooL...my support people were great. jeff was awesome, very supportive-most of the time..he cringed a couple times during the actual birth, but overall he was always there for me during my pregnancy, to get me food and putting up with my mood swings..so from start to end he was there...katie was a trooper and didn't cringe or anything...she was very supportive and helpful throughout the whole thing...and my cousin donghee was just freakin hilarious...she couldn't even watch me get stuck with needles...during the birth she was the photographer... and she looked like she was going to puke the whole time.. but she was great...her and her sisters were there for me during my prodromal stage and they just made it a little bit more tolerable...i couldn't have done it without them... my overall birth experience was pretty easy...the worst part is the recovering...i didn't know pain like that existed.. but in the end...it's true what people say...when your holding your baby in your arms and they're looking right back at you...you know everything you've gone through and will go through in the future, is well worth it...after i stopped shaking after the birth and gained some energy back, i finally got to hold my son...it was great, it was surreal, i was in my own world and it was just me and him...i felt so close to him, it was weird but a good weird...i don't know...it's just amazing...but for those of you who haven't seen Ayden yet, pictures are coming soon!!! and if you want to come see Ayden don't hesitate...just call me or jeff...

ok..take care..tootles..

ps. take a look at my profile pic...Ayden when he was a week old..