First Born Meme

Maya, Easter Sunday, 1996…I week old

First born meme

My baby cousin Jenny’s BFF Ana, who has become my online friend, though I’ve never met her in person, tagged me for this.  I must admit, with my only child coming up on 13 in a matter of weeks (like, 6 or 7), I’m not as interested in this subject as I was when she was younger.   BUT, Ana asked, and Ana shall have her answers. 😉  Because Ana rocks.

1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? Perhaps.  Meaning, we wanted to start trying, and I had gone off the pill, but I was still very irregular, and did not at all expect to get pregnant the ONLY time in my entire life that I had unprotected sex.  I should have known better, as both Ted and I were accidents.

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? Yes

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS?  Scared.  I felt like I had eaten a rock, and I had morning sickness, and we had wanted to wait a few more months…as it was, Maya was born a month or three *before* Ted’s comprehensive exams in graduate school.  Good timing, huh?

4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU? No, No, No.

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 29 when pregnant, 30 by the time she was born.

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT? I got DRUNK on one glass of wine, which was a huge warning signal to Ted.  Plus, again, I felt like I had eaten a rock.  And I was constipated.  TMI?  Yes, I’m sure.  Anyway, he said, “You’re pregnant”, and I said, “No way”, and as usual, he was right.

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? Ted

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? No, not really.  But then a funny thing happened.  When they asked me if I wanted to know, suddenly, I did…not because of shopping or planning or decorating, but because I wanted to know absolutely everything I could about my baby.  I was in love.

9. DUE DATE? March 17th.  St. Patrick’s Day.

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? YES.  And it sucked.  Mostly I threw up about once every other day, usually after brushing my teeth.  But I felt like crap 24/7.

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? Early on, bubbles.  Generic seltzer water was the only thing that did it for me.  Later, it was these heavenly bacon egg and cheese sandwiches on a toasted Kaiser roll that I got from a roach coach at Penn.

12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? The med student trying to take my blood pressure while I was in transition.  Also, people who wanted to touch my stomach, and touched me so low that I worried that they were trying to feel me up.

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD’S SEX? Girl

14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? Before we knew, I wanted a boy, because I wanted a mama’s boy.  I got a mama’s girl, which is even better.  Still loves mama, more fun to buy clothes for.

15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? 35.  At least 10 of which are directly attributable to the bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches, which I washed down with a coke every day between breakfast and lunch in my late 2nd, early 3rd trimester.

16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? Yes, 3 I think.

17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? One was supposed to be a surprise, but my boss decided that the shock might put me into labor, so he told me.  I was clueless before that, though.  I found the decorations, and I thought they were for my coworker’s SIL’s shower.

18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY?  The tech who did my tests wrote down my dates wrong, so for a few minutes there, I thought my daughter might have Downs syndrome.  And since my Uncle had Downs, and was institutionalized (in the 40s), and it destroyed my father’s childhood in some ways, yeah, I freaked the hell out.

19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? HUP.  Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, which was awesome, because it was really close to work, and I was able to have a midwife in a hospital, which felt like the best of both worlds.

20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? 4 hours

21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? Ted.  I was induced, though, so he drove me there the night before.

22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? Ted, my midwife, and whomever else was in the room.  Who the hell knows?  See #24.

23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? Natural

24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? No.  Not because I’m too good for them, but because I’m afraid of needles.  And because my labor was so short.  I was asking for drugs at the end.  It was just too late.

27. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 7lbs, 4oz.

28. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN? March 29th, 1996.

29. WHAT DID YOU NAME HER? Maya Amrita.  Maya for my sister, Amrita for Ted’s sister.

30. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? 12 years, 10.5 months.