In the Process of Making

Birth Story 1:
Just like any other day, the mother was working. It was during the afternoon when she began to feel pain every now and then. One of her coworkers noticed that there was something wrong and asked her what was wrong. After having the mother explain to the coworker the type of pain she was feeling, the coworker advised her to visit her doctor because she was probably ready to give birth. So the mother listened to her and began walking to the clinic. When she got there, she found out that she was in fact ready to give birth and called her husband to meet her in the clinic. At that moment, she was very excited, but more importantly she was very hungry. So before they started to head for hospital, they stopped by a Chinese restaurant and ordered a bowl of pork congee. Afterwards, they got to hospital, she laid on a bed and gave birth to a girl. And even though there were no interventions, the time that the mother was in labor was a very short and painless experience. The father even said (in Chinese): it was like she farted and gave birth to my daughter.

Birth Story 2:
Around 10 o'clock in the morning, her water broke. She was going to be giving birth to the first of her two children. And being that she spoke very little English and that it was her first time giving birth, she called for her older sister for help. The brother-in-law drove his wife, the mother and the father to the Downtown hospital. When they got there, the doctor told them that her cervix did not dilate enough and everyone returned home. However a couple of hours later, the mother began to feel pain and believed she was ready to give birth. So they returned to the hospital, and the doctor told them that the pain were just the Braxton-Hicks CX and sent them home again. Of course, the mother was very agitated, she was ready to have a child and began a new life, and the doctor was telling her that she was not ready, physically. The sister was agitated as well because she lived in Staten Island, so every time they were sent home by the doctor they would have to travel for two hours. And the next time they would come, they would have to go to Queens to pick up the mother and then back to the hospital. Finally, after three round trips between their homes and the hospital, and 20+ hours of labor, the mother gave birth to her daughter on the afternoon of December 31, 1986. At the end of it all, everyone was exhausted from everything they had to go through and relieved that it was all over.

Birth Story 3:
After the first birth, the second one went by pretty easily. Around 2 o'clock in the morning, the mother (same as story #2) was ready to give birth. They called the same sister and her same husband picked them up and drove them to the same hospital. However this time, instead of being sent home, they were more than ready. The mother and the father were waiting in the front of the hospital. The mother felt the baby was about to come out anytime, and thought that she was seriously going to give birth before she even gets into a room. Before they knew it, they saw the doctor running towards them to get them into a room. And at the very moment that the mother was lying in the bed, she gave birth to a boy at around 5 o'clock in the morning. She did not even have time for any epidurals or any other interventions. Rather than the mother being exhausted, everyone else was extremely tired after this birth. There was very little effort involved, but everyone was tired from the lack of sleep. Even so, everyone was very happy about how fast that process was.

Birth Story 4:
In the middle of work, her water broke. But regardless, she continued working. The very next day was a day off. So the mother and the father called the uncle of the child to drive them to Beth Israel hospital. The grandmother came as well. They got the mother into a room and got her some food since she was hungry. The father tried feed her, but the nurse stopped him and said that females who are about to go into labor are not allowed to eat. Both the mother and the father were furious about this. The mother was obviously mad because she was stressed and hungry all at the same time. And father was pissed because he has the ability to help the mother out but is not allowed to do so. While the father listened to the nurse, the grandmother disregarded everything she said and snuck in a spoon of pork rice. After awhile, the doctor came and 21 hours later, the mother gave birth to a boy. She said that after giving birth, she felt extremely cold due to the lost of blood. It was the coldest she has ever felt. The mother also added that when they went to get the baby's footprint, they thought he had only four toes. The big toe was being overlapped by the adjacent toe. It was a very frightening and humorous moment for them.