i changed clothes, without giving a thought about my hygiene. i have to rush her.
we arrived at st luke's by 3:30. she was then taken to the labor room to lie down. my cousin's sister arrived, giving me and her sister company as we wait for the baby to be born.
it was 5 am. she was now inside the delivery rooms, undergoing a painful process we call labor. we cannot visit her inside that room, so we decided to eat breakfast at nearby convenience store. the warmth of the chocolate was good, and the smoke was calming. but it didnt erase the fear for my cousin's safety (i may be exaggerated at this point, but this was how i really felt during that time).
we went back and waited for any medical announcements for her. seconds, minutes, hours passed by. and no update was given to us, unless my my cousin asked the nurse in the labor room. we waited. and it was lunch time. another cousin arrived at the hospital. she was wearing her school uniform but decided to skip her classes. we ate lunch at a fastfood and hurried back, hopefull that at any moment, she is about to give birth. while having lunch, i realized im having chills, even under the heat of the sun. my anticipation suddenly gave me fever.
we arrived back at the hospital, only knowing that she is still undergoing her labor, in pain. relatives who weren't able to come asked information about ate's status. again, time flew and no news was announced. two more cousins arrived at the hospital. they were asking me about her status when suddenly, a nurse told one of them that she was already at the table giving birth. hope suddenly gushed through us. i updated our relatives and by 4:56pm,weighing 6.6 pounds, baby albus joaquin oviedo was born.
we were now permitted to go inside the delivery room to have a peak at baby albus, and all our worries disappeared. we took pictures of him with us and gave her back to the nurse for temporary custody. we were also told that ate janete will be resting for a while in the recovery room before she could be taken to the ward. the baby will then be taken there as well. so we got ourselves a room, and more relatives arrived, an aunt and her daughter, and one of cousin's husband. we decided to take our dinner while anticipating her release, drinking coffee shortly afterwards and telling updates from their daily lives.
ate janete arrived at the ward after three hours of sleeping, er, resting from the recovery room, with albus tailing not far behind. the nurse then changed albus' diaper and garments, with all of us eagerly trying to help.
then, two by two, our relatives went home, as they have work tomorrow, except for me and my her sister, who accompanied me all day.
looking bask on all things that happened, i realized one big lesson i should've realized 21 years ago: my parents, more especially my mom, exerted all of their selves such that they could provide us with the life that we are currently experiencing. i hit me so much that i texted that to my mom, which eventually made her cry. why didn't i realize that before? why does it have to be just now, after witnessing the painful process of giving birth?
from now on, i promise to be a good child (yes, child).
welcome to the world albus joaquin oviedo!