Around noon on Friday, February 29, 2008, Kathy was wondering if the baby had just settled her head down on Mommy's bladder...or if her water had broken. After her last class that day, Kathy rushed home to call the doctor to find out what to do. Since it was close to 5pm by the time she got to talk to a nurse, she was told to head to the hospital to get it checked out. Once Jon arrived home around 6pm, they drove to Newton Wellesley Hospital. Kathy was feeling quite sheepish about being admitted into the Antenatal unit, especially since she was convinced that she was just leaking some urine. It was a major shock to find out that it was actually amniotic fluid and that labor had begun, complete with contractions (which Kathy couldn't feel but were showing up on the baby monitor every 5 minutes or so).

After being moved to the Labor and Delivery unit, Kathy sent Jon home to do some laundry and to pack her bag for the hospital. Jon got to sleep on a cot in the hospital. When they woke up the next morning, the contractions were stronger and about 4 minutes apart. Dr. Aron allowed us to wait a few more hours to see if the contractions became stronger on their own (which they didn't) and then because he was concerned about the risk of an infection, we started Pitocin to hurry labor along.

This was taken early on Saturday March 1, 2008. The contractions were very mild still and Kathy is able to smile while holding on to Eecs the Monkey. In retrospect, this is the last photo of Kathy before she becomes a parent.


Over the next several hours, after the Pitocin drip was started at about 10:30am, the contractions became stronger and closer together. Jon continued to coach Kathy through them using the hypnobirthing techniques they learned. They also tried a variety of positions (on the bed, in a recliner, on a birthing ball, and standing). Eventually, the contractions were coming so strongly and close together that Kathy broke down around 2:30pm and asked for an epidural. At this point, the nurse did an internal inspection and found that Kathy was dilated about 4 cm. After another half hour, the epidural was inserted, the intense pain subsided, and Kathy was even able to nap for a bit! At about 5:30pm, Kathy's parents showed up and they were able to chat for a few minutes before being sent to the waiting room.

By 6pm, another inspection was done and Kathy was fully dilated. At 6:30pm, the pushing began. About 7pm, the doctor was called. And all the other support people who had to be there because (1) the baby was preterm and (2) Kathy developed a fever and possibly an infection during labor. It took a while for everyone to assemble in the room and figure out where to stand.

Baby Aurora made her grand entrance into the world at 7:44pm. Jon took one look at her when she arrived and promptly informed Kathy "She's awesome!" We had only a few moments with Aurora (long enough for Jon to cut the umbilical cord and taolly fall in love with her) before she was whisked off to the Special Care Unit to be evaluated. She looks a bit like a porcelain doll because she is still covered in vernix (due to being early)


Aurora passed the first test of her life - she earned a 9 (out of 10) on her Apgar test!


This is Aurora in Special Care. Luckily, she only spent a couple hours being evaluated, and was able to be sent back down to spend time with her parents and Wai Pao and Wai Gong.


In Special Care

These were taken the first night, after Aurora was brought back down to her parents' room.




Here are her vital stats:
Aurora Yi-Fang Zalesky
March 1, 2008
7 pounds, 0 ounces
19 inches