sent from above

it finally happened...my water broke around 8:30 am saturday morning, february 19. i was both excited and nervous at the same time! i was sort of in shock that it was actually happening - we were about to have a baby!

i was talking on the telephone with my mom who, ironically, was calling to ask me to change her flight schedule so that she would arrive to the tri-cities sooner. she wanted to be sure she wouldn't miss the birth of her grandson. after a very brief conversation, i quickly got off of the telephone with my mom and called allan, who was on his way to have breakfast with some friends. luckily, he had the cell phone with him! while i waited for allan to return home, i telephoned my doctor to let him know what was going on. he told me to relax, take a shower, grab a bite to eat, and meet him at the hospital. so, that's what we did.

we arrived at the hospital around 10:00 am. i found out that i was 3 centimeters dilated, which made me very excited. i was three-tenths of the way there! however, the excitement quickly subsided. by 4:00 pm (6 hours later) i had only dilated another centimeter. at that time, my doctor suggested that i be given pitocin to speed up my contractions. i wanted to wait a while longer to see if i could do it on my own - without the help of any drugs. so, we waited another two hours. by 6:00 pm, i was still only 4 centimeters dilated. so, my doctor insisted that i be given pitocin. at that point, i decided to go ahead and have an epidural since my contractions had gotten pretty bad. it took three tries for the epidural to take effect...sheesh!

lucas elijah tuan arrived at 7:25 am on sunday, february 20, 2005. he weighed 7 pounds 2.3 ounces and was 20 inches long. he was beautiful and perfect, more than any parent could ask for. we thank God for such a special blessing and sweet, sweet bundle of joy.

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