On Friday, November 4, 2005 I knew it was the day I would deliver my baby. I was a little bit nervous because I had two big things on the agenda for the day. First, I was going to the mosque to celebrate Ied (the biggest celebration in Islamic Culture) in the morning, and defend my thesis publically on the UNI campus in the afternoon. In addition, I also promised to prepare lunch (Indonesian food) for everyone who attended my presentation.
This was to be my second child, so I had experience delivering a baby before. My first son is seven years old right now. After reading and understanding the book, When You are Expecting, I decided to go ahead with my activities for the day. From that book, I understood that the time between the first stage of labor and active labor is around 6 – 8 hours. So, I concluded that I still had time to complete my activities for the day.
At around eight in the morning, I went to the mosque. I had noticed that my contractions were occurring every 15 minutes. After celebrating Ied in the mosque, I went home to prepare the food for my dissertation defense. While cooking, my contractions were occuring every 12 minutes. I was in a hurry at that time, so it seemed like I wasn’t in labor. Then went to campus to defend my thesis. I was 3 minutes late so all of the people in my committee were there. There were around 30 people in all in attendance. I explained my situation and they told me I didn’t have to defend my thesis if I was in labor. But I said to them that I was in the second stage of labor (not in active labor), because at that time my contractions were occuring every 10 minutes. According to my book, When You are Expecting, there are around four to five hours to go to be in active labor. Therefore, I thought I would be fine.
Then I presented my thesis and answered questions from committee and audience members. According to an email sent from Dr. Susan Hill after the defense, I did a nice job. The email also said, “By the way, your presentention was excellent; you were very articulate, and answered difficult questions very well”.
Before closing my presentation, Dr. Reineke announced that I got an A grade for my thesis. I was very happy. We were done with our lunch around 2:00 p.m. At around 3:00 p.m. I called my midwife and told her I was having contractions every 5 minutes. At around 3:30 p.m. I went to the delivery room at Allen Hospital in Waterloo. At around 7:11 p.m. I delivered my second child weighing in at 8 lbs. 1.6 oz. Thank God I did it!
I chose my son’s name by incorporating my life in Cedar Falls. His name is ACEDEWA FAYRUZ ZIHAN. Acedewa stands for “A” from America ” Ceda” from Cedar (Cedar Falls), and “wa” from Iowa. However, besides that it has a great meaning. Ace means Highest rank, Dewa means Lord, Fayruz means Turquoise and Zihan means world. So, I hope someday he becomes the best and turquiese of the world. These are some pictures I can share with you:
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