Aslin Elizabeth Shui-Yan Choi was born! She came into this world May 5, 2006 at 5:20 am, at the Natural Birth & Women’s Center in Sherman Oaks, CA.
“It was the coolest wierdest thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life,” said her father Chris Choi. “Who would’ve thought that there would be a little life in that belly for 9 months.”
Her mother, Denise Christenson said, “OOOOOOOHHHHHH YES!!!” as Aslin squirted out with a gush of amniotic fluid.
Big sister Malia said, “Oh gross! I’m never going to have a kid!” Which was a delightful thing to hear to both Denise and Chris.
Denise started her contractions the previous night at 6 in the evening. She didn’t even tell Chris as he was watching the Lakers play the Sun in the NBA playoffs (which the Lakers eventuallly lost. How could they! They should’ve totally won! They had it won in GAME 5! But blew it!!). So they went to bed after the game with Chris not having a clue about the contractions. Denise decided not to tell him because she thought that one of them should at least have a good nights rest since no one was really going to get any the next day.
Around 3:00 am, Denise woke Chris up telling him, “This is it.” Chris thought “Holy crap! Holy crap! This is it! Stay calm!”
Chris got out of bed, grabbed the list that they put together a previous night that told him what he need to do before they head on over to the birthing center. He called the birthing center and finally got in contact with Tonya Brooks, the midwife. Denise proceeded to describe her contractions to her. Tonya said that she’ll be on her way that she should be there at 6:00 am. Which wasn’t soon enough. Denise asked if someone could be there sooner. Tonya said that she’d send someone there and that they’d be there by 4:30 am.
For the next hour Denise paces the room. Contraction after contraction with a few minutes inbetween for her to rest. She doesn’t cry out but moans. Once in awhile she would ask Chris to rub her lower back.
4:25 am hits. Everything is packed. Chris ran through the checklist to make sure he didn’t miss anything and throws everything into the trunk. Malia is up and ready. Denise is definitely ready and they jump into the car and head on over to the birthing center which is just a hop, skip and a jump away.
When they arrived at the birthing center, they found Johanna, the midwife’s assistant who Denise thought was just the receptionist, there to greet them in her scrubs. She proceeded to show them to their room towards the back of the center with a bed and bathroom attached.
The room had white walls and brownish linoleum tiled floor. If you didn’t know any better, you would think that it was a hospital room except for the fact that the bedside table was wooden and had a lamp sitting on top of it and the wooden paneled receiving table up against the wall by the bathroom door. Everything else had the sterile feeling one should get in a hospital, from the fetal monitor on the bedside to the contoured counter with the bleached sink.
For the next 45 minutes, Denise paced the room and halls, back and forward, stopping once in awhile during contractions, sometimes asking Chris to rub her back to distract her from the pain, as Malia recorded everything on the camcorder. Denise threw up a couple times from nausea. When asked by Johanna, she tried to stay still so that Johanna could monitor the baby’s heart rate. But Denise couldn’t still long enough. She need to keep moving.
After a few more minutes, while pacing the hall, her water broke. “It was like a huge water balloon broke under her,” as Chris would later describe.
Chris helped Denise into the room and onto her hands and knees on the bed. She moaned in pain and concentration. Chris stared at her, standing next her, concerned. Hoping everything was going ok and that she and the baby would make it thru all of this. Chris helped Denise out of her underwear and Johanna and Malia noticed that the baby had started to crown.
“Ok Denise, I need you to lay on your back,” Johanna says.
“Ok Baby, we need to get you on your back,” Chris repeats not realizing that the baby has crowned as Denise softly reaches down and for the first time touches the top of her baby’s head. Her motherly instincts take control and as if touching the baby’s head would tell her that “everything is going to be okay precious. Just a little bit longer,” as she rolled onto her back. At that moment, Chris noticed the baby crowning. “Oh my God, this is it!” he thought to himself. “Stay calm, Denise needs you.”
At 5:20am, May 5th, 2006, Aslin Elizabeth Shui-Yan Choi was born with a gush of amniotic fluid, with the help of Johanna, the midwife’s assistant who had never delivered a baby before.
As Aslin cry rang through the halls of the birthing center, Tonya Brooks, the midwife with 15,000 delivered babies under her belt, finally arrived to see number 1 for Johanna whom she herself had delivered.
With Aslin finally in her arms, Denise comforted Aslin, holding her close to her belly, where moments before she had just been, but on the other side. Chris cut the umbilical cord and now Aslin was her on separate being. A whole unto herself, with Mommy, Daddy, and Big Sis looking onto her with all their love.