Ivan Bumanglag figures it was his cooking that did it.
It was 5 p.m. on Dec. 31. He and his wife, Kjell Bagaindoc, had just arrived home from buying the food for their special New Year’s Eve dinner, and Bumanglag had set about preparing the meat. It was going to be their final New Year’s Eve together before the birth of their child, due in a little under two weeks.
It didn’t turn out that way.
“(Kjell) was supposed to get induced on Jan. 12, but I think the baby smelled the prime rib,” Bumanglag says with a laugh. “Maybe the baby wanted to join us.”
It was just 5:15 p.m. when Bagaindoc’s water broke. At 6 p.m., the couple headed to Burnaby Hospital. Since Bagaindoc had gestational diabetes, she was kept under close observation and put on fetal monitoring to keep an eye on baby’s vitals as well – especially since the baby was only 36 weeks, two days.
At around midnight, Bagaindoc got Oxytocin to induce labour, and she quickly went from three centimetres to fully dilated. By 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 1, she started pushing.
“It caused her a lot of hard time pushing, because the baby is just hitting the birth canal and moving back,” explained Bumanglag.
At around 3:30 a.m., they called in Bagaindoc’s doctor, Shelley Ross, who called for an obstetrical consult. A caesarean section was looking like a possibility because baby’s vitals were showing signs of distress; the obstetrical consult showed the baby’s head had gone sideways. The obstetrician tried to manipulate the baby’s head to be face down and was ready to call for a C-section, but not before giving Bagaindoc one more chance to push.
“When my wife tried it, she was able to push the baby’s crown by around 4:08,” Bumanglag says, noting the doctor was able to fully pull the baby out by 4:13 a.m.
Baby immediately started crying – an excellent sign – and a check showed that her blood sugar was normal (blood sugar levels are a concern in babies born to mothers with gestational diabetes).
Bumanglag cut the umbilical cord, and his wife was able to have immediate skin-to-skin contact with the perfect girl-child she’d just delivered – who weighed in at a not-too-big, not-too-small, 2,740 grams (six pounds).
“It was really magical. I am so thankful,” Bumanglag says.
The couple chose the name Claire in part because they wanted a simple first name – given that “Bumanglag” will always be a bit of a mouthful and a hassle to spell, they thought they should keep her first name simple.
Even more so, though, they wanted to pay tribute to St. Clare. Bumanglag notes they’d been wanting to have a baby for three years, and they went to St. Clare’s Monastery in Mission to pray for a child.
Within two weeks of that visit, Bagaindoc got pregnant.
That they’ve ended up with a healthy baby is more than enough, Bumanglag said, but he admits they’re both pleased it’s a girl.
“Girls are pretty to dress up, so we were both happy,” he says.
For Bagaindoc, resting in the hospital with her baby the morning after labour, there’s one primary goal in her mind: “Sleep whenever there’s a chance,” she says with a laugh.
“I’m tired, but it’s like the best feeling,” she says, noting she’s been able to experience doing things for baby for the first time – the first diaper change, the first bath.
She’s still getting used to the feeling of holding her. “The baby is so small and delicate,” she says.
Now they’re just looking forward to heading home and starting their life together as a family of three.
And, Bumanglag points out, they’ll always have a good story to tell about ringing in the new year in 2020.
“My wife had a year-long labour,” he says, laughing. “It started in 2019 and ended in 2020.”
