... notable events : New life

He was 17 days early.  His expected due date was supposed to have been the 14th of February 2010, Valentine's day and the 1st day of the Chinese New Year and therefore a Tiger.  Instead, he decided to be a Bull and come out early.  The morning before, we had the doctor's appointments and imagine our surprise when both doctors declared that she was already in labour....  The rest of the day till the time we registered at the hospital at around 9:30pm was spent in a daze.  Niangzi even went back to her office to hand over her work to her colleagues while I went back home with the maid to prepare the baby cot and things.  A slow surreal McDonald's meal later and we were at the hospital's delivery room.

9:32pm entry into the delivery room

9:47pm registration

10:12pm waterbag is punctured

11:50pm epidural

12:34pm alls quiet and asleep

The soft barking sound of the recording machine times the contractions and baby's heartbeat as the mother slumbers.  I sit quietly in my corner reading, sipping coffee and surfing the net.  This is going to be a long night, but one that promises to be both exciting and nerve-wreaking... nothing short of life-changing.

The matron has estimated between 6-8am would be when the contractions are sufficiently strong for delivery.  The doctor is expected then.  Meanwhile, the regular barking sound and the lone nightlight are my only companions as my niangzi sleeps.  She will need her strength in 6 to 7 hours.

The room is cold, thankfully my parents came by earlier despite my protestations, bringing a thermos of hot coffee and a light jumper.  They weren't allowed in by the nurses, but everyone understood their excitement, including the night duty guard at the door whom I chatted with briefly after my parents had left.  Everyone was excited, who could blame them for being soon to be grandparents.

It had been a hectic, almost crazy couple of weeks leading up to this.  A new maid, the final weeks of my project, switching of doctors, choosing of name, working out schedules, finding out information on birth and national registrations as well as residential status for my yet unborn son.

The barking sounds from the monitoring instrument seemed to have stopped, a quick peek reassures me after seeing that the heartbeat is still constant, only the peak intensities of the contractions seems to have dropped, hence the lack of sound, but the frequency has increased.  A slight moment of worry when the monitor strapped to her swollen belly moved a little when she woke up to shift her position a little and the machine, unable to detect a heart beat, made urgent and insistent beeps.  Clicking the call button, the elderly matron soon arrived, clucking and reassuring us and deftly repositioning the monitor back where it belonged.

2:56am.  Stil another 3 to 4 hours to go.  Niangzi is sleeping again.  I try to catch naps but it is hard, what with the expectations of whats to come, and the 30min regular visits by the nurses to check on things.

I fell asleep and snored... at least that what niangzi said when we both awoke to yet another insistent beeping sound.  It is 5:42am.  I went to take a look and apparently one of the drips had finished.  I was just about to look for the call button which had slipped off the bed when a nurse walked in and chided us for not calling them.  *shrug oh well.

5:53am.  Is it time yet?  Its freaking cold, or at least I am.  Niangzi who is wide awake now says she's toasty warm under her blankets.  Well.

6:15am.  Time to wake up!  In 15 minutes, practice pushing!  Niangzi gives me that worried look.  Completely dilated.

Pushing and holding, timed with the contractions, but he refuses to come out.  The night duty nurses change shift and give way to the morning duty nurses.  "Push and hold, push and hold, push and hold."  1 hour later and still he refuses to leave his comfortable cocoon. Niangzi, collapses back in exhaustion and pain.  "Doctor is coming." the nurses say.

Doctor arrives.  "Ok give it one big push, forget about the next push and put everything into the first one." he says.  Kicking, screaming he is dragged out into this world.  Smiles all around, exhausted faces with silly grins, niangzi completely expressionless in her exhaustion and pain.

I turn papa-razzi, taking pictures of everything, the weighing scale, the baby screaming, the tired mother, cutting the umbilical cord with the scissors the nurses passes to me, like a VIP at a ribbon cutting ceremony.  "Cut the cord between my fingers but don't cut my fingers." she says.  Ok, maybe not quite like cutting ribbons.  I must have had that wild-eyed look brandishing the scissors in my hand.

His first cries are recorded with my sound recorder, pictures and videos are taken, even today's Straits Times I have kept to be sealed for posterity.  The nurses count his fingers, his toes, checks his ears, clears his nose... Niangzi asks, is he ok?  I smile.

The text messages start to arrive.  "How?", "Any news yet?", "Can we come now?" anxious and newly minted grandparents text excitedly.  "Yes." was the only word I needed to text back.

Postnote: Baby born on the 29th of January A.D. 2010 (Chinese date 15th day of the 12th month in the year 4706)