Wie's Jou Papa?

Check out the trials and tribulations of being a father!

http://beautifulirrationality.blogspot.com/

Arrival of Michael Edward!

So there we were. In the delivery ward. A rather strange looking man (I thought he was a woman when I first met him cos he looks funny and has a weird voice) has my wife on her side and is administering an epidural! Dr Z had just arrived and made the call that we needed to get this kid out ASAP.

A nurse lead me out to the Doctors change room and told me to get changed for surgery. Damn I looked good in greens... but I digress....

Into the surgery we went.

Oh shit, no camera.

Then we remembered Chloe, Cath's mate who's son had been born in the early hours of that morning. Sent a nurse to ask for camera. AJ had taken camera home with him. Chloe sent SOS to AJ. AJ jumped up, got dogs out, flew in big 4x4 to the hospital and made it in under 5 mins! Couldn't believe it. What a legend. We just saw his hand reaching into the theatre just as they were about to start. Weirdo Aneasthetist played camera man and took some great shots.

So the operation begun. How had we ended up here 4 weeks early? What had happened that our little boy was having to be pulled from the comfort of his warm cozey womb?

Having seen a caesar video at ante-natal classes, I kinda new what to expect. My emotions were slightly dulled by the few Heinekens I'd had at cricket, so I was able to maintain my composure and watched the whole thing from beside Cath.

It was crazy. Epidural barely had time to kick in. In fact, when Cath said she could feel things and Aneasthitist asked the Docs to wait, they turned around and said, "We have to get this baby out right now... take a deep breath!" And off the went, tugging and pulling. They had to use forceps and pull and push and eventually out he came.

Tiny little limp bloody gooey and gorgeous! Our little boy was born at 9:40pm on 07/03/07.

He was taken over to the baby table by the Paediatrician and immediately they had to clear his lungs for him. Thank God Cath had had the steroid injections the week before so his little lungs had developed.... and then he used them for the first time! What an amazing moment. There was my little baby boy, all pink and wrinkly, face contorted in a cry. It was incredible, hard to put into words.

He was cleaned up, weighed (3.24 kgs), measured (52cms), and then given to me to take over to Cath. He was tiny. We put him onto Cath's chest and he calmed down as he felt his mommy's presence and could hear her heartbeat. What an incredible and emotional experience.

"He's so ugly", jumped out my mouth before I could register what I was saying... Fierce denials from his mother followed, although I secretly know that all babies are pretty ugly when they first arrive...

The hours after that are a bit of a blur. Cath was taken to recovery eventually. I went off with Michael to the High Care Unit. Michael was put in an incubator and monitored for a while to check that his breathing was okay and his heart rate stabalised.

The Grandparents arrived which was awesome. The Irish emotions spilled over as my Dad hugged me and shed a tear. Westie was still there and gushing. She really is an Angel.

And then they were gone and it was just Cathy and me. Michael is definately my son... he latched perfectly straight away. This was a good thing cos I was able to stop the nurses from giving him formula.

And then it was home time for me. I was so pumped after all the excitement. I realised that I didn't have my laptop, which meant I didn't have the sms list which meant I couldn't send out a message! So, I went through to my office grabbed my stuff, went home had a beer and cigarette. I sat up and sorted out the sms list and then just chilled.

Upon reflection of the day's happenings I came to the conclusion that one had to live life to the fullest, embrace every day, and make sure that the people you love in the world know it!

The realisation that I could have lost my wife, the love of my life, my best friend, my biggest support and the mother of my child was huge. It took some time to sink in. Its heavy.

But the great part about this experience is that Michael is here. He is healthy, happy, alive and well. He is so cute (if I say so myself).

I know truly the know the meaning of unconditional love!

Pro20 Cricket and other excitement...

Wednesday, 7th March, 2007 started very early with a 3am sms from AJ and Chloe letting us know that their little boy was born via emergency c-section that morning. Welcome to the world little Simon.
My day went by in the usual fashion. After last week's scare, we had moved into final arrangements mode, and sorted out the nursery, packed the bags and I drove all the way out to Parklands (for the second time in 3 days) to purchase the top of the range Rolls Royce of Prams.

Its just incredible how you can get all caught up in the marketing surrounding these somewhat cumbersome and rather basic modes of baby transport. I mean, its a seat with wheels for an infant... or isn't it.
Our journey to purchasing the "right" pram was long and tough. We figured out that the bottom of the range ones weren't put together very well. The middle of the range were too bug and bulky and seemed breakable... Our decision was finally made by 3 points....
The latest and greatest Peg Perego Pliko P3 with SIP* has a picolo that can be used with or without the base! Very important if the baby is to travel in anyone else's car, like mine (two door compact BMW...um..) or the granparents (ja, like we'd let Granny Barbs drive our kid when she still doesn't believe there is such a thing as a blind spot.)
The second point was that a guy with baby in picolo resting on trolley at Baby City* told us that the middle of the range one was so big when folded that it didn't even fit in his 540i BMW...
The third was... well, it looks the best ... and the cool constantia mommy's drive them... (how vain) :)

Anyway, the day went well. I got given the tickets to our cricket box at Newland to go and watch the Cape Cobras in the Pro20 cricket series. I asked Cath and she said I should go as with the chances of baby arriving early, this may be the last time I can go out with the boys for a while...
So I called up some mates and went to the cricket. It was awesome. Cobra's were in devistating form scoring the second highest total in Pro20 history.
Anyway, I was standing having a beer and chatting to my mate Greg. I was telling him about last weks episode and just how scared I had been, when all of a sardine his phone rang. "Its Cath" he said to me with a worried look on his face.
"Get to hospital as fast as you can I have started bleeding", was what she said to me. I went cold. I asked her if she had got hold of the doctor and whether I should pick her up. Thankfully, Westie (the angel friend of Caths') had just been there for tea and was back there helping her.

So I ran out of the cricket ground and sprinted to my car. All that training I have been doing in the off season really paid off... I arrived out of breath and sweating profusely at my car. I had to hold on to the door to stop myself fainting... Anyway I raced to the hospital.

I got there before Cath. I arranged a porter with a wheel chair, then I ran upstairs to maternity ward and found Lana, one of the nurses that had been so helpful the week before. She was in the middle of another emergency c-section, but I stopped her going back into theatre and told her to get hold of Dr Z IMMEDIATELY! I then ran downstairs and paced the entrance almost hijacking any car that came by.

Eventually they arrived, skidded to a halt and then out got Cath. OMG. There was blood everywhere. The poor thing had wrapped towels around herself which were soaked right through. I got a huge lump in my throat and had to fight to remain calm.
My first thought was for Cath, was she okay, was she going to be fine... And then I had to fight back the emotions as I realised our little baby was in serious danger...

Coming soon... the rest of the fun activities....


* Side Impact Protection
**by far the best of the baby shops with most knowledgable staff even tho its 10% more expensive...

So scary

Okay, so much has happened in the last 3 weeks that I will take his slowly and post one happening at a time.
First of all on the 28th Feb, just after I had arrived at work and sat down to my first cup of coffee, Cathy called me...
She was clearly crying and really upset... and she couldn't remember our home phone number... I spoke to her calmly and tried to find out what had happened.
She had started bleeding... My worst fears were coming true... I couldn't believe it. I told her that she needed to get to hospital asap and that I'd meet her there. I didn't think there was time for me to drive all the way home and fetch her.
So I jumped up and ran to my car... I got in and started driving. The tears started to flow. I couldn't believe this was happening. Not now. Not after everything we'd been through for this child. I prayed hard... I think he heard...
I arrived at the hospital before her, we met at the entrance and I took her up to maternity. The doc was on his way. The nurses hooked her up to the CTG (Cardiotocograph) which measures baby's heart rate and mommy's contractions.
Baby was fine... phew... such a relief.
Doc arrived and checked Cath out. He said everything was okay, but that he wanted her to stay there and later on he'd do a scan. He did the scan and all was fine. It looked like the bleeding was coming from outside, but he couldn't really be certain. Anyway, she had to spend the night in hospital and was then instructed to go in to the hospital every morning and evening for a ctg to check on the baba.

What an horrendous thing to happen. I don't think I have ever been more scared in my life... The 1 1/2 ppl that are the most important to me in the entire world were in danger. Thats just not right.

Anyway, things were fine. We were told that baby is definately going to come early and that it would probably be a caesar. "Ave Caesar"... sorry, got Asterix and Obelix going through the brain.

Next post... one week later... panic at the cricket?