And then there were two

So the second time around was certainly different. More relaxed on our part, no fretting if we are ready or if we are missing some hardware. But childbirth being what it is, still holds surprises (though none as crazy of our friends Ho & Matt's).

Three days before the scheduled C-section and 6 before the due date, at around midnite, Dadu was busy with assembling the new Ikea changing table (again) when Joyce called him urgently to help. Mamu being big and unhandy, that had been a relatively common ocurrance the last few weeks, but now, out of the blue, oops, water broke, gotta rush to the hospital. I wasn't even packed. And off we went.

While trying to hail a cab contractions started, unusually starting a few minutes apart. By the time we checked in they were on pretty strong, so went almost straight into the OR. Taiwanese being Taiwanese, there was a ridiculous mountain of paperwork to fill out, so mother-in-law had to come and fill out.

What followed is a big blank since Fathers aren't allowed in the OR and Joyce was given a general anesthetic, and will have to wait for surgeon's report, but baby was born 3:05am, then Mother was sent to a recovery room, since no rooms available until noon next day, and baby was sent to a different floor at the Neonatal Intermediate Care Nursery. 3.87 kg (a tad more than Joaquin) and 51cm long.

What the doc told us is that due to the previous Cesarean and the bladder placement and the size of the baby he had a hard time pulling baby out. He had to do an extra cut at some point. And turn the baby
around 180 degrees to pull him by the legs (thereby bruising them, they are still purple). And there was a period of time when the baby couldn't breathe, 30 seconds perhaps, thank god not long enough for Neonatal Asphyxia, but long enough to worry about possible organ damage, which is why they brought him into the Intermediate Nursery and are running a bunch of tests. The nurses told us we are very lucky the doctor has as much experience as he does, as he is one of the most famous and respected in Taiwan, otherwise things could have turned out not so well. When he came out the baby's response score wasn't so good, but it got well very shortly, so that Amah and Dadu were able to see him by the time I took the pics.

Unfortunately this being a public hospital, albeit the best one in the country (or perhaps because of that), they didn't have a bed for us in a single room, so Mamu spent the rest of the morning in the Recovery room and Dadu laid down in the waiting room couch (which was ok when he fell asleep at 6am, funny when he woke up surrounded by people at 10am). Socialized medicine has its good and bad things.

But it was a very rough surgery for Joyce and she is still in pain almost 4 days later and can only get up with help. We are having to wheel her one floor below to breastfeed since once a baby is in the Intermediate Nursery he cannot come out until checkout. A bit excessive, we think, since baby is fine and it meant Mamu wasn't able to see him until almost 2 days after birth (!). Joaquin hasn't really seen his little brother either, only shortly when we rush him in and out over their protests. (Apparently the glimpse he did get of Joyce breastfeeding his little brother was enough to make his jaw drop). It's a slow and painful task to come down everytime, but Mamu is amazingly strong and dedicated to come up and down in a wheelchair every 3-4 hours that he needs it.

So, we'll be here until Tuesday, Joyce relearning how to feed baby, Joaquin running around hospital. And our new baby, Javier Yuelin Cham Hsu (詹岳霖), is doing great, has a Cham-worthy appetite (local nurses shocked how much he can chug down), and enjoying his tanning bed spa (a routine case of Jaundice). Neither of us is religious, but we feel we have a lot to be very very thankful to God that things seem to be ok now after such a scare.

(Update: Javiercito's jaundice isn't coming down unfortunately, so we'll be going home without him tomorrow. The brother's meeting will have to wait a bit longer).