The Bub in the Belly

Our baby is finally ready to come out. At our last check-up, our gynae told us that we will have to check in that same night and the baby will be delivered. We were supposed to check in at 8.30pm. The day went by pretty fast. This was my last day in office before the long break to welcome our son into our family.

After work, we went home to pack our stuff and then we had a big dinner. We finally checked into the hospital at around midnight. Nothing much happened that night. Leona spent some time watching the TV in the delivery room. She seemed to be not too much in pain which is good. We both fell asleep not too long afterwards.

The next day, I remember waking up and thinking that this will be the day our son will arrive. The nurse told us that the dilation may take a few hours, so more waiting. I went home late morning to feed the pets and to take a bath. Luckily we live quite near the hospital so the journey to and fro takes about 10-15 minutes. On my way back to the hospital, I received a call from Leona. She is fully dilated and ready! That was fast.

By the time I arrived at the ward, everything is set in place. Before long, Leona is pushing with the help of the nurses. I could see the top of the baby's head. After a few pushes, there didn't seem to be any significant progress and I was beginning to be a little worried that there may be complications. The nurse said that the gynae will have to use the forceps and they will page for him.

Once the gynae arrived, everything went by quite quickly. A cut and, with the forceps, the baby was delivered in a matter of minutes. I remember seeing this tiny little boy being lifted out by the gynae and the nurse busy washing and wrapping him up. In the next few minutes, he was wrapped up cosily and placed in the plastic cot next to mum. His eyes were open even then. I looked at him and gave him a kiss on his forehead. He has very intelligent eyes and looked straight back at me. He is also busy looking around.

With that, we welcome our new member into the family. I remember thinking to myself that 'Thank God, everything went smoothly and mother and son are both safe and healthy. Of course, our baby looks very very cute too'.