Tom was born on October 7th in St. Peter's Hospital. The labor was quick and very smooth, which took less than 30 minutes. The contraction before the labor, however, was more than 24 hours and quite painful. The doctor told us that contraction is probably the most painful event in a woman's life and is also the one that got most easily forgotten. It is certainly true. 

Before I was able to give Jessica some comfort during the labor, I saw Tom's little head. As a matter of fact, my brain was totally empty so that even if I had been given more time, I most likely would not have been able to say anything to comfort or encourage her. Jessica and I took a 2-hour nap before the labor started. I had a dream that Tom was handed over to me from the doctor and he was already a few days/months old. I was so upset in the dream because I did not witness his birth. Suddenly I was waken by nurse Josy who came into the room to check on Jessica. That was 6:50am and she said she would like to see the baby before she leaves at 7am. "You must be kidding, Madam!" The labor has not even started, and the doctor was not even there, but she wanted it to be done in 10 minutes! Josy was almost right. She encouraged Jessie to do a few pushes, and when she thought it was the right time, she brought in the doctor and before I was still fussy trying to figure out what is in the dream and what is real, Tom's head showed up.

Josy left us a few minutes after the delivery and I hope she would enjoy a good sleep after the night shift and a wonderful day. Josy was such an excellent nurse that I would not give St. Peter's hospital a one star out of five in the feedback forms for their extremely horrible service that we received afterwards.

Tom weighted 6 pounds and 4 ounces (or 2835 grams) and was 20.5 inches (52 centimeters) tall. He did not have lots of hair which was not quite black either. Is he healthy, is he smart, does he have 10 figures and 10 toes, and is he really a Chinese? I can not recall how many questions were in my head when I first saw him. There were quite a few nurses in the labor room, and everybody seemed to be busy with something, but I stupidly stood there holding my camera but did not know what to do. A few minutes later, I heard someone say the baby look fine.

My cell phone was vibrating when the labor was in process and I knew it was from Jessie's monther who was anxiously waiting at home starting from the earlier night. I returned the call after I got the news that Tom was alright. I told her that Tom was healthy and looked good, and I suddenly realized that Tom was indeed there and I was indeed a new dad. I finally realized that that was the moment Jessie and I have been looking forward to  for a long while. After the call, I went back to see Jessie and tried to tell her and her ob/gyn that I had informed the family of Tom's arrival but I just could not finish the sentence. Tears were all over my face and I knew we were finally there.

Albeit the extremely terrible services we received in the renowned hospital and probably because of that, we had lots of fun with the baby. Before the nursery help finally came  more than 3 hours after I called for help because the diaper was wet, I was able to figure out by myself what to do with the huge amount of dark green stuff in the diaper that our deal son accumulated during the pregnancy and finally gave away. I love kids and played with a lot of them before myself became a father, but I have never changed a diaper before - it was so dirty and smelly! Oh, my God, I did not know it is actually so fun to do it!

So, here he is, Mr. Thomas Zi-Tong Nie! 

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.

Powered by AkoComment!