Week 38.5 - Where did he come from?!?!

The bump has left the building!


It seems Nikki's Tai Tai lifestyle was much shorter lived than she had anticipated - Zachary Clint Swift arrived into the world at 315AM this morning after a speedy delivery.

The good news is, Nik solved the problem of what to fill this week in with.


The bad news is, Nik didn't quite make it to the dry cleaners with the wedding dress or finish sorting out the music collection as she had wanted to. 

Now most of you know my wife - she likes a good task list and she won't settle until it's all accomplished. Sensing my wife's disappointment at the interruption to her tasking and conscious of a new dad's responsibility to keep a new mum's spirit's high, I decided to intervene with some sage advice.

I suggested to Nikki that Edna, our very helpful helper, could sort the dry cleaning and then pointed out that only 1 hand was needed to hold the baby while breast feeding, which left the other hand free to control the computer mouse and finish off the music organisation.


Problem solved!


Or so I thought. 

Much to my surprise, my wise words weren't welcomed - hard to believe, isn't it? The only thing I can think of is that the birthing drugs were affecting her logic and reasoning skills and that sanity would prevail once their effects wore off.


As a committed husband though, I knew I couldn't let this little setback interrupt my efforts to assist. So, I decided it was my turn to step up and provide this very important installment on progress of the bump (not that I'm convinced my wife isn't currently sitting in her hospital bed draft a blog posting on her iPhone but I'm hoping to beat her to publishing). So here goes. 

Heading to the hospital - the last time with just us 2!

The details - Nik was engaged at yet another Tai Tai lunch yesterday when she felt her waters break. Ironically, in Lan Kwai Fong of all places (for the teetotalers amongst you, that's the main bar district in Hong Kong, where spilling of liquid is normally sacrilegious). 

Calmly, my wife grabbed her iPhone and dialed yours truly, who was busy at work thinking he had a few more days to handover his work before bailing out on paternity leave. Stating that she was on her way home to change and collect her pre-prepared bags before heading off to the hospital, I suggested I would meet at home and share the 5 min journey around to the hospital together.

Queen Mary Hospital

Arriving at the Queen Mary, my calm wife was offered a chair to rest in, while in contrast I was handed some forms and instructed to head off on some administrative expedition across the hospital grounds. Returning several exasperated minutes later to my wife, I found her now lying in a bed and strapped to some gizmo that was monitoring the baby.


After a couple of hours, the Dr strolled by and suggested there wasn't anything going on and that induction tomorrow (today) would be the likely outcome but that Nik would stay overnight as a precaution.

We thought this was a bit of dud outcome, so we popped downstairs to Starbucks for a pastry, hot chocolate and a bit of chat. After some time passed, we received a phone call from a polite but curt midwife asking where we were and that we were required back - it seems the chickens had been caught fleeing the coop (whoops).


It was about 9 PM by this time and visiting hours had finished, meaning I wasn't allowed to return with Nik, so we parted ways and I returned home for a night of self indulgent starfish sleeping. As Murphy's law would have it though, I was awaken by wife at 130AM who indicated her contractions were quite intense now and I should get back there quick.


I made it to the OBGY department by 145AM where I found my wife encouraging the staff to transfer her to the delivery ward. The rest of this morning's activities aren't PG rated but suffice to say the remaining labour was quite quick, with the little fella popping out at 315AM, tipping the scales at 3.77kg (8lb3 for u oldies) and although we're unsure of his exact length yet, we're pretty sure he's got his mum's long legs.

It's time to head up to the hospital to see them both now but there is one last thing I'd like to say - a very big thank you for my awesome wife for all of the effort, pain and pleasure bringing this wondering young chap into our world!


Thanks Nikki! 

Cheers,

   Trent.


PS contrary to the humorous liberties taken above, Nik's delivery of young Zach was mostly drug free.

I know this is a kite not a stork but I found it amusing he was circuling the hospital when I left this morning and...

...stayed with me as I walked back home