Week 37/ Oct 27- Jack Jack Arrives!

The morning of Oct 27, Saturday at 10:33am, Jean-Jacques ("Jack-Jack") Wan-Min-Kee joined the world.

I am still a little amazed and it all feels a bit unreal as I am holding my little bundle of joy, couldn't stop gazing into his eyes and smiling at his perfect little nose, mouth, ears, hands, feet....

The evening before the C-section I could barely sleep from the excitement, anxiousness, and nervousness.   It was also my last night at the Queen Mary hospital -- I am sure it was a fine hospital but it was not the world's best experience and the food and service were both rather disastrous, plus every night I had to bid my husband goodnight like I am still living in a school dorm room with a curfew and then spending the night alone.   My highlight at Queen Mary was on my third of fourth day, one of the nurses came by on a regular morning check holding her charts and asked if I had given birth the Friday before --- This was when I was still rather pregnant with a tummy you cannot miss, and weren't the nurses supposed to be on high alert to send the high risk vasa previa patient to the operating theater at the first sign of labor???  I had to laugh at how clueless the nurse was and was praying that nothing bad will ever happen at this hospital after I have clearly lost some faith in them after that incident.

Mic came to pick me up at 630AM for the transfer to Sanatorium Hospital.  Hong Kong is actually quite pleasant at 630AM on a Saturday morning, no traffic and the usual craziness.  It was a good and calm start to the day, I thought.  We arrived at our beautiful room (it is a strange way to describe a hospital room, but it was beautiful) overlooking the Happy Valley racecourse, and finished the paper work and prep for the operation scheduled at 10AM.

The procedure went rather smoothly.  I was fully conscious with the spinal block, just numb from the chest down, chatting with the doctor and mic during the procedure.  Mic was in the room getting ready for photos and holding my hand the whole time.  I am surprised that mic had the guts to look over the blue surgical screen although he knew his limits and came back to my side when he felt a bit nauseous.  It would not be good if he fainted before the baby arrives.  I told mic he's now truly seen a side of me that no one else has ever seen before -- including my organs that I have never seen myself.

Jack Jack came out at 10:33am with a loud cry, and my tears couldn't stop rolling down my face.  After all that we have been through, we have a baby finally.  Mic couldn't stop saying "He's beautiful.  He's just beautiful" as the doctors were pulling him out of me.  I couldn't see Jack Jack until they cleaned him up a bit and was swiftly put in the incubator to prevent heat loss.  It wasn't quite the birth I was expecting with the long skin-to-skin contact and bonding, but how I could I complain.  This is already everything we wished for and a healthy baby is in our hands, and we are thoroughly enjoying every second of the blissful parenthood.

Week 36: More Drama ?!

I thought we finally have the plan sorted out once and for all after our routine check up yesterday after all the back and forth, wait and see approach over the past few weeks -- the plan was to be admitted to the Sanatorium on Saturday this week, stay in the hospital for close monitoring for a week with delivery scheduled on Oct 26 at 37 weeks full term -- I have my bag half packed, thinking that I will have plenty of time to familiarize myself with the environment before little K is born in the same hospital, and ready to enjoy the last two nights at home with mic.

It felt good to have a plan, finally.

Today, the doctor called to tell me the Sanatorium hospital changed its policy for admitting vasa previa patients, so we have to come up with yet another alternative plan.

In short, I think the hospital doesn't want the liability of a vasa previa patient, so they have turned their last vasa previa patient away to the public hospital during the "observation/monitoring" phase and only admitting her back for the final scheduled c-section delivery.  They didn't want to handle the middle-of-the-night emergencies when you only have minutes to have the baby delivered safely so said it was in the patient's best interest to be somewhere else as they are not equipped to handle this.  Yet they still want to make $$ off of your delivery so you go back for the safe and easy stuff as in the final delivery if nothing bad has happened before.   I am sorry, but that is just so typical Hong Kong and so pisses me off.

I am also upset that my doctor has only found this out as he was sorting my admission out this week as opposed to being prepared for this weeks in advance.

I know we are becoming pros at adapting and altering our plans, but I actually hate change.

So the options the doctor gave me are  ---
1) stay at home and hope for the best until the scheduled c-section date  -- even my doctor think that's too risky and not wise
2) check in to the public hospital first this week and go back to the Sanatorium for the final delivery either Oct 24 or Oct 31 (these are the only dates they have an operating room available) --- that involves quite a bit of work to sort through but seems like the most likely outcome
3) deliver the baby tomorrow at the Sanatorium to avoid the risks all together -- I don't think I am mentally ready for him to come out tomorrow just yet.

Stay tuned.  There's never a dull moment in our pregnancy.

Mic vs Photographer

There's a reason people deserve to get paid for their work.  

And here's the difference between my weekly mug shot that mic takes

And some better pictures from the photographer ....

Polar Bear Habitat

The latest "nickname" mic gave me is Polar Bear.

Hong Kong's weather has cooled down considerably from the hot and muggy summer to the breezy fall.  However, I am still feeling perpetually hot like my body thermostat has broken down that I can no longer distinguish when it's really a bit warm or when it's just me.  I would have never turned on the air conditioner at night in mid October in the past (what a waste of $$!), but now I have it on at 23 degrees almost all day long, with the ceiling fan blasting, and still wearing a tank top and shorts.

One day mic came home from work found me in bed in the refrigerator like room and said "It's so cold in here.  Our home is like a polar bear habitat now."   I think the "hot mama" phenomenon is getting worse as the bun in the oven is more and more baked.

And if Hong Kong does have a poor polar bear around panting from the heat, I am happy to share my home with him.

Photo Shoot

We had a really fun session with the photographer at home this morning.

Given the delay in admission to the hospital, I was lucky enough to find someone on two day's notice to come and take some pictures of the pregnancy at home today.   It made me appreciate how much we love every corner of our home, and also thinking through all the little moments during the pregnancy I wanted us to remember.  It was also fun just putting on some make up and doing my hair so I am not feeling like a complete slob at home.

We'll hopefully get the photos in two weeks time before little K comes.  (And I will finally have some pictures other than the weekly mug shots mic took of me)

Week 35: Last Weekend

The doctor's visit this week went well.  Little K is still firming staying in the head down position, and he continues to be a super shy baby refusing to reveal his cute little face for us again.  However we did manage to get a glimpse of his profile while he was putting a finger into his mouth (how cute!).   Our doctor seemed confident that things are stable enough to delay my admission to the hospital by another week.  I feel like I am crying wolf now this is the third time I claimed this will be my final weekend at home, but then again I should not complain about the progress of the pregnancy going well despite the risk and the fact that we do get to enjoy the comfort of another couple of days being at home as opposed to the hospital.

I am getting another round of steroid shots (the effect of the last ones only last for 2 weeks) to help to mature the baby's lungs again this weekend, and then seeing the doctor again next Tuesday aiming for admission at some point after that.  Then, the final D date.

What should I do for the final weekend?

Maybe those long awaited belly shots with a photographer if I can get someone on such short notice to savour some nicer images of my final gigantic belly of carrying little K around (since the only pictures that mic has taken of me so far are weekly mug shots where I am standing on my side, mostly with my head cut off and just the belly, or a close up of what he suspected to be stretch marks on me -- I feel like I am in the nature program and mic is the photographer "documenting" the animal's behavior!).

Maybe it will just be like any other weekend in the last ten years, a lazy Sunday morning waking up to mic's itunes Sunday playlist and having a late brunch, before the baby's loud scream become our morning wake-up call.

The Name Challenge

Although we have the first name picked out (and for the record, it does not start with a K, little K means the "Kid", as referenced in an earlier post), the last name remains a challenge.

I find mic's name quite endearing and potentially career enhancing if you are a double spy -- I used to never be able to find mic when he's checked into a hotel on business trips, having to try about every single combination there could possible be with the hotel operator to locate his room (Mic Wan, Jean-Michel Wan-Min-Kee, Mic Wan-Min-Kee, Jean Wan, Jean-Michel Wan, Jean Wan-Min-Kee, Mic Kee, Wan Kee etc etc, the list goes on!)

But the poor man himself has endured a life time of hassle with his name, and wanted to see if there's a way that we can shorten the Mauritian trait of his last name to the real Chinese character Wan (溫) only.  Even though that means our family will bear three different last names, which can probably be confusing in itself, but at least little K may have an easier time in the future.  

However, after some research it seems that unless Mic decides to change his last name himself, little K won't be able to have a different name from the father, and that's obviously a big undertaking with all the legal records, bank statements, investment accounts etc.  So it looks like Wan-Min-Kee stays, or else maybe we should opt for Liu to save everyone the trouble?

Week 34: Someone Out There

As I approach the end of the my 34th week, and another follow up from the doctor's visit, I had to believe that someone up there is really looking out for us.

At the scan yesterday, little K turned his head downwards (no wonder I have been going to the loo every two hours!).   The doctor said as he's not in breach position anymore, the risk of his little legs kicking the membrane close to the cervix and breaking the water is less therefore reducing the risk of vasa previa implications, plus the cervix is firmly closed, so we can afford to delay checking into the hospital by a few days and enjoy the weekend at home.  Of course the doctor still thinks its risky for me to stay at home beyond 35 weeks so I think this will be last delay before I go lie down in a hospital for a few weeks.

The other thing is as the doctor was trying to scan for the fetal vessels on the membrane yesterday, it is a lot more difficult to confirm where the vessels are since the head is now obstructing the view, which the other two doctors were able to see a week ago clearly on the scan.  What that means is had we not been to the doctor two weeks ago for a regular check up, we could have missed seeing this condition completely.  The fact that there's actually a "window" where this condition could have been diagnosed, and I have been diagnosed during the window, is such a blessing.  

Everything seems to fall into place and happen for a reason, even though at the time every single condition seem to be such a scare for us -- the placenta previa led us to having a back up plan at Queen Mary Hospital, the Queen Mary doctor was extra careful and wanted to see me at fixed intervals in addition to my main doctor's visit, little K has been in breach position for the longest time allowing her to diagnose the vasa previa condition.... all of this, even though still is more drama than we had hoped, feels like more than a random set of events.  I whispered to myself how thankful I am for all the prayers that's been coming our way, it works!

We are certainly in the final count down stage with the arrival of little K at most 3 weeks away.  The baby room is ready, and all we need is little K!