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.