Head Rush

The following post will be ugly, it will be verbal diarrhoea at it's finest as I have opted to put down everything I can remember in the order things pop up in my head. I had thought about being a little more understated about things but detail won out as i wanted to remember as much I could of this day.

3 May
We are up before the sun is, we grab all the stuff we're supposed to bring and are out the door in no time.

First stop was day surgery as we were the first case of the day and OT wasn't open that early in the morning, mummy got prepped while daddy tried to stand somewhere where he couldn't block people. Then it was off to OT to wait some more, mummy got wheeled in while daddy changed into scrubs (must....resist.....urge.....Nurse! Get 2 units of O neg into this guy and start an IV on that one, wide open...damn you, ER wannabe!!) and waited some more. Anesthetist comes in and shoots mummy up with happy juice (but not before almost rendering her unconscious with pain from repeated attempts at injecting lignocaine into the epidural space). It is lucky that daddy was sitting at OT reception cooling his heels at this point for it is almost certain daddy would not have stayed conscious if he had witnessed abovementioned prepping of mummy pain adverse pussy that he is.

Daddy gets called into the OR just as surgeon starts cutting mummy up to get to EJ. Again, being about as useful as an uncouscious surgeon teaching a class on quantum physics daddy wisely places himself in a corner where he won't trip anyone and witnesses the noisy ballet that is an OR. Yep, I said noisy, perhaps it was the nature of the op, but I always envisioned ORs to be temples of quiet where surgeons and nurses went about their jobs in a measured way, instead the scene was more like controlled pandemonium with the two surgeons going about their work while a nurse assisted them, the more senior of the two all the while giving the junior one pop quizzes on this procedure or that body part. Meanwhile, the anesthetist is monitoring mummy's vitals and giving instructions to up the rate of that drip or put in some more *insert unitelligible medical drip term here*.

The surgeons start putting some real pressure on mummy's tummy as they position EJ to come out of the 6 inch cresent shaped incision they have made just above the bikini line. Their movements are violent enough to rock mummy's body, picture if you will, a man standing over your wife, applying pressure very violently and animatedly at downwards from the top of her tummy while another man uses a pair of forceps to pull your child out. I wasn't standing at the business end of things cos I was giving mummy moral support but I do remember thinking it was all so surreal. Thinking back now, I filter out all the ambient noises and voices around me, I remember mummy smiling at me and giving me the "it's all right" look when they know their husbands are about to lose it, I remember the two surgeons pushing and pulling for all they were worth.

The next thing I know, a cry is heard above the suction noises coming out of mummy's tummy. The junior guy pulls out this tiny human being all covered in some grey mucus and hands it over to the midwife, who has until this point been in the background, with her are two med student docs/nurses who observe her every move while she starts EJ on the very first test of her life. A battery of initial tests to see if tiny human being has the reflexes expected of a normal human being is quickly completed. (9 out of a possible 10 score, yay! baby so crever! see! so smart! first test got 90%, can go RGS and then RJC and then among-the-world-best NUS already). The surgeons have by now started on sewing mummy up. A quick grasp of mummy's hand and a quietly mouthed "see you soon, love you" and daddy is following midwife and tiny human being out of OR.

EJ is taken out of OR to a delivery suite where her weight, height and head circumference measurements are taken and recorded so a run on these number combinations can be made by concerned relatives at the nearest TOTO outlet at the earliest possible inconvenience. A neonatologist comes in and gives her the once over, breathing is a little erratic but lungs have just started working so give her 15 minutes and she'll be fine. Daddy leaves EJ to go back to OT recovery to check on mummy who's looks good considering the circumstances. After a short wait in recovery, mum and dad proceed to move up to the neonatal ward where EJ follows shortly.

The rest of the week goes by in a blur of family and friends visiting, mummy breastfeeding EJ and a sudden influx of patients to the ward on 05/05/05, all caesarean cases. Make the inanity stop! As a side note, a record number (as compared to what I cannot remember) of marriages were also registered on 05/05/05 with an even higher number for a date just round the corner, 20/05/05. Don't you fools see that it takes more than a fancy number combination to make a marriage work or bring baby up??!? Were you stupid all your lives or did you have to really, really work at it? Make it stop, please, make it stop.....*whimpers*