Julianisms

My mobile rings. It’s my wife hailing me.

“I’m in front of Aquaria. My water bag has burst.”

Of course it has. The time is now 1.35 pm. She - and her 38 week tummy - have been tearing around Suria KLCC in a mad frenzy of last minute Christmas shopping since the shops opened at 10.30 am that morning.

Is anyone else besides me NOT surprised that her water burst?

I’m partly to blame, I guess. All my spare waking moments these past few months have been taken up by our church Christmas production, leaving me little time to bring her out for Christmas shopping. Better shut up and not make any water bag wisecracks.

Anyways, to cut a long story short, we’re now admitted at Gleneagles Intan with no further incident. It’s 2.30 pm and the midwife examines Swee Meng and finds her 3 cm dilated.

No two ways about it - the baby’s coming out today.

Time passes. Her contractions start getting stronger. Just a little before 6 pm, my wife decides to go for painkillers but the midwife discovers she’s now 8 cm dilated. “No point in painkillers lar,” the midwife declares, “the baby will be out in half an hour.”

And wouldn’t you know it, she was spot on. Dr Tan arrives in perfect time to deliver our third baby at exactly 6.26 pm on 21 December 2006.

Say hello to my other major Christmas production for the year: Jorja Wong Tze-Mun, weight 3.02 kg, and length 49 cm.

I brought my videocam along to record some special moments from this special day. Click each link to view.

Warning: If the sight of blood makes you faint, you may want to pass on the first few videos. You’d be surprised at how bloody it can get in the delivery room!

My first view of Jorja as she exits Mummy. At first glance, she doesn’t seem too happy to be out of her comfy womb! The doctor obligingly allows me to snip Jorja’s cord.

After that, we collect the baby’s stemcell blood as valuable insurance against any serious medical conditions she may contract later on in life. It’s not a particularly cheap exercise to maintain stemcell blood over a long-term period, but we either save whatever we can now or risk not having any when the day comes where we need it but don’t have it

VIDEO: Precious Blood (21 seconds)

We manage to collect a fair amount of stemcell blood from the cord. Any less than the minimum means it isn’t worth keeping at all.

Dr Tan also gives us a last look at the placenta that’s been sustaining Jorja for the past 9 months.

VIDEO: A Placenta Tutorial (24 seconds)

While the gynae deals with my wife, I go and take a peek at Jorja, who’s now barely 15 minutes old. She’s a spitting image of her two sisters, which is to say she gorgeous. She sounds gorgeous, too.

The nurse comes in to tag the baby and then Meng gets to hold her closely for the first time.

VIDEO: First Touch (2 mins. 15 seconds)

Did I mention how bloody it can get when delivering a baby?

We have to wait until 9 pm before we can get warded. After Meng settles into her room, it’s time to try breastfeeding the girl. Jorja gets her first taste of mummy’s milk.

Mmm, yummers! She likes it! Hopefully, there’ll also be enough for daddy, too! Do you know how expensive milk can get these days?! (just kidding!)

That’s it. Hoped you enjoyed the videos. Thanks to everyone who’s sent us well-wishes so far. You can send money too, you know!

 

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