Delivery of Baby Kristine

I am writing this beside my wife's hospital bed. She's still bound to the bed due to the recent CS she had to go through - 2 days earlier than scheduled.

My wife was supposed to deliver our baby girl tomorrow. But yesterday morning, around 130am, she woke me up. Her bag of water burst; she later complained to me that she had a hard time waking me up - she had to throw a pillow at me to wake me up (to those who haven't seen our bed - it's a queen size bed due to combination of two single beds. I stay on the other end, she stays on the other normally.). The normal 45-minute travel time from Fairview to UDMC took only 20 minutes. My only challenge was that my fuel meter was lighting up from time to time (I didn't gas up the night before hoping that the delivery will be go by schedule). The gas was enough for us to reach the hospital without a glitch (according to our housemaid, who normally gets dizzy when riding an air-conditioned vehicle, she was busy worrying about my driving).

Originally, I wasn't planning to join Tin on the operating room. But when her colleague called me in our room, I decided to go and join her anyway hoping that I won't faint. Stayed on the far end of the table, staring at the back of the doctors operating her; then, I glimpsed on her stomach being cut (I almost puked). I looked like an idiot on the OR; I would glance at the operating table, and every time I saw her stomach being cut, I would lean back and grimaced (as if I was being cut myself).

The climax was when the doctors were now going for the baby; her attending physician put her hand inside her stomach (I almost fainted whan I saw her do it) to scoop out the baby. Then another doctor, Tin's friend, pressed Tin's stomach! I couldn't help myself and ask one of the docs if it was normal to squeeze out the baby; my imagination was working on overdrive giving me an idea that the baby will be crushed when the doc pressed Tin's stomach. And after a couple of minutes, the baby's head went out of the stomach. At that point, I wanted to leave the OR and puke! But there she was, her head was out of her mom's stomach and in a while she will be out completely. I didn't want to lose that opportunity. So I stayed.

The attending physician took the baby's feet and raised her (the doc's other hand was supporting the head). Later on I found out from Tin that this is a practice to ensure that the baby do not aspirate any fluid. A nurse took the baby and put her on the passinet (it's like a staging area for the baby before bringing her to the nursery) with an O2 tank beside it. I was still nauseated when the baby was being cleaned up.

The nurse pinched the baby's nipple and the latter cried. I was thinking of stopping the nurse (dad's instict, I guess), but when I saw the nurse started to press the baby's ribs that was when I realized she was actually checking for the baby' physical defects. The climax was when the nurse inserted this thin but long tube (connected to the O2 tank) to the baby's mouth; I knew she was trying to clear the baby's airway but just imagining that thing inserted in my mouth turned my gut upside down. I wanted to leave, but my baby was still there. I decided to stay on hoping I could last for another 10 minutes.