FIRST TIME PARENTS

There are a lot of things that happened to us in the year 2005. We got married in January, Lany got pregnant in March, I passed the drivers test last August, we bought a car before September, and now we have a new baby in our life! God is good because we are blessed with his love, and He takes care of our us. (Is this really me speaking???)

My wife labored for more than 24 hours. Lets see if I can remember it...

December 17, 2005
6:30am - After coming out of the toilet she discovered that she is leaking...oh-oh! its the first sign that she'll deliver! She decided to stay at home to observe herself. I'm glad that shes a nurse!

10:00am - I told Grace and my colleagues at work of what happened at home and they all said that I should take her to the hospital. After the first Vaginal Egg Collection the news spread inside the Operating Theater and our IVF consultant and friend Dr. Mooza told me that I should bring my wife to the hospital for a CTG (I don't know what the hell CTG stands for. At first I thought that its one of those "Counter Terrorist Unit" like the one in "24") CTG is a test to monitor the baby's heart beat.

10:30am - In Bahrain, I was taught to drive like a Bahraini by my driving instructor Mr. Yousif. He taught me everything he knew, especially his motto "When in Bahrain, drive like a F1 driver..."Its his version of the "When in Rome do as the Roman's do" saying. I rushed home to pick up my wife.

11:30am - Mama Pajama wasn't in a hurry to deliver so we stopped by Mega Mart in Manama to pick up a few essentials.

12:30pm - Lany was admitted to Ward 16. She is definitely going to deliver!

2:00pm - I left work to be with with my wife.

6:00pm - Went to Geant to pick up more things for our stay at the hospital.

8:30pm - I headed back to the hospital from our apartment carrying a lot of stuff.

10:00pm - I went to hostel to do the laundry... because they don't let the husbands to stay in the ward overnight.

11:00pm - Dr. Malati told her that they might give her a medicine to induce labor. She has been leaking for more than 12hours now, and she needs to take an antibiotic to help her.

December 18, 2005

1:30am - It's my sisters birthday! Happy Birthday Babs! Lany called me because they will be bringing her to the delivery room. The baby has come down near the cervix about 60%, but her cervix has only dilated about 1.5cm. Induction of labor is still an option but they decided to wait for a little more time. Good thing that I was a staff at the hospital, otherwise they wouldn't have let me inside the labor room.

3:30am - The baby has progressed about 80% and her cervix is now 2.5cm. There was a cute doctor who helped rapture the membrane. At this time I went back to the hostel to do more laundry while we waited for the right time. Phsycho therapist should really recommend laundry to patients because it relieves stress.

7:00am - Still no baby. The pain of labor is now taking its toll on Lany. She is now taking Nitrous Oxide to kill the pain but she is still dilated 2.5cm!

8:00am - She has progressed from 2.5cm to 4cm. Now she is steadily opening up, but the pain becomes more as the contractions become more frequent.

10:55am - She delivered a 3.2Kg baby boy who scared us to death when he didn't cry. They assured as Diego was going to be ok, but I had my doubts because there were 4 nurses attending him plus a pediatrician. I saw my boys body turn blue and I almost cried. They tried everything to make him cry... after a minute we heard a cry. He sounds weak so he was rushed to the NICU for further observation.

Many thanks to the Nurses and Doctors of the OB department especially Dr. Amal for delivering the baby, Ligi, Mary, Sister Annie and to the others who helped us. God Bless you all!

more blogs and pictures to come! stay tuned!