Day 2 with Max

There is a very wonderful woman upstairs in the hospital bed. They won't let me up for another few minutes, just to keep me on my toes! She is quietly getting on with giving our little man Max, the best start in life a human could have!

He was born yesterday at 08:30 but because of some minor medical concerns (more later) we didn't get to hold him until about 11:30. Since then it has been just a wonderland of new experiences. Smells, sounds, and movements that seems like the most important things in the world from second to second. Not seem, are the most important things in the world. At least in that small room and for us three people.

There was an Onion article last week headlined something like 'Parents concerned that seven minutes of their child's life was unrecorded on Facebook'. We don't want to fall into that trap but most of the well wishers that we have had so far have been through facebook, so until the freaky stalker person appears, that'll do fine.

So back to the wonderful woman. She went into labour, it now transpires at about 23:00 on Saturday night, right in the middle of Good Will Hunting. We were not too fond of those apples, at all. The pain built up in her back for quite some time until we rang the Hospital and they recommended a lovely hot bath. At this stage Ciara did not think she was in labour at all yet. All the signs pointed to back labour or 'false labour' which can take place weeks before. So a few more exercises later while waiting for the water to heat up, things got really bad. The electric impulses from the tens machine weren't helping and reading Douglas Adams' 'Last Chance to See' had no therapeutic affect!

So we ran for the door! It wasn't exactly a Hollywood style dash but we did run through a couple of red lights, I really just wanted to be able to use the excuse. It's weird driving through town at that hour of the night. The pavements are full of drunk people and you've got to hope that the roads arent. I don't think Ciara noticed a single thing, as she was half of the way out the window, in some discomfort. We got a parking place just outside the hospital and waddled in, at speed.

Thus began our experience of the wonderful staff in the Rotunda. Ciara was put on a monitor and our wait began. Soon a pattern of fetal heartbeat decelerations began during each contraction. To cut the long saga shot, we were brought up to delivery and several wonderful midwives helped Ciara who had an epidural, to get to a stage where she could start to push. With the heart rate issue there was a potential need for a cesarean section so when the last stages came and little Max needed a helping hand out, we moved into the operating theatre.

Nothing is ever perfectly straightforward but these guys knew what they were doing, Max's head wasn't far enough down so the Prof. used a suction cup and between him pulling and Ciara pushing with superhuman strength and endurance we soon had a baby. The sense of love and pride that filled me at this point is so mushy to the point of being unreadable. Suffice it to say that I can never thank or appreciate Ciara enough for everything that she did to bring Max to us. At least I can pick up some if the slack now!

For various and not serious reasons, max had to be whisked away to the NICU for some blood tests. Ciara was wheeled into the recovery room and another wait began. All of her stats were fine apart for an elevated heart rate. This is normal if you run a Marathon in thirty minutes. She was happy and sleepy. There was no sign of Max though!

We moved up to the room then but there was still no sign of our son. I began to get uncharacteristically impatient. I wandered up and down to the NICU several times. I began to get stroppy, Max was fine, everything checked out, we were just waiting for a doctor to come and see him. Where the hell was this Doctor and why couldn't he hurry the hell up! Ciara was wondering what was going on aswell but she was much more patient. I thought then about the other couple of babies down in the NICU I'd seen who were premature and tiny and all alone and I calmed the hell down.

Max duely arrived near enough to noon and everything was perfect. Ciara and I held him for ages, he fed and made noises and posed for photos. I suppose he looks a little like me and a little like Ciara but most of all he looks a lot like Max. So that's his first day! It's nappies and sleepless nights for a while but it won't be long until he grows up and solves the worlds energy crisis and sorts out world peace - no pressure!