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Lair of The Phoenix
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Here’s the original write up on Zak’s birth.



Click on the thumbnails to view the full picture :-

Neither 1 hour old nor washed yet!
A little tidier, after the fuss has died down
4 hours old, just onto the ward
7 hours old, after his first change

I guess you’ll be wanting the full gen. now, then! Well, it was decided at a check–up on 2nd. June that, since he seemed to be a little on the small side, and the placental blood–flow was reducing (normally to be expected — it was only a week before the due date), that they would take Kate in that evening and begin an induction.

They did the deed at about 20:00 that night (a non–oral pill — I’ll say no more!). The contractions that Kate had been feeling for a while started building up over night, and then her waters broke! After almost all night of no sleep due to the pain, they gave her an injection in the early morning ( the stuff’s name began with a “P” !). This helped for a while ...

A second injection failed to do the right thing and brought on the final stages of labour; the first we knew about that was the new midwife coming on duty at 11:00 to give Kate a check–up, only to say, “Oh, looks like you’re ready to have your baby!”.

We quick–marched to the maternity room, and Kate got down to business ... hampered a tad by the second injection kicking in, such that she practucally fell asleep in between contractions!

An hour and a half of pushing & grunting later, a brand new baby boy popped out — with a whole lot of other gunk I won’t go into! It was 12:41 mid–day on Thursday 3rd. June, 1999.

Then a little drama ensued — there was a small cough & splutter, but he was otherwise quiet (most likely due to the large amount of drugs passed into him from Kate’s injections) and he started turning a rather tasteless shade of blue. There then followed a nerve–wracking 10 minutes while he was whipped up onto the ‘resuscitaire’ (?) table and all manner of doctors and wotnot rushed in and squeezed breathing jobbies & warmed him up.

After they finally decided he seemed OK (and it seemed like hours!), had decided he didn’t need to go into a special care unit (phew!), and had weighed him for the first time (1.2650 kg. or 5 lb 13½ oz.) it was time to try the first feed. Of course, the little bugger was having none of that and just wanted to sleep off the drugs. After an hour of coaxing, he finally deigned to have a nibble. (Oh, he’ll learn!)

.

During the first full check–up on the ward later on, he was found to have a temperature of only 36, so they decided he ought to spend some time under a heater. He also had a rather low blood–sugar level, so since he was still refusing to breast–feed they started cup–feeding him (they don’t like bottle–feeding). He then settled down, oblivious to the varied comings & goings of the new grandparents.

As of the next morning, the blood–sugar level’s back up, and his temperarture is improving. He was, apparently, the only one in the ward not to spend all night crying (I fully expect that to change the moment we get him home!). He’s still currently refusing to breast–feed — Kate says he thinks it’s fun to stick the tit in his mouth, but he’s not interested in feeding from it (!).

That’s all I can remember off the top of my head — he’s still not 24 hours old as I type this. Just watch this space for further developements. It’s now at the stage where I can finally think about sleeping well without worrying ...


You’ll be able to find the old in–vivo scans here.