Jason's Arrival

Baby Jason was born on 24 July 06 at 7.50am, weighing 3.295kg and measuring 51cm.

Liyun woke me up on Monday morning at 12.30am, saying that she felt funny. We then drove to her mum's place to settle Jaslyn down just in case she really needed to go to hospital. At 3.30am, she woke me up again and said that it was time to go to the hospital.

Things happened quite fast from then on. We were given a room. The contractions started coming with more regularity and pain. Liyun declined the offer of epidural ("Biggest mistake of my life," she said after the baby came out) and requested for the laughing gas instead. The gas was actually quite effective – I inhaled once deeply and immediately felt woozy.

Doctor Mary Rauff came at about 7.40am, took a look and told the nurses to prepare for the birth. She stepped out for a quick errand and before you could say "Wait!", Liyun gave a yelp and the baby just spilled out in a grimy mixture of slime and blood right into the nurse's arms. I was rather taken aback as this was vastly different from Jaslyn's birth which involved a lot more huffing, puffing and pushing as well as much less slime.

Mary Rauff came back in time to cut the umbilical cord though. Jason was brought to one side and the nurse inserted a long suction tube down his nose and mouth to remove the blood and mucus. The doctor then reminded me that I could take photos if I want to and so here’s a pic.

Jason was surprisingly alert (and spent the next 2 hours with his eyes opened staring around). Liyun had her milo and biscuits (which I have come to associate with congratulatory post-birth snacks) and we were then sent to our ward.

Jaslyn, who was still at her grandma's house, woke up as usual (being none the wiser) and went to play-school. She only got to see her baby brother at about 7.30 pm when Liyun’s brother brought the family over. I think she was slightly intimidated by the presence of so many people and did not dare to touch her brother. However, after everyone had left, she insisted on carrying him. I gave her the Pooh camera and told her that it was a gift from Jason which scored a lot of brownie points with her.

Jaslyn has been a very good sister so far – she does her bit by always patting him, singing Twinkle Twinkle when he cries, helping him to wear his mittens and booties and other miscellaneous chores. But I think she can tell that Liyun and I are busier now with a newborn around and she is trying to test how far she can get away with being naughty before we punish her...

Anyway, we spent the first night as a family in the hospital room, with Jaslyn and I sleeping on a very creaky sofa bed. I made the mistake of asking whether she was comfortable on the bed and she pressed the mattress around her and complained, "It's not comfortable."

Me: "It’s nice; see – it’s so soft. Lie down and sleep, okay?"

Jaslyn: "But it’s not comfortable."

This went on for a good half hour until she got tired from complaining and decided to go to sleep after singing some nursery rhymes.

Jason slept without waking much through the first night. However, he spent most of the second night crying, so Liyun and I did not get much sleep as we took turns feeding and carrying him.

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Brought Jaslyn to Clementi for dinner on the second day. As she had not napped during the day, she started nodding off while in the car. Kept talking to her to try to make her stay awake and told her I would bring her to Big Bookshop to buy a Winnie the Pooh book of stickers if she would stay awake. Jaslyn then said miserably, "I’m trying to stay awake but my eyes keep closing."

She managed to stay awake long enough for us to reach Clementi so I fed her dinner before going to buy her sticker book.

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Liyun was finally discharged yesterday. However, Jason has jaundice and we had to go back to the hospital this morning to test his jaundice level. Although it is still not too high, we will have to bring him to hospital again tomorrow for another test.