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Nov. 13th, 2008 04:24 pmWarm, comfortable. The muffled sounds of the outside world drifting in and out. There's two familiar voices; one the louder voice, the one that makes him feel at home.
Reaching out, the space is much smaller now, the water is gone, and there's squeezing, squeezing, hurts, scary.
Cold, air, warm solid under, loud sounds...
Guppy's experience of births has generally been that they are a long and arduous struggle.
So he's more than a little shocked when, whilst the nurse goes to get the midwife and doctor, a mere five minutes into Frogspawn's waters break, Alexander Jefry Sandhu enters the world. The tiny infant pops out into his father's hands, and he holds the baby not much bigger than a banana.
After the longest five seconds of his life, his fingers find the pulse, and then the little boy opens his mouth and gives the tiniest squeak of a cry.
He stands back for a moment, with the child cradled in his shirt, before the doctors arrive and take the baby away for immediate care. Never in his medical career has Guppy felt so helpless. All he can do is move around to hug his wife as they wait for news.
The longest few minutes of their lives pass before a nurse returns.
"Your son is alive and has a good strong heartbeat." she says. "He's being put on a machine that will help him breathe, but he's making a good effort to breathe on his own for a 25 weeker, so we won't put him on a ventilator just yet."
"Can we see him?"
"He needs to be stabilised, which is best done without the parents in the room, but as soon as that's done a nurse will come for you."
Guppy nods, numbly. He knows that watching his tiny baby being given drugs and tubes is likely to be distressing for any parent. And the last thing he wants to do right now is pass his distress on to his son.
About an hour later he wheels Frogspawn into the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and is directed to the big plastic incubator.
"You got a name for him honey?" the nurse asks as they peer inside.
"Alexander Jefry." Frogspawn says quietly. "Pronounced Geoffrey, spelt J E F R Y."
The nurse writes the name on the board at the end of the bed and smiles reassuringly at them.
"Congratulations. He's 910g, a good size for his gestational age, and he's stable. We took a picture for you before we put the tubes in."
The nurse shows them what all the machines are, then leaves them to get acquainted with one another.
"Sorry I couldn't hang onto you a bit longer little one." Frogspawn says softly, gingerly putting her finger in the hole in the incubator. Alexander's little fingers wrap around his mum's. Guppy puts his arm around his wife.
"He wanted to come out at twenty three, you got him to twenty five." he says. "This isn't your or anyone's fault, it just happened and you did good."
Reaching out, the space is much smaller now, the water is gone, and there's squeezing, squeezing, hurts, scary.
Cold, air, warm solid under, loud sounds...
Guppy's experience of births has generally been that they are a long and arduous struggle.
So he's more than a little shocked when, whilst the nurse goes to get the midwife and doctor, a mere five minutes into Frogspawn's waters break, Alexander Jefry Sandhu enters the world. The tiny infant pops out into his father's hands, and he holds the baby not much bigger than a banana.
After the longest five seconds of his life, his fingers find the pulse, and then the little boy opens his mouth and gives the tiniest squeak of a cry.
He stands back for a moment, with the child cradled in his shirt, before the doctors arrive and take the baby away for immediate care. Never in his medical career has Guppy felt so helpless. All he can do is move around to hug his wife as they wait for news.
The longest few minutes of their lives pass before a nurse returns.
"Your son is alive and has a good strong heartbeat." she says. "He's being put on a machine that will help him breathe, but he's making a good effort to breathe on his own for a 25 weeker, so we won't put him on a ventilator just yet."
"Can we see him?"
"He needs to be stabilised, which is best done without the parents in the room, but as soon as that's done a nurse will come for you."
Guppy nods, numbly. He knows that watching his tiny baby being given drugs and tubes is likely to be distressing for any parent. And the last thing he wants to do right now is pass his distress on to his son.
About an hour later he wheels Frogspawn into the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and is directed to the big plastic incubator.
"You got a name for him honey?" the nurse asks as they peer inside.
"Alexander Jefry." Frogspawn says quietly. "Pronounced Geoffrey, spelt J E F R Y."
The nurse writes the name on the board at the end of the bed and smiles reassuringly at them.
"Congratulations. He's 910g, a good size for his gestational age, and he's stable. We took a picture for you before we put the tubes in."
The nurse shows them what all the machines are, then leaves them to get acquainted with one another.
"Sorry I couldn't hang onto you a bit longer little one." Frogspawn says softly, gingerly putting her finger in the hole in the incubator. Alexander's little fingers wrap around his mum's. Guppy puts his arm around his wife.
"He wanted to come out at twenty three, you got him to twenty five." he says. "This isn't your or anyone's fault, it just happened and you did good."
