28 December 2007
Hien and I checked in to the FV hospital http://www.fvhospital.com/en/, which is only a few minutes drive from our current rented residence in Ho Chi Minh City, around noon on Friday 28 December. After having various tests, etc. Hien was scheduled to have her C-section at 5:00 pm. At 4:30 pm she was wheelled in to the operating theatre and I lost sight of her. Soon afterwards I was following the surgeon in to the changing room to get togged up in sterile gear and masks, etc. Wasn't allowed in to the actual operating theatre until after Hien had had her epidural.
Wow!!! I had been warned by a friend that it was a major operation and now I can certainly back that up. This was definitely the closest I have ever come to fainting. I really had to concentrate on my breathing to try and stay conscious. I don't remember much about the operating theatre, but do remember at one stage thinking that the operation was taking a long time and that something must have gone wrong, then a few minutes later remembering that they had already shown me Charlie and he had already left the theatre. Upon realising this I exited the theatre with haste.
After changing and re-emerging in to the public area I was immediately hit with a barrage of questions from several of Hien's family that I was in no state to answer very well as I still felt very faint and just headed straight for the water fountain. Upon gaining my composure I answered some of the family's questions and it was then that it really hit me that I had little recollection of the last 30 minutes of my life and the first 30 minutes of Charlie's. One thing I did remember from the theatre was that they said "5:30" a few times as I have no further information on this so far I am assuming this was the actual time that Charlie came out in to our world.
Was probably about 30 minutes after this that Charlie was wheelled out, much to the delight of everyone in the public area all hoping it was a new member of their family. Upon asking we realised that it was indeed Charlie. I followed him in to........wherever he was taken and this is where I had my first good look at him. Had more hair than I thought he would have had, opened his eyes and responded when I spoke to him. A few minutes later I was told that he had a problem with his breathing and even though the doctors didn't seem overly concerned they still rushed him off to some other room that I was not allowed into. A total lack of tangible information had us all worried.
It wasn't until 9:00 pm that we got our first sight of Hien as she was wheelled out of the operating area and up to our room. She seemed remarkably lucid considering what she had just been through. Family and I were there to comfort her until a friend of mine arrived at the hospital and we went outside to celebrate with a few beers. In the process of consuming these beers we were bitten to pieces by from what I can gather must have been absolutely starving mosquitoes.
Chi Hai, Hien's eldest sister stayed overnight with Hien and I went back home for a sleepless night as I still didn't know anymore about the health of Charlie.
