I had been a father for ten minutes before I was able to go over to the resuscitaire and introduce myself. Such was the intensity of the moment, I can’t remember what I said. For some medical-type reason, I wasn’t able to pick him up. I don’t want to get overly sentimental, but I can honestly say he was the most awesomely beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. He was doing what sounded like an impression of a sheep, which is made all the more incredible considering he’d never heard a sheep.
Faith was being repaired and thanking anyone who came within earshot. She may have been the most polite woman in labour ever. A further ten minutes or so passed before the midwife handed Adlai to to his mum. It’s hard to sum up the emotions of the first time my family all met. Beautiful. Perfect…
We were left alone for a happy/relieved emotional hour before being taken to the maternity ward.
By the time morning arrived, Adlai’s health had taken a turn for the worse. He was struggling with an infection and, as a result, had low blood sugar. To combat this they started feeding him through a tube in his nose. He also had a tube in his hand through which he was getting antibiotics. Our joy was turning fast to worry.
Later in the day, Adlai was rolled away to have a lumbar puncture. This is a sight I will never forget. I felt helpless and worried. Throughout the first day Adlai’s condition did not improve and it was eventually decided that he should spend some time in the neo-natal unit. Although this felt traumatic at the time, this was the turning point for him. Almost as soon as he rolled into his new room, his condition improved.
Adlai’s stay in neo-natal was thankfully short lived and after a little over 24 hours he was back by his mother’s bed in the maternity ward.
As each day passed, Adlai got stronger and by the time we got the final test results on day six, I was confident that it would be good news. I was right. His lumbar puncture results came back clear. His nose tube finally came out and it was just a waiting game for the course of antibiotics to finish.
That night, we got the news that I was able to take my family home. After I wrestled with the car seat, my son got his first taste of (very cold) fresh air. As we walked into the night and loaded our son into our car, I felt a combination of every emotion imaginable – but mostly, I felt excited to start our family’s life together.
