I’m a New Daddy!

On August 18 at 1:35pm, my wife gave birth to baby girl.  Everything went well.  Our baby, Tina,  was born weighing 3268 grams (3.268 kilograms) and looks healthy.  We are very happy.

It all happened so quickly!  In the morning of August 18, I woke up I think around 8:00am and my wife said she had some pain.  She thought should get ready to go to the clinic.  Was this finally going to be the big day?  I got ready in case it was.  My wife followed instructions that her maternity clinic had given her.  She eventually called the clinic and the staff told her to come to the clinic after having something to eat for breakfast.  After breakfast we called a taxi and we arrived at the clinic I believe sometime between 10:00am and 10:30am.

At the clinic, staff checked her and then we went to a room my wife had reserved there.  We were told that my wife had to relax, as relaxing helps shorten the time before the baby is born.  Touching was good, like putting a hand on my wife’s shoulder  while helping her with the timing of her breathing, which got quite difficult.   I massaged my wife and tried to help with the breathing.  Wow!  It sure looked hard!  My wife was working hard, but my wife and I knew Tina was working hard too,  getting into position to be born.  I think  we were in that room for no more than 2 hours.  It looked like everything was happening quite fast.  At one point the staff thought our baby was probably going to be born in the evening of that day.  However it took even less time than that.  My wife eventually told me to get a doctor.  I pushed a button in the room and asked for a doctor.  Staff soon came and decided that my wife should go to the delivery room right away.

We went to the delivery room nearby and the staff said that the baby was coming soon and that they should get ready.  Soon after that the doctor came. I was told to stand at the rear right-hand corner of the delivery room table, from where I supported my wife.  The birth must have taken less than 15 minutes from the time the doctor was ready to the time the baby was born. When I saw our baby completely come out and it was OK, I felt my eyes well up with tears of joy. Wow!  It was a very happy moment and one that I’ll never forget.

For the first few days  at the clinic, newborns are  held in a little room with walls that have some glass,  allowing people to look in at the babies from outside the room.  The day Tina was born, I walked to the glass to look in at Tina.  People were looking at her,  including a woman (perhaps pregnant) with a child and also a young woman from the front desk staff.  They were very interested in Tina, seeing that she was mixed (I’m Canadian and my wife is Japanese).  The young woman said Tina would become a model. (^.^) Then later, another young woman from the front desk staff came to see Tina, saying she’d heard about a  cute baby from the other woman. Wow!  Tina seems to have become somewhat of  a star with the front desk staff!  (^.^)

My wife is staying 1 week at the clinic to recover after which she’ll come back home to Tsukaguchi.  I’ll  visit her and Tina everyday. My wife’s parents and family have been visiting her, which is great.  On August 19 I was able to hold Tina for a short time when Tina was brought to my wife’s room for me.  It was wonderful.  You can see me and Tina in the photo, which was taken at that time.  Starting August 20, Tina will be allowed to stay in my wife’s room with my wife all the time.  That’s great! I’ll be able to spend more time with her. (^.^)

Students who knew about my wife’s pregnancy have been asking me if my baby was born when they arrive  for their English conversation (英会話) lessons at Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi (スミス英会話　塚口校).  Some even have mentioned checking my blog page everyday to find out! Wow!  They are happy to hear that my baby was born.  I look forward to showing them photos of Tina and showing them her at a future Smith’s School of English event! (^.^)

Derek

Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi

http://www.smithweb.co.jp/school/tsukaguchi.shtml

月謝制英会話のスミス英会話　塚口校

尼崎市の英会話スクール