Harry's first hours
Harry Oliver Powell was born at 3.16am on the 1st June - an easy birthday to remember! The birth was a wonderful thing - all I'd hoped for and more - but also not for the faint hearted. Michele had "torn" while giving birth, and there was a lot of blood. And I was just about to add to it... I'd always had a fantasy about cutting the chord, and when we first entered the delivery room (now, seemingly an eternity ago) Nikki asked if I wanted to do that.
So it was, with eyes still swimming in tears, I was handed a vicious looking pair of scissors - no, not scissors, more like pruning tongs. A plastic clip was put round the cord near Harry, and I was given the chord to cut.
I've been told that it's tough, almost gristly... and they were right! Armed with a suicidally sharp implement though, I cut through in one go. Blood spurted out of Harry's end, then decreased to a trickle. Thinking about it in the cold light of day, I just committed an act of assault. It's flesh that is connected to both Harry and Michele - so does that make it a double assault?? Better not think about that one too much.
Anyway, with the help of an injection to get things going, Michele's end soon emerged - the placenta. I won't go into much detail, but it was the size of a saucepan and the consistency of liver. I had a little "prod" of it before it was taken away; we had decided ages ago not to do anything with the placenta, like eat it or keep it wrapped up for a while. No - straight to the incinerator with it, bye bye.
Newly freed from his mother, Harry was placed in a position where he could get his first taste of breast milk (Michele had decided she wanted to give it a go). Nikki showed her how to hold Harry, and off he went. While he was being held by his mum, I got out the mobile phone and took loads of pictures, as I had promised to do beforehand. In my excitement I sent a picture to everyone I knew with a camera phone.
Before I go any further, if you go back and look at the pictures of Michele, me and Harry just after the birth, you'll see a bunch of towels stuffed inside my shirt. Just before the birth, Nikki had handed me some towels and asked me to not only keep them warm, but put my scent on them somehow. The baby would get to know his mother's smell very quickly, and it would help the bonding process if I could do the same. So, I spent the last half hour with these NHS towels next to my chest.
When Harry came out and had been cut free, he was placed on a weighing table and vented his first scream (those tables are cold...). He came out at a very respectable 8 pounds 6 ounces. After that, he was tagged around the ankles and I was then taught how to swaddle a baby. I wrapped Harry up in the warm towels, hoping that they didn't smell too sweaty.
When finished, he looked something like this...
Cute isn't he? :-)
I mentioned earlier that Michele had "torn" during birth. If you don't know what that means, I'm not going to explain it. Suffice to say there was a lot of blood on the bed and floor. The bottom half of the bed was unhooked and Michele, who still had her legs in the stirrups, now had two male doctors between her legs, sewing up her "torn bits" - a perfect time for her to reacquaint herself with the Entinox! Oh, and this was the point where the doctors told us that the bed Michele was lying on cost over £8000. That's one expensive bed...
A bit later we broke hospital rules by using our mobiles to phone our families to tell them the happy news, and soon after, Nikki took Michele away to have a welcome bath. That left just me and Harry together, and I took the time to hold him close - what Americans call "Quality Time".
Sitting there in the delivery room with the morning light streaming in behind me, I looked down at the small, shrivelled baby wrapped in blankets. His head was still slightly elongated after coming through the birth canal, and his ears were pointed like an elf's which, along with his frown, made him look more like a wizened old man than a new baby.
It was a fantastic moment when our eyes met and a sort of unspoken understanding passed between us. We both knew we were connected to the other in a special way. While holding Harry close I honestly felt a happiness and serenity unlike anything I've ever felt before.
When Michele and Nikki entered the room with tea and toast, Nikki took one look at me holding Harry and said "I see someone's in love..."
She wasn't wrong there.
So it was, with eyes still swimming in tears, I was handed a vicious looking pair of scissors - no, not scissors, more like pruning tongs. A plastic clip was put round the cord near Harry, and I was given the chord to cut.
I've been told that it's tough, almost gristly... and they were right! Armed with a suicidally sharp implement though, I cut through in one go. Blood spurted out of Harry's end, then decreased to a trickle. Thinking about it in the cold light of day, I just committed an act of assault. It's flesh that is connected to both Harry and Michele - so does that make it a double assault?? Better not think about that one too much.
Anyway, with the help of an injection to get things going, Michele's end soon emerged - the placenta. I won't go into much detail, but it was the size of a saucepan and the consistency of liver. I had a little "prod" of it before it was taken away; we had decided ages ago not to do anything with the placenta, like eat it or keep it wrapped up for a while. No - straight to the incinerator with it, bye bye.
Newly freed from his mother, Harry was placed in a position where he could get his first taste of breast milk (Michele had decided she wanted to give it a go). Nikki showed her how to hold Harry, and off he went. While he was being held by his mum, I got out the mobile phone and took loads of pictures, as I had promised to do beforehand. In my excitement I sent a picture to everyone I knew with a camera phone.
Before I go any further, if you go back and look at the pictures of Michele, me and Harry just after the birth, you'll see a bunch of towels stuffed inside my shirt. Just before the birth, Nikki had handed me some towels and asked me to not only keep them warm, but put my scent on them somehow. The baby would get to know his mother's smell very quickly, and it would help the bonding process if I could do the same. So, I spent the last half hour with these NHS towels next to my chest.
When Harry came out and had been cut free, he was placed on a weighing table and vented his first scream (those tables are cold...). He came out at a very respectable 8 pounds 6 ounces. After that, he was tagged around the ankles and I was then taught how to swaddle a baby. I wrapped Harry up in the warm towels, hoping that they didn't smell too sweaty.
When finished, he looked something like this...
Cute isn't he? :-)
I mentioned earlier that Michele had "torn" during birth. If you don't know what that means, I'm not going to explain it. Suffice to say there was a lot of blood on the bed and floor. The bottom half of the bed was unhooked and Michele, who still had her legs in the stirrups, now had two male doctors between her legs, sewing up her "torn bits" - a perfect time for her to reacquaint herself with the Entinox! Oh, and this was the point where the doctors told us that the bed Michele was lying on cost over £8000. That's one expensive bed...
A bit later we broke hospital rules by using our mobiles to phone our families to tell them the happy news, and soon after, Nikki took Michele away to have a welcome bath. That left just me and Harry together, and I took the time to hold him close - what Americans call "Quality Time".
Sitting there in the delivery room with the morning light streaming in behind me, I looked down at the small, shrivelled baby wrapped in blankets. His head was still slightly elongated after coming through the birth canal, and his ears were pointed like an elf's which, along with his frown, made him look more like a wizened old man than a new baby.
It was a fantastic moment when our eyes met and a sort of unspoken understanding passed between us. We both knew we were connected to the other in a special way. While holding Harry close I honestly felt a happiness and serenity unlike anything I've ever felt before.
When Michele and Nikki entered the room with tea and toast, Nikki took one look at me holding Harry and said "I see someone's in love..."
She wasn't wrong there.
posted by Mark Powell | 11:00 PM
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