The locals must have thought this poor white guy had gone mad. I was fully clothed outside a closed door asking for someone to dress me, the things we will do for our loved ones.

A cleaning lady ushered me over to another room near the entrance to the ward, where I found a locker with a key inside. She told me that this will be my locker & that I must put on these green surgical clothes. I didn't want to miss anything there in the delivery room, & I knew that my wife would want me there alongside her doing that in through the nose & out through the mouth breathing thing, so I rushed to get ready.

I rushed so much that I had my cap on, my surgical shirt on, but un-noticed to me my surgical pants had a draw string on them. Well the pants had slid down to my knees & as I came out of the changing room, the Dr's & nurses were laughing at me. I looked like a rapper with my pants down by my knees. The pants were so far down, that if my crotch had a party, I would have to send an invitation to my pants.

After all that embarrassment I was finally allowed into the delivery room. The room was warm & peace full. The midwife that was looking after us was a blessing from God. We had wanted a natural birth & for it to be as unrestricting as possible. We had heard that government hospitals would not allow you to do this, or that, and would all too often use a word that is hardly ever heard in Hong Kong " CANNOT ." (Sound familiar?)

There was one Dr who was rather strange in his manner. I think that he was new and rather under confident, so he felt the need to be rude & pushy. He didn't even say hello or introduce himself, but rather told Tash to sign for an episiotomy. Tash told him that she would rather not sign there and then, but rather wait until it was absolutely necessary. He kept on saying you MUST sign NOW. Natasha & I had discussed this prior to going to the hospital and felt that if the Drs have carte blanche then they will just do as they have been taught. If we do not sign and do not give permission, then one Dr will have to go get authorization from his senior to persuade us to do the procedure. This may sound silly, but in doing so the more senior Dr may see things in a different, maybe better way. Too many cooks may spoil the broth, but in our eyes, we are not food, and the more Dr's that put there heads together in making a decision the better. About ten minutes later the Dr's shift had changed & we got a lovely gentle female Dr.

What are Episiotomies and why are they performed?
An episiotomy is a surgical cut in the perineum, the muscular area between the vagina and the back passage. Generally a woman has a local anesthetic before the episiotomy is carried out, although if the midwife or doctor cuts at the height of a contraction, the procedure should not be painful. Having an episiotomy is no longer a routine part of labour . Your midwife might suggest one if your baby is becoming distressed and needs to be born quickly, or if she thinks that you may tear very badly unless the opening from the vagina is carefully enlarged. Some health professionals believe that an episiotomy heals better than a tear, although not all the research bears out this assumption.

Midwives now try very hard to avoid doing episiotomies, as some important new studies question their effectiveness and necessity. Research has shown that episiotomies can cause more serious injury to the mother than she would have sustained if she had torn in the normal course of giving birth.Our assigned Mid wife was amazing. She was calm, collect, had vast amounts of knowledge and fantastic people skills (They all have superior knowledge, but some are better at applying it along with people skills than others!).

The midwife put a heart rate monitor on Natasha's tummy & with that we could see the heart rate of the Mum, Baby & also the intervals & strengths of the contractions. The equipment & backup that you get from the government system is beyond mind blowing. Standing there besides my wife looking at all this equipment, & watching the midwife doing her job, made me realize that we were in the best hands in the whole of Hong Kong if a problem were to arise.

Natasha and I had discussed that she would not be taking any pain relief during the birth except some Nitrous oxide (Laughing gas). Natasha teaches Yoga & Baby massage in Hong Kong, and along with that comes breathing exercises that take away pain. She felt that if she teaches the breathing method, then she must apply it as well. This was the big test!

We had been in the delivery room for about one hour and the contractions were at there peak. We tried some laughing gas, but it only slowed down the contractions, so Natasha told me to get rid of it. We went through the breathing routines & meditation stuff that she had brain washed me with and it really calmed her down, I was amazed. This poor midwife, she must have thought I was nuts. One minute I was shouting like a wild banshee telling Tash to push like there is no tomorrow, and the next minute I'm saying " Breathe in through your nose & out through your mouth ." In a very soft sexual seductive male voice. She must have thought that she was at the circus.

Because the contractions had slowed down to every 4 minutes & 30 seconds, the whole process was taking a whole lot longer. The Dr came in and told us that she did not want any stress on the baby, or the Mother, so if after one hour the baby wasn't well on its way to being born, then a vantouse would be used.

What's a Vantouse?
Your doctor will decide to use either forceps or vantouse according to your reasons for needing assisted delivery. Nowadays, though, doctors are using vantouse, or vacuum extractor, more and more for assisted deliveries. This is because the vantouse is gentler for the mother. There's less risk of your bladder being damaged than with forceps, and you might not have to have an episiotomy. There are different kinds of ventouse's. Some have metal cups and some silicone plastic. Some are quite large, but the very latest are tiny and would fit into the palm of your hand.

Occasionally, a ventouse delivery is carried out when you are still in the first stage of labour if the cervix has opened up to 8cms, but doesn't seem to be opening any further. You can only have a vantouse delivery in first stage if you have previously given birth to a baby vaginally. It's more likely that your doctor or midwife will suggest a vantouse delivery during the second or pushing stage of labour because:

o Your baby's head is not moving down through the pelvis (this is called `failure to progress')
o An epidural has relaxed your pelvic floor muscles too much, making it more difficult for your baby's head to make the right movements during second stage
o You are very tired
o You need help to deliver a second twin.

What happens is that you will be asked to put your legs in stirrups. The doctor (or, sometimes, a specially trained midwife) will place the vantouse cap on the baby's head inside the vagina, and then suck the air out of the cap using a foot-controlled vacuum pump or a hand-held pump. Once the cap is securely fixed, the doctor will ask you to push with your next contraction, and he will pull on the cup to help your baby out. Occasionally, the cap comes off the baby's head and has to be reapplied. After your baby is born

Babies often have cone-shaped heads for a couple of days when they've been born with vantouse. Sometimes a haematoma, or blood blister, forms on top of the baby's head, but this usually disappears in a week.

From my point of view - PANIC, my baby will have a cone shaped head " Push Tash, Push ."

More assistant's came in to help our midwife, because when the baby comes out, there are a few checks & procedures that have to be carried out. For one, the umbilical cord must be cut. The baby's trachea must be drained & the chord must be cut again closer to the clip. The list goes on, so that's why a team of assistant's were there.

From that moment on the three of us worked like clockwork. Tash asked if she could sit up so as to let gravity assist with the delivery. Tash had a squatting position in mind and the Midwife went on one side and I was on the other. We lifted Tash up into a squatting position between contractions. The machines told us when the contractions would be coming even before Tash had felt them, so we would sit her back down again into the frog position and get ready for the contraction. By thi stage I had convinced everyone including the auxiliary crew that shouting and motivating Tash as if they were at a football game was the way to go. We must have all looked funny to an outsider; all we needed were pompoms & cheerleaders.

"I can see the head." Said the midwife.

This was great news to us, because when you are very tired it's great to have a carrot in front of your nose to get you pushing. The Dr came in again at around one hour after she was last there and asked how things were going. I found her approach fantastic. She did not interrupt the midwife by just taking over, but rather trusted her judgment & asked her. The Midwife told her that Tash & the baby were doing really well and for now a vantouse would not be necessary. The midwife asked the Dr If Tash could please be given more time, & the Dr agreed. She told us that she was going to the theater to help another lady who had just had a tear, but would be back in a flash if she was needed.

"Are you happy with that?" She asked

We told her that we could not feel happier with the midwife and her team.

Around 05:00am the baby's vitals dropped to 80 bpm (Beats per minute). The Midwife stopped everything she was doing and looked at the monitor. I felt the tension, because ALL eyes were fixed on this monitor. She waited and the heart beat returned to 120Bpm. Shew!!! She told us that anything below 100Bpm is not really desirable. She told us that the baby could start getting stressed, so time was not on our side.

Natasha told the team(all of us) that she really wants to birth baby herself and we should spur her on . " Natasha, you must sum up all your energy now, look down and push ." She said

With a lot of pushing and assistance from the midwife, little Savanna's head popped out. From there on the whole delivery took place in a flash. I was surprised at the downward force that the baby's neck can withstand.

The midwife had briefed me on cutting the umbilical cord & when little Savanna came out I was given a once in a life time gift, the chance to separate mum from baby and welcome her into the new world.

The assisting team cleaned out her trachea and Savanna let out her first little sounds. She never cried, but rather meowed like a little kitten. The emotions were so strong that I just started to cry. She was magnificent (I say no more)

Our little bundle of joy was born at 05:11 am.

Immediately after the chord had been cut, the trachea cleaned & oxygen delivered, I was given Savanna to pass to Mom so that she could breast feed & bond. Mom & Savanna bonded skin to skin for 40 minutes. During this time the midwife was attending to a minor tear of one cm that Tash had and was preparing for the delivery of the placenta. She told us that the breastfeeding assists with the detachment on the placenta by releasing hormones into the system (Prolactin I think)

The midwife was going off duty at 06:00 am & knew that I had travelled a long distance to be here. Visiting hours weren't till 12:00 pm so she said she would stay on longer so that I as the Dad, could also bond with little Savanna.

At 06:25am I said my goodbye's & the midwife gave us both a big hug, what an experience!
I went outside to see if I could find my poor old mother in law who was new to Hong Kong arriving the night before. I walked past the waiting room & there was Monica & Hulda. I was so surprised to see Hulda there as well. Instead of going home to her comfortable bed, she decided to stay behind at the hospital and look after Monica. Poor old Hulda also only had about 1 hour sleep in the past two days, what a honey!

At 12:00am Monica & I returned to the hospital to visit the new Mummy & Little Savanna Arin Clausen. If I have ever walked on air in my life, then this was it. Make sure that when you go and visit, you have no time constraints. I think I just looked at Savanna for the entire hour.
The next day I was visiting Tash when the nurse came in and told us that they had to take Savanna away because during the tests they had discovered that she had jaundice. PANIC again, what the hell is jaundice? They whisked her away and we were left worrying about this jaundice thing. Since then I have done plenty of research into the topic & have found that it's common in almost all new borns. Little Savanna had her Bilirubin levels up at 184 units within 24 hours, which justified photo therapy, a painless procedure. Here is some information regarding jaundice. Go visit http://www.californiawebsites.com/neo/ for some great information regarding this topic.

What causes Jaundice in newborns?
Jaundice is a symptom that develops in just over half of all full-term babies and about 80 percent of premature infants during their first week or two of life. (Actually, virtually all newborns have some degree of jaundice, but it's only noticeable in about 60 percent of babies.) In most cases, it's thought to be harmless and can easily be treated when necessary. But in a small percentage of cases, it can be very serious, requiring close supervision and treatment.

Jaundice happens when the blood contains an excess of bilirubin, a chemical produced during the normal breakdown of old red blood cells by the liver. Newborns tend to have higher levels of this chemical because their livers are just taking over the process of metabolizing bilirubin and they sometimes can't do it fast enough. As bilirubin levels rise above normal, the skin takes on a yellowish cast that can move downward from head to neck to chest and on down until, in extreme cases, it reaches the toes. This type of jaundice, called physiologic jaundice, usually appears on your baby's second or third day of life and disappears within two weeks. (For premature babies, it peaks at five to seven days and may take up to two months to recede.) It doesn't cause your baby any discomfort. In some cases, your baby's doctor may suggest treatment, but in most cases, the jaundice goes away on its own.

Savanna underwent two days of treatment in the phototherapy room. It was not a stressful event at all, especially after we had done research into jaundice & talking to various Drs. We could visit her whenever we wanted & would be there every three hours to breast feed her. Besides that, she never even knew she was there. She would sleep all the time & Natasha & I were there to sing "This old man." to her (Her absolute favorite song.I think.