It's been a while since our last entry, however we've been very busy. The first order of business will be to change the name of this blog because it's no longer the two of us, but three! Yes, our baby boy Devien Romeo De La Paz was born on November 20, 2011 in Hong Kong at the Matilda International Hospital on Victoria's Peak. In case you're wondering about how the delivery went, let us share...
Devien's original due date was December 9. Pazi's doctor, Dr. Mok, recommended that at 37 weeks she cease working and began her short-term stay in Hong Kong. This meant that around November 14, Pazi reached "full-term" with the baby. Adan tried to convince Pazi to stay in Hong Kong with a good friend, but she was stubborn and resisted. Finally, as Pazi began to dramatically tire as each day passed, she decided to stop working on Friday, November 18. We made arrangements to go down for a doctor's visit the following day, and then have Pazi stay Sunday on until delivery. Adan was to go back to work and be "on call" for when the labor started.
Baby Devien wasn't going to have it happen this way. The next morning Pazi's water broke at 5:15am. She remained very calm as she prepared for the delivery. She gave Adan, who was still asleep, a kiss on the cheek to wake him and share the news. Adan got up and asked, "Is it time?" Of course, he was referring to waking up since he knew nothing that had happened yet. Pazi responded, "Yes." However, she said it with a half smile. Adan knew something was up so he asked again, "Is it time?" She responded with a full smile, "Yes." At that moment, Adan jumped out of bed so fast Pazi thought for sure he was going to run out the door and leave her behind.
Since we were planning already to go to Hong Kong, we added a few more things to our packs and called to get a new driver. We had been given two numbers of two reputable companies for driving clients across from China to HK, however when we tried to call them it turned up empty. One man told us that he was already booked, while the other said it would take him nearly three hours to reach our apartment. Adan began to get nervous. Pazi kept her composure. Finally, it was decided that our school's private driver, Mr. Peng, would arrange a car to take us to the Huanggang Border. From here we would flag one of the dozens of taxis stationed here.
It worked. The drive from our apartment to the border was 58 minutes. Since it was 6:30am, the traffic was light. We did then have to walk across the border going through immigration and customs. Pazi did great. In fact, no one even suspected that she was already in the very early stages of labor. Less than 10 minutes and we cleared. Finally, we hired a taxi and for 230 HK dollars (about $30 bucks) and reached Central in 34 minutes. It was just over an hour and a half to get to the island from home! That's great time. At this point Pazi was feeling good. She decided it was best to just go to the doctor's office since she had an appointment scheduled. Pazi's doctor was running behind due to another surgery she was performing that morning. One of her colleagues, Dr. Doo, saw Pazi and performed some tests. He informed us that the labor had indeed began and that we had a few hours to go get brunch and then make our way up to the hospital where Dr. Mok would meet us later.
At close to noon, Pazi began to have sharp pains--contractions. They were sporadic and several minutes apart. At this point, we decided it was best to go to the hospital. The Matilda is very quaint as it dates back to 1907 and is located in a very peaceful area of Victoria Peak. However, it does take a few minutes going up windy roads to reach its location. Pazi had little trouble taking the journey up to check in.
From noon until six in the evening, Pazi was having mild contractions. They started over ten minutes apart and ended at four minutes. She was exhausted and finally agreed to have the epidural to help ease the pain. The labor lasted another eight hours, but finally at 2:37am Devien was born. He weighed 3.005 kg (6.6 lbs) and was 50cm (19.7 in) long. This is pretty good for arriving three weeks early.
What an experience. We feel so blessed for Pazi and Devien's good health and quick recovery.
