Izaak Jerome was born this past Sunday, May 11th at 2:06pm. He was 50 cm long and weighed 3620 grams.  For all you mathe-magicians out there, that’s about 20 inches and close to 8 pounds.[slideshow=45]

On Saturday Jeff and I spent the day touring Guimaraes, a nearby city, with the Meier family and Marta, our language instructor/tour guide.  The highlight of Guimaraes is its castle, where Portugal was “born.”  Throughout the day I was experiencing cramps and back aches.  We knew it wouldn’t be long before baby E made his appearance.

Sunday morning, I woke up, still experiencing cramps and now bleeding. We decided to call the doctor to be sure this was normal.  Dr. Helena told us to come to her office so she could examine me.  Pastor Villares drove us to her office, her diagnosis: “This is the beginning.” She sent us to the hospital and we checked in at about 11:30 am.

At the hospital, I was given something to speed up my labor. It worked very quickly and in no time I was requesting an epidural.  Meanwhile, one of the nurses brought Jeff a café in the delivery room – only in Portugal! After getting the pain numbing drug, I felt much better and sent Jeff to the cafeteria to get some lunch, since he hadn’t eaten anything yet. While he was gone, the doctor came back in and broke my water.  The baby’s heart rate suddenly dropped and was very inconsistent. Suddenly the doctor was speaking to the nurses and they were moving me. I had no idea what was going on, since they were speaking in Portuguese.  I realized something was wrong as they were rolling me into the operating room and finally the doctor said she thought the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck and that we needed to do a c-section right away.  I asked for Jeff, and she said they had gone to get him.

Jeff meanwhile was eating lunch with the anesthesiologist. Someone came to get him, but didn’t tell him why.  On the way out the door, the anesthesiologist stopped for a café and bought one for Jeff too – again, only in Portugal! He took Jeff to change into scrubs and Jeff knew something was not right.  He was shocked to find me on the operating table. The doctors were ready to go and as soon as the drugs took effect, they had me open and Izaak out.  I didn’t feel any pain, just a strange tugging sensation and couldn’t see anything.  Jeff on the other hand, saw most of the procedure.

We hadn’t been expecting the c-section but thank God for the skill and speed of the surgeons because Izaak did have the umbilical cord around his neck.  After the c-section, Jeff was able to hold his son and spend some bonding time with him while I stayed behind and was sewn back together.  We spent the next few days in the hospital and were able to return home on Wednesday.

The hospital was very nice.  Our biggest complaint was that things never got explained to us. For example, in the US a new mom would probably have a lactation consultant explain the ins and outs of breastfeeding.  In Portugal, they put the baby to my breast and said, “Try to feed him every 3 hours.” And that was that.  Our eating schedule was definitely Portuguese as well:  café and bread for breakfast, lunch at 1, snack time (café and cookie) at 5, supper between 7 and 8 and another snack at 10 (café or tea).

We also realized how blessed we are by friends here in Portugal.  The afternoon Izaak was born we had several visitors.  Each day after, someone called to see how things were going.  The Meiers came to visit each day and sent pictures and emails to all of our family members for us.  Marta brought us home from the hospital and we found a kitchen full of food and balloons welcoming Izaak.

I am working hard at not doing much excepting feeding Izaak and staying off my feet.  I don’t feel pain except if I walk too much.  Next week I will have my stitches removed. Jeff has been busy taking care of things around the house.

Tomorrow we will have to register Izaak in the Portuguese health system.  Because he was born here, he can receive the same benefits a citizen would, such as free vaccines.  We also have to take him to the health center for a blood test that all newborns need.  Once we finish that, our next project will be to get his passport.  This will involve all three of us taking the train to the embassy in Lisbon, which is about three hours from here.  Hopefully mom and baby handle the trip okay.

Love,
Jeff, Ang and Izaak