Carl Harvey Navasquez
Born February 13, 2011
February 2, 2011
After eight months and three weeks of pregnancy, Honey Mae Navasquez was getting big....
She had been visiting the Reproductive Health Clinic at Sacred Heart Hospital for regular pre-natal check-ups.
February 13, 2011
Sunday, the day before Valentines, Honey Mae texted me that she was in severe pain:
"Its really sakit (painful) and I don't know why."
I visited her at her boarding house. I took out my watch and timed her intermittent pain: minute-long episodes of intense abdominal pain, followed by three-to-four minute painfree rest periods.
Hmmmm...... kinda sounds like....... labor pain???
Her landlady Bele came upstairs to offer encouragement and a back massage...
At 6:40pm she blurted out " My water broke!" and suddenly the bed was all wet. I quickly gathered all her things and helped her downstairs into a taxi for the 200-meter ride to the hospital.
We wheeled Honey Mae into the emergency room in a wheelchair. ER staff took one look and immediately instructed the wheelchair orderly to take her directly upstairs to Labor and Delivery.
They wouldn't allow your humble correspondent into the delivery room :-(
But, 20 minutes later, this little guy popped out.
A nurse carried him to the nursery where staff scrubbed him down and gave him phototherapy as a prophylactic treatment against neonatal jaundice.
February 14, 2011
Next morning a nurse brought Carl down to the ward and wrapped him in a blanket.
She gave him to Honey Mae and they looked pretty happy.
February 15, 2011
First bath by mom in the hospital.
Auntie April Rose (left) comes to visit her new nephew.
Patient room on the maternity ward at Sacred Heart Hospital. No aircon, but there are a few fans. No running water in the room, but there is a bathroom in the adjacent room with intermittently running water from a wall spigot (no sink.)
Patient bed on the maternity ward.
(Editor's note to history buffs: these are antique beds. I found General Douglas MacArthur's initials carved into this one, apparently dating from his brief hospitalization after he twisted his ankle while wading ashore from a landing craft during the Allied invasion of Cebu Island in 1945.)
Carl's first visitors.
From the left: Ate Thorie, landlord Ricardo, Carl, Honey Mae, Ate Angie.
Newborn screening at 48 hours post-natal involves use of a gigantic needle to take a blood sample from the heel .........ouch!!!
Ate Rosario comes to visit.
February 16, 2011
Discharge from the hospital. Thank you, nurses!
Chris Pforr's normally quiet apartment at Villa San Rafael is transformed into a nursery.
February 17, 2011
Carl's first bath at Villa San Rafael.
February 18, 2011
Grandma Jocelyn and Auntie April Rose come to visit.
February 19, 2011
Carl's first check-up at Sacred Heart pediatric outpatient department.
Diagnosis: very f****ng healthy!
February 20, 2011
Honey Mae is a dedicated and very loving mom.
...and Uncle Chris is doing his part also. :-)
February 21, 2011
One-week follow-up check-up for Honey Mae at Sacred Heart Reproductive Health Clinic, with the wonderful nurses who guided her through pregnancy.
Welcome to the world, Carl Harvey Navasquez!
