Premature babies often had big problems that come along with them being, well, premature. And one of the biggest challenges on the day they were about to get my son out was this thing called surfactant. It's a "surface-active lipoprotein complex formed by type II alveolar cells" (thank you Wikipedia!). In short, it's a very expensive product that is used to help premature babies with undeveloped lungs to - err - develop their lungs. Apparently, this thing is very hard to come by as most hospitals do not keep this in stock (because it's expensive). Luckily, my big sister had a lot of contacts from her previous work and managed to "reserve" one unit from that hospital, which just in case, was about 30+ kilometers away. And Jakjak, being blessed from the start, had no need for the surfactant at all.
So, Jakjak = 1, Hospital = 0.
Next up on the "common things that happen to premature babies" list, Jaundice. Jaundice is "also known as icterus (attributive adjective: icteric), is a yellowish discoloration of the skin, the conjunctival membranes over the scelare (whites of the eyes), and other mucous membranes caused by hyperbilirubinemia (increased levels of bilirubin in the blood)" (Thanks again, Wikipedia!). In other words, Jakjak was turning yellow. And the way it was treated was to wrap the baby in aluminum foil and bake him inside his glass cage. Well, it was the cage that was wrapped in foil, and high heat lamps were directed inside of it. So it was sort of like baking the skin.
Jakjak = 1. Hospital = 1.
Next thing I was told that a blood transfusion needed to be done on Jakjak. He was not my blood type so we had to borrow blood from the blood bank (pretty creepy setup if you ask me). But it was not all that bad, I had the option to replace the blood used using my own. After getting clearance that my blood was not from a vampire, they stuck a 5 inch long and hollow needle and drained some 500cc of blood. If it was not for the Manny Paqiuao fight that day, I think I would have fainted (I am scared silly of blood). So I think this one is a draw.
Jakjak = 2. Hospital = 2.
That was not the end of it however, as the next few days, we found out he had hernia. Hernia is a protrusion of a tissue, structure, or part of an organ through the muscle tissue or the membrane by which it is normally contained. The hernia has three parts: the orifice through which it herniates, the hernial sac, and its contents (Yes, it's from Wikipedia). In other words, his "balls" were screwed. An operation was scheduled, 6 months after birth. If you can imagine me in that situation where I had to subject my 6 month old son to a major surgery, you would not have been happy about it either. Those were the days that I wished it was me and not him.
Jakjak = 2. Hospital = 3.
The scores are tallied and it seems that we lost this battle. But the war is not over! We shall return and fight another day! (queue megalomaniacal laughter here)
Ask anyone in the money industry and they will tell you that investments are risk propositions.
Is it the same then, when you invest in someones life or future?
In some ways, it is. But, this is an investment that you will not think about twice. Life is precious, and you lose nothing when you invest in it because your material investments cannot amount to even half of how much ones life is worth. Considering I was hoping to get a convertible sports car if me and the wife never had a child (and I had the go signal from the wife, too!), I gave it up the moment I bought a pregnancy test kit (which was a pretty cheap alternative to buying a convertible).
You know, one of the most difficult questions I was asked to consider was: "When worse comes to worst, you will have to choose between the mother and the baby". I paused thinking if what I heard was correct. I looked up. I prayed. And I asked God to do the thinking for me. A few hours later, they never asked me that question. What they did ask me though was: "Where's your camera?".
It was my son's first moment and I had no camera! But considering that I was in the hospital for days waiting for my wife's blood pressure to let up, having been told that the baby was about to come out some 2 months earlier, having been asked to deposit for the hospital bill and being asked to prepare for the worst, I think I can be forgiven for not having a camera handy during my son's delivery.
And so, that was day one. To this day, I'm still paying up for the hospital bill. It was a risk, yes. It was an investment, yes. And it's all worth it. This is not a capital investment, this is an extension of my life. And convertible sports car or not, this is the life that I chose to live.
