Welcome Jada Rose Innes to the World

We are now parents. That seems so strange, but we are also thrilled, even though it is a little sooner than we had thought.

Jada Rose Innes came into the world just after midnight (12:10) on August 15th, 2009, in Beijing, China. Even though we had decided to have her in Canada, we guess she really wanted to be a Canadian born abroad! She is about 5.5 lbs (2.47Kg) and 18.5 inches (47 cm). She is a cute looking baby, with blue eyes, and medium dark hair. Chelsey thinks that when it is washed and such, it will be dirty blondish. Chelsey also thinks she looks more like an Innes. We did not have a camera, but the Branch president took a couple of Pictures, and we will post them when we get them. Jada does not have a lot of hair, but enough that it covers most of her head. She seems to be doing well. She is still premature, having come at about 35 weeks, but she is breathing on her own, and has a nice healthy pink colour to her. There is no problems right now with anything, she sucks well, she breaths well, and had a good cry when she came into this world. There is still the risk that something could happen, so the doctors want to keep her in NICU for about two weeks. We miss her, as we are not allowed to be with her. We are only allowed to see her twice a week, which is going to be really hard, but at the same time, we feel safe with her there. All things are in the Lord’s hand, and we are sure that angles are watching over her.

Ok so, now that you know that little bean is safe, and healthy, you probably want to hear about the birth story. Chelsey had been having back pain for most of the day yesterday; we had no idea what was wrong. About 8:30ish, it got worse. Baby gave two large kicks, and Chelsey started leaking fluid with a bloody tinge. She continued to have lower back pain, but more frequent and starting to get more intense. We decided to go to the hospital. The first hospital we went to was a private hospital, and they did some checks, and said that the baby may be coming early. They wanted a lot more then we could afford to pay to deliver the baby, so we took an ambulance (this was about 9:30) to a public hospital with an international wing. That is something that I never thought that I would be doing in Beijing – riding an ambulance down the street with a pregnant throwing up wife (she only threw up twice; once in the first hospital, and once in the ambulance right before we got to the other hospital.) They first put us in the international ward, thinking that they would be able to communicate better with us. Well, we actually had more trouble communicating with this doctor. She spoke some English, but did not use it with us because when she asked if we could speak Chinese, I said a little. However, I was getting a little frustrated with how things were going; this doctor wanted a lot of money (up front), and would not listen to us at all. We only had a couple thousand RMB on us (a few hundred USD), and they wanted more than we had, and they wouldn’t listen to what we were saying, they wanted money they could have right then and there. This aside, neither Chelsey nor I really trusted her, it felt as if neither Chelsey nor the baby was important to this doctor. So they moved us to the Chinese section of the hospital (this was sometime between 10:30 and 11:00) which was a lot cheaper, and once we settled the bill – again up front (they would not have treated her if I did not pay!), things went a lot smoother. The one doctor in this section DID speak English to us, even when we spoke in Chinese to her. I had calmed down a lot, and even thought I was nervous about other things, we both felt more at ease and confident with this doctor. Chelsey by this time was having urges to push, and the doctors kept telling her “Don’t push! Don’t push!” Chelsey tried, but it was really hard to resist that urge. They did a couple checks, including an ultrasound, and the baby was already starting to move down the birth canal. The doctor could feel the head in the check, and the ultrasound showed it as well. The ultrasound room was right beside the birthing room, but they wheeled Chelsey down the hall with little more than a hand towel and my bag to cover her. The hallway was fairly crowded, but all thoughts of modesty had fled Chelsey’s mind, as she was only thinking of the bean. They did the ultrasound, and by the time took her back to the room, and got her on the birthing bed, the crown of Jada’s head could be seen during contractions. Picture this: Chelsey in Labour, baby is coming, doctors scrambling to get things ready, telling Chelsey not to push, and holding the baby just a little bit so they could get all the things they needed. They rushed a lot, and got things ready, and Jada was born shortly after that. Right after the birth, I felt extremely light headed, almost as if I was going to faint. I went down with my head near my knees, and I started to feel better. I got up, and felt it again, so I sat on a little stool beside Chelsey while the doctors where checking Jada. It is really hard to describe the feelings, of when we heard her cry (nice and loud, one of the Branch councillors could hear it over the phone!) and the doctors said that the baby is ok. A lot of relief washed over me with those words.
They still wanted to send her to a NICU, but the hospital we were at had no beds for it. So we went to our third hospital of the night. Both the branch president and the aforementioned councillor met us there. We got Jada registered there, paid some money, and then we got to finally hold her. Just after the baby was born, we both got to put our hands on her, but this is the first time that we got to hold her. She seemed really alert for a newborn preemie, and we are sure that she knows who we are. Even though she could not focus well, she did look into our eyes, and would react to us. She is a special child! We also had the branch president and the councillor give Jada a blessing, that she would be healthy, that she would get stronger every day, and that things would be ok. We did not get home until close to 3:30am. We wish we could be with our little girl, but we know she is getting the care she need. It has now been about six hours since we saw her, but we feel assured that she is ok right now, and that things are going to work out.

So obviously, our plans in going back to Canada are changing. We don’t know everything yet what we are going to do. We have to look at a couple different options on what we should do, but we will keep everyone informed. We still have to worry about the visa, Jada needs to be strong enough, also needs a passport and other documents, and Chelsey probably would not feel up for a 17 hour (total time) trip in a week. We will keep you informed as we learn what is going on.

Already the Branch here has been such a huge help and blessing. They are concerned for us, and will continue to look after us.

Don’t forget to keep both Chelsey and Jada Rose in your prayers. It is an exciting, and nervous time right now, one that we won’t forget.