Ireland/China 2025, continuing (22)

[aadler]

Twelfth day in China – July 2 Wednesday

I slept in till 8:00AM, then made noodles for myself and Susan for our breakfast.

At 9:15, Kevin sent us a text that Mei‑li had gone into the hospital last night with contractions. Not labor yet, but they chose to keep her. She was showing some blood pressure elevation, so they didn’t know if they might decide (with monitoring) to go ahead and induce labor or even do a c‑section. Her mother was with her, and the hospital only allowed one person at a time to be there, so we settled in to wait for further word.

At 10:48 Kevin sent us a text that Mei‑li’s water had broken, and he was on the way to the hospital. Susan and I immediately devoted our daily Rosary to a healthy, uncomplicated birth.

They’d already arranged to have a woman come in and care for Mei‑li in the time after the birth, and Susan had said we’d cover the cost of that. The woman wanted cash, and the full cost would be ¥30,000 (a bit over $4,000). Because of this, Susan had texted Joy about taking me by the bank, and she had agreed to come here around 2:00PM for that purpose. She did so, and we went — as far as I could tell — to the same bank where Kevin took me two years ago whenever I needed to get more cash. There were issues to be addressed; for one thing, finding an ATM with an option for English, and for another their PIN codes are six digits long (but the terminal accepted my 4-digit code). I was able to withdraw only ¥12,500 in ¥2,500 increments before I reached the transaction limit; I think the terminal had said ¥5,000 was the limit for individual withdrawals, so I’ll try that when I go back tomorrow.

I sent Kevin a query about further updates; he said they’d given Mei‑li an epidural, which would mean the things were decently well along, even though it could still be hours. About 5:15PM, he texted that she’d been taken to the delivery room.

At 5:30 I went downstairs to the 7-Eleven around the block to bring back some hot food for our dinner. At 6:06PM, Kevin texted us a photo of our newest grandchild, another girl.

At 6:29 we had a 20-second video. (Very calm baby.) At 7:15, Kevin arranged a taxi for us, and by 7:45 we were at the right place in the hospital to see Me‑li and baby Ruby.

Mei‑li’s mother Laura was there, and her brother Jack; additionally, one of Mei‑li’s co-workers — who called herself Amber — had come directly to the hospital after work and remained. We got a couple of minutes to look at the baby and take quick photos; then she and Mei‑li were whisked to the room where they’d be staying till release from the hospital, and we couldn’t accompany them there. (Logan showed up as well, and our own Amber, but I don’t know if they actually got to see Ruby this evening.)

Laura gave Susan and me — and Grown!Amber — a ride back from the hospital, and Susan and I were back in our apartment by 9:00PM.

Susan and I did what we needed to be ready for bed by 10:00PM. Long, good day.