As our precious baby girl turns one month old today, many of our friends and family members don’t know the whole story so let me take some time to get you all up to date on what exactly happened and why our baby was born a few weeks early.
我們寶貝女兒今天滿月了，很多朋友跟家人還不知道那天發生甚麼事，就讓我來跟你們分享當天到底怎麼了還有為什麼我們的寶寶提早幾週出生。
It all began on a relaxing Saturday afternoon. March 13th 2021. After a short routine visit to the doctor for an ultrasound checkup, everything seemed normal so Alice and I returned home. We had planned to go visit our friends for a nice little lunch by the Tamsui river and so, hand-in-hand, we headed there by MRT. First we walked around a bit and then made our merry way to the restaurant where we enjoyed a good lunch and nice chat with our friends who had just had their firstborn baby only a few months ago. During lunch, Alice enjoyed asking some questions about pregnancy and delivery and we talked about our plans for the upcoming trip to the hospital which should be sometime in the next few weeks, the due date being April 8th.
這都要從一個很輕鬆的週六下午開始說起，2021年3月13日。在一個簡單的例行產檢之後，醫生說看起來都很正常，所以我和Alice就回家了。我們原本就計畫要去淡水河邊跟朋友一起吃午餐，所以我們就手牽著手坐捷運過去。一開始我們到處晃了一下，然後開開心心地走到餐廳，在餐廳我們享受著美食，也與一對前幾個月才生小孩的朋友愉快地聊著天。Alice問了一些懷孕及生產的問題，然後我們討論了幾週以後要住院生產的事宜，計畫是在幾週後的某個時間，預產期是4月8日。
Towards the end of the meal, our friends needed to change their baby’s diaper so Alice decided to have a bathroom break. With a loaded diaper in hand, my friend needed to toss it into the restroom garbage can, but Alice had been taking a long time. As I approached the door to check on her, Alice finally appeared with quite a worried expression. “I’m bleeding a lot.” she said.
就在快吃完飯時，我們的朋友需要幫他們的寶寶換尿布，所以Alice決定去上個廁所。我的朋友手上拿著一包裝得滿滿的尿布要丟到洗手間的廁所，但是Alice已經在廁所很久了。當我正要走到門口確認她都沒事時，Alice臉上卻帶著擔憂的表情走出來，她說：「我流很多血」。
We decided to take our leave from the restaurant and called an UBER who eventually showed up and took us to the hospital we had been to only a few hours before. When we arrived, we entered the delivery room and I stood around the waiting room as several nurses attended Alice to check on what might be the problem. After about 40 minutes or so of just not knowing what might be happening, Alice asked me to rush home and get her prepared suitcase as we might be staying at the hospital overnight. I felt kind of upset that no one knew what was going on, but apparently our doctor was on his way to the hospital to check it out, so I headed home.
我們決定提早叫了(一台等了好久才到的)Uber離開餐廳，帶我們回到那個我們幾個小時前才離開的醫院，我們到了以後就進入產房，我站在候診室附近，有幾位護士檢查Alice，看看可能的問題是什麼。大約過了40分鐘，因為不知道會發生甚麼事，Alice要我趕回家拿她準備好的待產包，因為我們也許會在醫院過夜。我當時有點不高興，因為醫院的人都不知道問題是什麼，但我們的主治醫生正趕來醫院，所以我就回家了。
On my way, Alice let me know by message that the doctor said she had a lot of internal bleeding and they needed to perform an emergency C-section delivery as soon as possible. I was rushing around by MRT with a suitcase to get there in time but when I arrived they were already in surgery. Alice’s mother showed up and together we waited.
在路上，Alice發簡訊告訴我醫生跟她說她內出血很嚴重，他們需要馬上進行剖腹產。我拿著行李箱在捷運站趕路，希望能及時趕到，但我到的時候他們已經在進行手術了，Alice的媽媽也來了，我們一起等手術結束。
Eventually the surgery ended and, after some paperwork was done, we saw poor Alice, who was shivering and delirious, being carted from the surgery room to the recovery ward. But what exactly happened? It wouldn’t be for a week or so more that I would hear the actual name of the complication, but it was kind of serious and a similar situation had occurred just a few years before leading to a sad conclusion. However, over time, our situation turned out pretty well, though not without Alice and I seeking God in prayer about our worries and fears.
手術終於結束了，在完成一些文件作業以後，我們見到了可憐、顫抖而神志不清的Alice從手術室被推到病房，但到底發生了什麼事？ 我可能不會花一個禮拜或更長時間來聽併發症的真實名稱，但這是個狀況很嚴重，幾年前也發生了類似的案例，而最後是個悲傷的結局。 然而，隨著時間過去，我們的情況逐漸好轉，這也是因為我跟Alice將我們的憂慮跟恐懼帶到神面前，以禱告尋求祂。
As everything was happening, apparently all the people whom Alice had been in contact with during the day decided to message my phone to see what was going on. A bit annoyed at the situation overall, I let them know that there were some complications and they all told me that they would be praying for us. Unknown to Alice or I at the time, there were hundreds of friends and church family members praying for us.
隨著一切事情的發生，顯然地，Alice白天聯絡的人們，都傳簡訊來問我到底發生了甚麼事。整個情況讓我有點煩躁，我告訴他們事情有點複雜，而他們全都跟我說他們會為我們禱告。當時Alice和我都不知道，有幾百個朋友跟教會的家人們正在為我們禱告。
We spent that night in the hospital, and other than a quick picture from a nurse, neither Alice or I had yet been able to see our little baby girl. It was a sort of a limbo as we waited for her to stabilize and for Alice to heal from the surgery.
我們那晚待在醫院，除了護士很迅速地拍了一張照以外，我和Alice都沒有見到我們的女兒。當我們在等女兒穩定下來以及Alice從手術恢復過來的時候，心情一直懸在半空中。
As Alice was recovering, I continued to go to work normally while my mother-in-law took care of Alice. I spent the nights in the rather uncomfortable visitor’s bed next to my wife and overall it was a very difficult experience, not being able to see our baby for a week, but eventually the days in the hospital were over. Alice was able to walk around pretty well again with only some minor pain in her stomach. On Thursday, March 18th we were discharged from the hospital and we were able to hold our little girl as we got another driver to take us to the (月子中心) postpartum-care-center where Alice planned to enjoy 30 days of rest and recovery as is tradition here in Asia.
當Alice在恢復的期間，我岳母幫忙照顧Alice，而我繼續正常的工作。我在太太旁邊那張超級不舒服的訪客床上過夜。總體而言，這是一個非常艱難的經驗，我要一個禮拜不能見到我們的孩子。但最後在醫院的日子終於過去了，Alice可以在肚子只有輕微疼痛的情況下再次正常走動。3月18日禮拜四，我們出院了。在我們等另一個司機帶我們去月子中心時，我們能夠抱抱我們的女兒。Alice計畫在這裡待30天休息並讓身體復原，這是亞洲的傳統。
The name of the complication is a Placental Abruption, which is something that happens to some mothers around the 25 weeks mark of pregnancy and is rather dangerous if not treated quickly. Thankfully due to the expertise and quick work of our good Christian doctor, the whole thing worked out alright. Apparently it could have been much worse. Thank you God for taking care of us and taking care of our baby!
併發症的名稱是胎盤早期剝離，這是有些母親會在懷孕25週左右發生的事情，若沒有及時治療會相當危險。值得慶幸的是我們的基督徒醫生，因著他的專業知識以及快速診治，整件事發展順利，顯然地，情況有可能更糟。感謝神看顧我們以及照顧我們的寶寶。
For the past few weeks, Alice and I have been enjoying learning how to be caring parents of a newborn baby. Soon we will all be moving back into our own home where I have been hard at work getting everything ready. Thank you to our friends and family for their prayers, love and support with gifts and words of encouragement.
過去幾個禮拜，我和Alice很享受學習當新手父母，很快地我們要搬回我們自己的家，那個我一直以來辛勤忙著要讓每件事都預備妥當的地方。謝謝我們的朋友以及家人的代禱、關愛、支持，還有禮物以及鼓勵的話。
Here are a few photos of our baby girl, Alyssa “Li-Xin” (理心) Joy Piotrowicz.
這裡有幾張我們女兒的照片，Alyssa “Li-Xin” (理心) Joy Piotrowicz。
