All Posts by Remus

Article

I have a son!

My name is Sasha David and I'm 1 hour old

Yesterday (14 Ian 2006) at 16:15 (Romanian time, 15:15 Hungarian time) Pereni Sasha David was born with 3,700 Kg and 58 cm.

It all started at 5:00 AM as we headed to the hospital to do the standards checkups just like we did one and two days before, as the estimated date (13 Ian 2006) got close and passed by we where asked to come daily. Lili felt well as a matter of fact she felt that definitely nothing unusual is happening so probably we’ll be back home son.

Once there we did the NST test, the doctor considered that the movements where not enough so asked for a CST test, we weren’t scared we’ve been there once as Sasha is really moody and not very active in the morning.

Waiting at the CST test

So Lili was taken into the delivery room and given a very small dose of oxytocin to stimulate a couple of contractions while the contractions and child hart rate where monitored, we where waiting outside.

After two hours, aldo the heart rate was ok and there were some movements the doctors where not completely satisfied with how the child responds to the contractions and considering that we where a bit over the estimated date decided not to risk and induce the labor.

Do I look like I’m ready to assist?

At that point Lili was given a full dose of oxytocin (to stimulate contractions and dilatation) and prepared by the nurses to deliver while I have been asked to change into sterile clothes and join Lili.

We are not going home today?

We staid alone in the delivery room smiling at each other not believing that it finally happens and waiting for the contractions to appear. They did not so the doctor decided to use Prostaglandins gel and also do an ultrasound investigation. Surprise, in the last two weeks the baby turned over so now he was head up instead of head down as he should have been an as he was at the previous ultrasound investigation, this was possible mainly because Lili had a little bit more amniotic fluid so the baby had the possibility to move more easily.

Now I’m having contractions.

Aldo breech babies can be delivered normally it is more risky so the doctor decided to use cesarean delivery. For some reason she had to be a little bit dilatated so we where left alone again for another two hours so the gel could do his magic. And it did, Lili was soon having contractions. Around 15:30 the anesthetist came and explained the procedure and the nurses started preparing Lili for the intervention. At 16:00 I was asked to wait outside but still in the delivery zone in the sterile clothes so I could see the baby as soon as possible while Lili was taken into the operating room. At around 16:17 I was called by a nurse, the baby was out and crying in front of me.

My name is Sasha David and I'm 2 minutes old

At that point I could change back in my regular clothes and could wait outside of the delivery zone to Lili. At 17:00 the doctor came congratulated me and said that everything is perfect the intervention went smooth and both the baby and Lili was fine and she would come out soon. At 17:00 she was carried to the intensive care unit, still under epidural anesthetic she smiled and was happy. A couple of minutes later I was called to visit her.

After staying a little bit with Lili the nurse called me to show the baby, I tried recording it on my camera you can see it here but definitely not the camera was on my mind as you will see it from the recording, then went back to Lili. She will have to stay in the intensive care unit for 24 hours and if everything is fine today she will be transferred to a regular room and the baby will stay with her.

Because there was a caesarian delivery she will have to stay in hospital for 7 days instead of 5 so if everything is OK next Saturday we are all home.

I will go visit her daily while taking pictures and movies, if you are interested you can check my Flickr photos and YouTube for videos and updates.

Article

Passion, technology makers and technology users.

Just read Kathy Sierra excellent post about how memory and memorable works when I stumbled upon the next paragraph:

“Remember–your users don’t have to be passionate about your product in order to be passionate users. Sometimes–often–users are passionate about what they do with your product. And it’s that thing they do where you can help them kick ass. Users who “kick ass” are those who get good enough to reach a state of “optimal experience” doing whatever it is you’re helping them do (through your product, service, support, learning, whatever)”

Now that was a very hard to learn lesson, as a tech guy I’m passionate about technologies and too often, at the beginnings, I tried to make the clients see the beauty of the technology behind a product or a solution. The only trouble is that, we live in a complex world and making them see something that takes months, maybe years of study and even more years of experiences is near mission impossible. It still makes a difference as if you really care about those things you can not really hide your passion, and passion, usually creates a kind of trust.

I think I learned my lesson but still, sometimes, not showing or talking about the beauties of a solution or technology leaves me frustrated. The truth is that not the technology matters but what we can do with it.

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