About 5 to 10 minutes after the doctor entered the operating room where my wife was, nurses came out holding our baby, whom we affectionately call Osami. A cry, neither too loud nor too soft, echoed. Up close, I wondered what could possibly be making our baby so sad to cry so incessantly.
"Why is the baby crying?"
In response to my query, a nurse next to me explained it as the baby's way of saying, "I'm here now." Oh, Osami, did coming out to the world make you so upset? 😅 So, I looked it up – the reason behind the very first cry of life.
The Significance of the First Cry
For a newborn, the first minute after birth is the most perilous. Within those 60 seconds, the baby takes its first breath, causing millions of tiny alveoli in the lungs to open up and fill with air. This rapid process signifies the commencement of their breathing, often summarized as:
'Baby's cry = Healthy breathing'
Throughout pregnancy, the baby receives necessary oxygen from the placenta within the womb. Since the baby is surrounded by amniotic fluid, there's no need to use the lungs for breathing. Hence, the lungs don't fully develop until the later stages of pregnancy. Even if they grow, they remain non-functional. Upon birth, the lungs softly expand and contract, initiating their activity.
This resultant action manifests as crying.
When a baby is born, minute amounts of bodily fluids and mucus remain in places like the lungs, airways, and nostrils. To ensure unobstructed breathing, devices similar to suction pumps quickly clear away these residues. If a baby still doesn't cry, methods like gently tapping on the sole of their foot or even giving a slight massage to stimulate crying are used. If all efforts fail, the baby might be moved to the neonatal intensive care unit, where artificial tubes are employed to supply oxygen.
Osami's Cry
As one can glean from the above, the first cry is paramount. Knowing its importance instinctively, Osami cried out loud.😁
I don't know why he seemed so sorrowful with his big "waahs", but perhaps as his father, even in those crying moments, I found myself smiling uncontrollably. It felt like I was being a goofball.😅 While in the hospital, I could only catch brief glimpses of him at specific times. I eagerly await the next visiting time – when was it again? 😆
Memory from April 5, 2023