The last five months have been full of firsts for NDP MLA Henry Yao.
In October, he won the seat of Richmond South Centre to become an elected official for the first time, and earlier this week he became a dad for the first time.
Yao’s daughter, Mackenzie Yi Yao, was born at Richmond Hospital on Feb. 8 at 2:15 a.m. and weighs almost seven pounds.
Yao and his wife are now busy swooning over their bundle of joy, but Yao told the Richmond News he had gone through “the longest five minutes in his life” during his wife’s labour and delivery process early Monday morning.
The baby’s heart rate wasn’t stable for a while, said Yao, creating an extremely tense situation.
“This was a very scary incident for me; I was sitting there watching doctors and nurses talking to my wife, and suddenly there were seven people in the room running around crazy. When the doctor came through to me, I was thinking, “Will I lose either my daughter or my wife at any moment?” said Yao.
Fortunately, the baby’s heart rate stabilized and everything went smoothly in the end, but Yao feels extremely thankful for all the support they received from the healthcare workers in that moment of crisis.
“In that most painful five minutes, I saw my wife receive care from seven medical staff at Richmond Hospital, which gives me a profound appreciation. They have the professionalism to manage the stress and help stressed out family members. That’s incredible,” said Yao.
Yao and his wife are now taking care of their daughter at home. Although they may only be getting three hours of sleep a night, they are thankful and genuinely excited about being parents.
