Thanks very much guys, it's humbling that you guys have taken the time to post about this, and I really appreciate it.
I honestly don't really know what to say. Whats it like finding out your about to be a father, when your trapped halfway across the country on another island? Well, it's exactly like every soppystory that you didn't want to hear the end of from some other recent father. It's hard to get perspective on it really. I mean so much happened that we could never have planned......
Here I was just having landed in Wellington, and dobrien7, Andrew Horton and I were approached by Woosaah at the baggage claim. Our fellow mod was instantly easy to like and talk to. We went straight from there to pickup the tournament king-in-waiting, Gay-Guy.
Now GG, I can tell you straight away this guy is a class act who you have to meet to appreciate. Theres something about him that is not like his TRF self, something intangible that makes him a hard-case to be around. He's got this world-weary school-teacher/video gaming maniac/sly-talker at the clubs kind of thing going that makes him an instant hit to hang round with.
Later we were all at Danny Bullen's and we met him and Spawn. Hospitable and easy-going is only where it starts with these dudes. I can't begin to describe Danny's house. It's a wall-to-wall gaming experience, thats all I can say.
So anyhow, after semi-aclimatising to the large screens, I decide to have a nap, seeing as I'd been up since 2.20am that morning. Then I wake up to dobrien7 saying that I have to check my messages urgently. He sounded nervous for me, and I ran up the stairs. When I found out what was going on in Invercargill I was literally in shock. I couldn't plan my way out of this one.
Not without Danny's lovely missus. She helped me to get the only flight that I could and get me on my way, and I mean like fast.
What had happened is that Amy had sudden and massive surge of blood-pressure that caused everything from her internal organs to her brain, skin and everything with blood in it to swell. They were going to airlift her out of Invercargill to Dunedin and I had to get there as soon as I could.
Well, after organising the flight (which was only as far as Christchurch, there was nothing closer and that was still nearly 300k away) then a car, we left with the fastest controlled driving I've been in, being driven by Danny. He was awesome. There was no time to stop in at Woosaahs to get my gear as we didn't have much time to get to the airport for the last flight to Christchurch for the night.
Anyhow we got to the airport and I gave Gay-Guy a hug goodbye (he'd been along for the ride supporting me like a mate), then it was a mad scramble of things to get me on the flight.
Anyhow, a lot of other stuff happened, like hitching a ride through past Ashburton and then co-ordinating with Amy's Cantabrian parents via text to meet them and get to Dunedin.
So, I finally got there, and ran into the hospital about 8hrs after being in Wellington. There I found my wife looking all over like a puffed up balloon. She turned over to me and told me that I was a father. That we had a little girl. It was too much to take after all that had gone on and I sort of lost it with the tears.
Our very little girl arrived into the world 10 weeks early! She's in Neo-natal intensive care, and I'd almost lost her.......and my wife. I don't really believe that any man could not have shed some tears.
Anyhow I went in to see my little girl and the paedeotricians (don't care if spelt that wrong), were awesome in letting me know that things had a very high probability in working out fine with her. When I saw how tiny she was (and I've seen lots of babies), I was once again in shock. It didn't feel real.
Amy and I had a talk and we gave her her name...Kimberley Amy Iversen.
Over the next 36hrs a lot happened and things re on the improve. I won't have my little girl or my wife home with me for nearly 10wks. As long as they are well.
I have so much more I could say, but I'm really tired.
I'll talk to you all again, and remember what I was saying about the TRF Guys, they were all fantastic guys in real life and I think if you ever do yourself a favour, make sure you go to the next tournament, even if you don't play. I consider them all personal friends now, you would feel the same if you met them.
