(Warning: LONG post so get comfortable)
July has arrived with its bags packed full of fun. The first day of July an early Friday morning a six a.m. early to be exact started my day off with a telephone call. The same type of early call I received nine months ago, but this time the voice was calmer, a little tired, but still alive. It was my sister announcing her water had broken and they were on their way in to the hospital. Now my reaction was much the same as nine months ago when she called to announce her positive pregnancy test…”AHHHHHH, OH MY GOSH, ARE YOU SURE! OK! OK! How do you feel?” but this time I was much more nervous knowing she was not just going in to the hospital to simply have a freakn’ baby, she was just about to get her world rocked! in many ways.
I paced my closet trying to figure out what was best to wear for this extraordinary day, its not every day you become an aunt! I couldn’t help but recollect the mornings I went to hospital to have my children and waves of emotion I felt knowing how close I was to finally meeting my baby. While rushing to get ready I told my self several times to “slow down it will be 10 more hours before he makes his debut”. But still I rush, my heart beats fast and I even skip breakfast.
The hospital is quiet, being the Friday before the big holiday weekend. It is now 8 a.m. when I arrived and Sarah and Jeff have made themselves at home. Jeff in a corner chair reading a book and Sarah sitting up in the hospital bed with a content look on her face.
Soon the doctor arrives for her first check and announces she was dilated to a 3. Oh my! It may be more than 10 hours before his debut and I start to regret not eating breakfast. Time passes fast with a lot of gossiping and before we know it the nurses have cranked the Pitocin to increase her contractions. We spent time decorating the white board with baby weight guesses, and chatting about weird birth rituals. Around noon she was clenching the arms of the bed and her face has changed from content to concern.
I felt a little sad at this point because of her pain but also because the pain meant it was real. I had a moment of panic, was she ready for this…all of this? She was so good at being pregnant. She never even had morning sickness and she was stunning in maternity clothes, making skinny girls envious. Then that moment ended and I realized this was the end of something beautiful but beginning of somthing much more beautiful. Someday she will look back to her pregnancy as just a moment in time compared to the magical life she share with her son.
Because the hospital is Sarah’s work place a buzz started to fill the air and occasional coworkers would peek in the room to hear progress of the birth. This kept time moving and I know it made her feel good to know so many people were anxiously awaiting the arrival of their baby.
At about 1:30 the anesthesiologist was welcomed in the room and was prepared to give her an epidural. Things started to move very quickly at this point. He inserted the first epidural and the tubing instantly filled with blood, a second would not feed into her spine so finally a third was placed and began to take effect. This took well over an hour, with a lot of pain, sweat, and breathe holding moments. My mother had stepped out of the room prior to the epidural to chat with my dad who didn’t dare step foot in the room, pretty much all day. When I went to let her know the epidural was finished I could see panic in her eyes. She drilled me with questions of why it took so long and if she was out of pain yet. When we returned to the room she was content again, though very ragged looking.
The air in the room started to lighten up again and the color in Jeff’s face started to come back. We were sailing. Labor was in full force, without pain! For an hour we all talked and laughed, in fact Sarah being true to her self took a few work phone calls. But then slowly she began to melt in to the bed. The pain had returned fiercely and the contractions were coming on fast. Nurses were scattering about trying to figure out why the epidural was not working and where the nearest anesthesiologist was. Her discomfort was so intense she was feeling nauseous and dry heaving. Somewhere in there the Doctor had snuck in a checked her dilation and she had progressed to a 6. This was good, but nowhere near good enough. The road ahead was still long.
At that moment I wished she knew what all the pain was for, she knew it was for her baby but what she didn’t know was that she was using every bit of her strength and enduring gross amounts of pain for the most special thing in the whole world, a little boy that will give her the greatest feeling she will ever feel….the love of her very own child. And I wish she knew he was worth it all.
As my mom and Jeff try and soothe her bedside a new anesthesiologist arrived and decided to take the old epidural out of her back and start over. With my mom looking faint and sweat running down the doctors face he precede to start the procedure of inserting the epidural over. All I could do is think that he was going to paralyze her. It took longer than the first time and again the doctor had the same issues. Finally he got one in(three tries later) but the pain did not instantly go away as it did the first time. In fact it never went away. Somehow my mom and I ended up huddled in a corner of the room by the door, freaking out. As a nurse passed and I heard her mention Sarah was a 9 and she had a fever. Also they were getting the room ready. What! A fever? Room ready? So my mom and I pulled it together and un-clung ourselves from the corner and tried get back in the game. At this point it was after 7 pm, time was just a haze. She was in so much pain and there was nothing to do about it. They thought she might have an infection from having her water broke for so long and that is why she had a fever. Her body was saying its time and so it was.
Within a moment the doctor arrived and they started practice pushes. She was exhausted, but I could see she had so much passion in her to have that baby she was not giving up now. Less than one hour later and few “PUSSSSSSSSH” es later the tiniest little body came out , arms flailing, lungs wailing and the cutest head of hair ever was laid on her chest. It got a little fuzzy about this time for me, perhaps because of all the happy tears or just from being overwhelmed with all the beautiful events that evolved around me. But I do know one thing, a perfect baby Jack was born. It was beautiful.
With a few minor complications from the fever they stayed in the hospital a few days and started their new life as a family at home on the third of July. Just in time for fireworks.
As new parents things are going well. There are emotional breakdowns here and there, and there are times where I think they suddenly realize...what just happened? ...but, mostly, there is so much love.
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Talk about celebration weekend! We never stopped, Baby Jack was born and then it was a beautiful independence day. I think it's appropriate that we bask in sunshine, barbecue with friends, and light amazing fireworks to celebrate a day that commemorates our country's freedom. Live it up. We enjoyed our weekend with many friends and even Uncle Francisco and Aunt Vicky joined us for this joyous occasion. Happy Birthday America!
Things are just settling around here after all of that excitement. This weekend both kids came down with a fever (maybe a mini hangover from too much celebrating?) Anyway it was first for quiet in our house in a long time. I got loads of laundry done, a dinner date with the husband, a little reading and a whole lot of snuggles from my babies. The skies over our house mimicked our dull and dreary weekend. We had our first real summer monsoon and it was beautiful. Even though it is hot out the mysterious grey skies make me feel like getting cozy on the couch with hot cocoa. We didn’t do that but it was a happy thought of mine, instead I watched my adorable two year old shake with the sound thunder and giggle when she would get the nerve to put her hand out the back door and let the rain drizzle down her arm.
Life is so good.
