The birth story, part I

I went back to the hospital today to visit Aria. She looks much better, as you can see. :) They gave her a sponge bath, and were able to remove many of the scarier looking tubes and wires that had been protruding from her all over the place.

Hosanna has been resting most of the day. She's in as good of shape as can be expected. Mostly, she is very sore and tired. She slept all night, then took a long nap this morning.

So here's the story of Aria's birth, as best as I can remember it. This will have to come in a few installments, because there are a lot of people here visiting, and I can't ignore them forever.

-----

Hosanna's water broke when she was sitting at the computer typing an email to her friend Daphne, who lives in Oregon. She felt it pop, and then the water gushed out. She ran to the bathroom, grabbed a towel, stuffed it in between her legs, then ran back to the computer and "finished" her email to Daphne ("oh my god - my water just broke, bye!!!!"). Then she picked up the phone and called me at work.

Luckily, I was at my desk - not guaranteed by any means. I got my stuff together, sent a quick email to my manager, and casually mentioned to a few people around me that, by the way, I guess we're having a baby now. Just before I left, Hosanna called again. She had gotten ahold of the midwife, and she wanted to meet us at the Birth Center at 6:00. That only gave me about 35 minutes to get home - a pretty tall order during rush hour. I left my desk quickly. The last person I saw in the parking lot was my friend Kyle, who said "Hey - are those A's winning?" I said: "I don't know, but my wife's water just broke!" I don't remember what he said then, but I'm sure it was vintage supportive-and-super-excited Kyle.



I drove very slowly and carefully. I don't think I've ever driven a car so safely. It's the opposite of what most people do, I guess, but I couldn't think of any day in my life when I less wanted to be in an accident. It was in the middle of rush hour, and everything seemed to take FOREVER, but I forced myself to be patient - even as I waited through three iterations of the traffic light at Coloma & Sunrise before I finally got to turn left. That was about ten minutes right there, just waiting to get through a single traffic light.



I arrived at the house at 5:53. Hosanna had already left - I must have just missed her. So I drove on to the birth center. It's less than ten minutes from our house, so I arrived there right at 6:00. Hosanna was already in the exam room. I knocked on the door and came in. Our midwife was basically taking half a glance at Hosanna and saying "oh yes, you're in labor now" - there wasn't much to debate about it. The midwife examined her and found that she was already having mild contractions, ones that Hosanna couldn't feel yet. She told us that we could go home and wait for the contractions to get stronger. We also made an appointment for the next morning at 10:30, just in case nothing happened during the night.

...to be continued...