"Sanjay."
Sailing on an open sea beneath a turquoise sky, fluffy clouds skitter overhead.
"Sanjay."
The deep blue ocean surges, gathering the ship before it and thrusting it through the low waves.
"SANJAY!"
"Hmm." Sanjay peeped through gummy eyes. "What is it?"
"My water broke?"
"Are you sure?" Sanjay was still clinging to the remnants of the plan.
"Well. The pool of water your floating in might give it away!"
That certainly explains his dream...
4am - Eileen wakes Sanjay as water breaks.
4.05am - Eileen enters shower.
4.15am - Eileen finishes shower, steps out of shower and into underwear.
4.16am - Eileen experiences second flow of water and swears, "Carajo!"
4.16am - Sanjay is momentarily awakened from his snooze by a familiar sound and so returns to sleep.
4.22am - Eileen finishes second shower and slips on underwear.
4.23am - Eileen experiences yet another flow. "Ai! Que Jodienda!"
4.23am - Sanjay scratches his cheek and goes back to sleep.
4.30am - Eileen finishes third and final shower and dresses.
4.30am - Sanjay leaps into action...
That early in the morning, the streets of Boston are largely deserted. Because we live fairly centrally, the drive is short and we are up on the birthing floor by 6.30am. The room is spacious and, it turns out, will be the delivery room. I immediately start looking for power supply points for various chargers and electronic accessories that we carried in - in one of the four bags we brought with us. I had the feeling that people were watching us as we got off the elevators, saying to them themselves, "Newbies!"
By this time the contractions were getting uncomfortable for her. Our nurse, Laura, immediately offered the epidural and Eileen jumped at it faster than a heroin junkie in the East Village. It helped that the lady in the next room (who was not on drugs) was howling like a wookie...
A word on Epidurals --- I don't understand people who go into this thing with the mindset of not wanting the drugs. I am looking at Eileen right now and she is 'transitioning' right now and is actually napping. Some people have given unsolicited advice (a word on that to follow) about this and many have tried to be heroes. For those people, who think their earning respect by going drug-free - have surgery without anesthesia and then we'll talk - otherwise, you get put on the delusional pile...
A word on Unsolicited Advice --- don't do it. People have a wealth of QUALIFIED professionals on hand to learn what they need to. The internet is a wonderful tool. Books still exist. That incessant white-noise of offering advice is really off-putting and marks you as someone who should be avoided at all costs - lest one of my off-hand remarks about car wax get turned into a discussion about breast feeding.
A word on solicited advice and screams for help --- SAVE US !!!
Back to the story. Eileen is well drugged, sleeping peacefully. I even managed a nap and a meal and this is all very unlike the movies. It is actually quite boring. We got here very early and although it seems likely Lorenzo will be born today, it is still some hours away. I even have time to blog.
Stay tuned...
Sailing on an open sea beneath a turquoise sky, fluffy clouds skitter overhead.
"Sanjay."
The deep blue ocean surges, gathering the ship before it and thrusting it through the low waves.
"SANJAY!"
"Hmm." Sanjay peeped through gummy eyes. "What is it?"
"My water broke?"
"Are you sure?" Sanjay was still clinging to the remnants of the plan.
"Well. The pool of water your floating in might give it away!"
That certainly explains his dream...
4am - Eileen wakes Sanjay as water breaks.
4.05am - Eileen enters shower.
4.15am - Eileen finishes shower, steps out of shower and into underwear.
4.16am - Eileen experiences second flow of water and swears, "Carajo!"
4.16am - Sanjay is momentarily awakened from his snooze by a familiar sound and so returns to sleep.
4.22am - Eileen finishes second shower and slips on underwear.
4.23am - Eileen experiences yet another flow. "Ai! Que Jodienda!"
4.23am - Sanjay scratches his cheek and goes back to sleep.
4.30am - Eileen finishes third and final shower and dresses.
4.30am - Sanjay leaps into action...
That early in the morning, the streets of Boston are largely deserted. Because we live fairly centrally, the drive is short and we are up on the birthing floor by 6.30am. The room is spacious and, it turns out, will be the delivery room. I immediately start looking for power supply points for various chargers and electronic accessories that we carried in - in one of the four bags we brought with us. I had the feeling that people were watching us as we got off the elevators, saying to them themselves, "Newbies!"
By this time the contractions were getting uncomfortable for her. Our nurse, Laura, immediately offered the epidural and Eileen jumped at it faster than a heroin junkie in the East Village. It helped that the lady in the next room (who was not on drugs) was howling like a wookie...
A word on Epidurals --- I don't understand people who go into this thing with the mindset of not wanting the drugs. I am looking at Eileen right now and she is 'transitioning' right now and is actually napping. Some people have given unsolicited advice (a word on that to follow) about this and many have tried to be heroes. For those people, who think their earning respect by going drug-free - have surgery without anesthesia and then we'll talk - otherwise, you get put on the delusional pile...
A word on Unsolicited Advice --- don't do it. People have a wealth of QUALIFIED professionals on hand to learn what they need to. The internet is a wonderful tool. Books still exist. That incessant white-noise of offering advice is really off-putting and marks you as someone who should be avoided at all costs - lest one of my off-hand remarks about car wax get turned into a discussion about breast feeding.
A word on solicited advice and screams for help --- SAVE US !!!
Back to the story. Eileen is well drugged, sleeping peacefully. I even managed a nap and a meal and this is all very unlike the movies. It is actually quite boring. We got here very early and although it seems likely Lorenzo will be born today, it is still some hours away. I even have time to blog.
Stay tuned...
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