The First One-Part Two

I will probably start with K. I am a pretty calm, level headed guy who doesn't usually get flustered by most situations. My daughter, however, has somehow managed to have the ability to keep me on my toes and it started from the very beginning.................



my wife had been reminding me for several weeks to pack my things for the hospital. I was systematically brushing her off (read ignoring her) since I had plenty of time before our due date. After all I had four weeks. sure I did.

I awakened at 1 AM on August 5th because my wifes arm fell onto my chest from about two stories up. I was a bit startled since I had just fallen into a deep sleep. We used to go to sleep regularly after Leno. You remember him. He took over for Johnny Carson. Yeah, it's hard to remember adult TV now that Little bear and Doodlebops consume nearly all the airwaves. Anyway, she announced that her water had just broken and jumped up to go to the bathroom. I am already up, having about jumped through the roof from the hit and announcement. I am just sort of staring wide eyed trying to figure out what is going on. You know, like the way your kids look when they aren't sure where they are or what's going on after a good sleep. I asked N what we should do since she was the one who was up to date on all the literature. I was a week or two behind since we had so much time before the baby came. of course, she had no idea. after a few minutes of cleaning it occured to me that we could page the on call doctor. N didn't want to wake them up or bother them. she is so thoughtful. I convinced her that we should since we had no idea what to do aside from cleaning up the mess.
the doctor asked why we weren't already on the way to the hospital to which we replied that we had an appt to see the dr. in the morning and couldn't we wait until then. Looking back I am not sure we should have even been having children. it turns out they wanted us there 5 minutes ago which immediately sent me into a panic. where was the battery for the camera and video recorder. why wasn't I prepared. why didn't I have the batteries charged already. this made N start laughing since I don't usually display this kind of madness and panic. She then announces that she has told me on more than one occasion to pack so I wouldn't have to do this under duress. needless to say, she was right, but I had so much time to do that later. Except for the fact that K seems to do things in her own time, in her own way, regardless of my silly little plans.
well, we made it to the hospital and things were fine. well, she was breach, but the Drs. were in charge so I was calm. Are you noticing a pattern here with my daughter. Yeah, she is a lot like my wife. I actually laugh at them out loud sometimes when they are butting heads because they are so much alike. Anyway, things seemed to be going pretty normal and our C-section was underway. 10 minutes they said, and she would be out. I could take pictures and cut the cord. I was looking forward to it. K has some other ideas. She changed her mind. She wasn't coming out. They tried grabbing her by the shoulders and she would shift. They tried by the rear and she would slide away again. The anesthesiologist is standing over my wife's head pushing down on her belly so baby girl would pop out. The nurse is calling for more surgeons to come in STAT. Blood's flying. I am strangely calm at this point. 15 minutes. Loopy girl is asking " is everything going alright". yes honey, it's fine.
Suddenly, I am wondering how we are going to deal with this if things keep going south. We tried so hard for so long to get here. Ughhh. All of a sudden I am brought back to reality when two people go rushing past with a grey lifeless baby in there hands. 20 minutes?

Everything went silent and I was unaware of anything going on around me except for the sight of my baby. I was vaguely aware of N asking if she was ok, but it seemed very far away and dreamy. I watched for what seemed like hours but was probably only about thirty seconds. Yeah, pause for thirty seconds and think about your baby not breathing. It's a long time isn't it? K is definately on her own schedule at this point. suddenly and without warning I hear the most beautiful scream there ever was. She was apparently very pissed that we took her from her warm and dark little den and was letting us know it. I loved it. It sounded so good to me and healthy and I thought, ok, it's going to be alright. her APGAR(sp.) score went from a 1 to I think 8 in 5 minutes. good enough for me. Now if N will be ok we are golden. She was not in the best shape from all the activity and lost a lot of blood. Turns out she is fine. I think I can safely say that now after 2.5 years. I am told that babies store O2 for the birthing process and that is why the 30 seconds or so didn't matter. Would have been nice if the books would mention that. Well, they might. I was, after all, two weeks behind. oops. But we had four weeks to go before the due date. Mmmm Hmmm. Not in "K" time.
The Next solid hour I spent with K. She was sleeping in her little warmer with her entire hand wrapped around my finger. I was amazed at how little she was. her hand fit exactly around half of my index finger. She had a good grip though. Strong girl. I like that. I have been wrapped around hers ever since.
.........and so it began.