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The picture above is of Alayna is when she was one week old.
This one of Karole, Alayna and I is right after she was born
(about a half an hour).
And just for fun, here is the journal entry I recorded in the delivery room:
3:02 AM
We are at the hospital and the nurse has just left the delivery room. Karole is talking to herself: "This is gonna be painful. I don't want to do this. THIS is the tough part." She sounds worried, but at this point she catches herself and changes tone. "No," she says, "I can't have that attitude. I've got to think of it this way." Turning to me she says resolutely, "I can do anything for an hour. I can handle this," she says extending her arm as if to show me the way, "This is no big deal." She turns away and places her hands on the back of her hips. "Think of the baby. Think of that little baby on my chest." She smiles, both because she feels funny doing the self-talk and because the thought that the baby is actually on the way really does make her happy. "Okay," she says and takes a deep breath.
The nurse comes in with a clipboard and a bunch of questions.
Nurse: Gestational diabedes?
Karole: Yes. Either that or I've been pretending.
Nurse: (laughs) Anxiety attacks?
Karole: Only when I'm in labor.
Nurse: Any sleep disorders?
Karole: (points to me) His snoring.
3:35 AM Contractions getting harder. Karole's face is gettting that stressed-and-uncomfortable look on it. Between one contraction the baby warmer machine begins sounding the alert. We assume that it sets off an alarm at the nurse's station, but after two minutes of beeping, no one comes to stop it. So Karole pushes the nurse button. When the nurse comes in Karole says with a straight face "there's something wrong with the baby. That's what the machine says." The nurse scurries over and pushes a button.
3:55 AM Nurse comes back in to check. Surprisingly little progress. Contractions painful, but Karole still finding humor in things. Phlebotomist comes in to take a blood sample. Karole's arm veins are small and deep. Blood extraction, no matter how she tries to warn the extractor, is often painful and poorly done. The nurse pleasantly states to Karole, "I'll help distract you." Karole opts out of the long explanation and says resignedly, "Whatever." But this phlebotomist is quite skilled and accomplishes the extraction with very little pain. "Karole looks at her in surprise and compliments, "You're good!"
The nurses finish up an leave. Karole resumes a bit of self-talk: "Okay...think dilation."
...more later when I get time to enter it
-Gordon
