Well... we have a lot to catch up on!
Firstly, I'd like to apologize to you all for the delay in posting. Things have been a little crazy over the past few days, as I'm sure you can imagine. Instead of going over everything right now, let's go back and do one day at a time.
First, Monday 15th March, 2010.
We woke up on Monday nervous as all hell and in a panic. It felt a little like the morning of a vacation, all of us rushing around, making sure that we had everything. 'Camera!', someone shouted. 'In the bag! what about spare batteries?' someone replied. We tore around, grabbing random items, stuffing them in bags and trying to deal with the enormity of the day.
Thankfully, Mother Nature had provided us with a distraction. We were on day three of some of the heaviest rain that the area has seen for many a year. Rivers were breaking their banks, roads were flooding, basements around the neighborhood were filling with water and sewage. The news crews were out in force and diversions were set up everywhere. We decided that we should leave early, and give ourselves plenty of time to get to the hospital.
As it happened, we needn't have bothered. We got to the hospital with time to spare and went up to the labor and delivery department. Alise, myself and Hannah (Alise's sister) waited almost patiently until we could go back to be prepped.
We hit a snag here, when we were told that Hannah wouldn't be allowed either in the delivery room or the recovery room, and wouldn't be allowed to see us until around 5pm. This was upsetting to all, but Hannah said she'd wait downstairs in the lobby. She braved the rains and went and got magazines, and took up residence in a comfy chair.
Alise and I were then taken back. Alise was undressed and put into a rather fetching hospital gown, and hooked up to machines to check the vital signs of her and baby. I sat in the corner, breathing deeply and trying not to vomit. Nervous time. Very nervous time.
The C-Section was scheduled for noon. As is typical, an emergency delivery held us up for another hour, which didn't really help our nerves. The woman in the bed next to us came back from her c-section proclaiming 'make way for the cutest baby e-ver!' and then barked loudly about how terrible the procedure was. Again, this didn't help.
Suddenly, a nurse came. 'We're going to take Alise now', she said. 'We'll come back for you in a few minutes'.
I cannot ever recall being so nervous. Suddenly I broke into a cold sweat and started to shake uncontrollably. I paced the floor, holding back tears and vomit. I dry heaved a couple of times. I was not in a good place.
Then they came to get me. They lead me into the operating room like a condemned prisoner. I walked in to see the bottom half of the woman I love with a curtain crossing her torso. Doctors stood over her, waiting for me to take my place. I remember thinking that she looked a little like a magician's beautiful assistant, ready to be cut in half and then put back together again. I then realized that this wasn't far from the truth. They'd also be pulling a rabbit from the hat. Genius.
I sat next to Alise, on the quiet side of the curtain. I decided that I didn't want to watch the show. I took a few deep breaths.
The speed at which they worked shocked me. It felt like they'd only been going for about five minutes before I heard someone saying 'What time?'. Someone else replied '1:56'. The boy had technically been born.
And then he appeared. Held up to us on our side of the curtain. We saw our son for the first time. Our hearts melted.
Once he'd been cleaned up a little and weighed, he was swaddled and handed to me. I held him up to Alise as they put her back together. They finished quickly, and we were wheeled back to the recovery area where the woman with the second cutest baby e-ver was. I asked if Hannah could come up and see us and was given the green light, and we all breathed a huge sigh of relief. Baby Elliott was born, he was perfect, he was awesome.
After being released from labor and delivery we were transferred to the maternity ward. Elliott was taken to the nursery for some checks, so I took advantage of the break in action to drive Hannah home, feed Coco, before coming back to the hospital on the train. When I got to the train station, I learned that some of the track had been washed away in the storm and that we were being bussed to Boston. News crews were still there. They interviewed me. I made it onto the evening news.
http://www1.whdh.com/video/player/?clipId=4624155&clipFormat=flv&topVideoCatNo=91535#?autoStart (I'm about a minute in)
