Amelia June's story

So here's the story about how we got Amelia June. It's not quite as dramatic in any way as Ellie's entrance was, and that's just fine with us.

My parents got here Thursday the 24th, and Ellie was happy to see them of course.

Friday the 25th, we got to the hospital at about 11, went up to the 9th floor, and checked in. The c-section was scheduled for 1:00 PM, so we had a couple of hours for check in, sticking Tina with needles, putting monitors on, etc. My parents, Tina's mom & Ron, and Ellie waited in the waiting room (which apparently wasn't all that great -- very warm and not comfy chairs) for a little while, then made the first of many trips to the Wendy's in the lobby of the hospital.

Tina and I were sort of chilling in the pre-op room. The monitor on her belly said she was having contractions, but she didn't notice it. I said something that made her laugh for about fifty-seven minutes straight, and all the readings on the monitor went kablooey, and I was afraid a nurse would come in and see them and freak out or something. But none of  that happened.

The doctor (not me) came in about 1:00 and Tina was taken to the OR for the anesthesiologist to give her the shiv...I mean, the spinal. I was  told to sit and wait for someone to come get me. Apparently they forgot me for a while, because someone else was wandering by and had to go check to see if I could go into the room yet. I could, so I did.

Tina was lying on the bed, arms strapped to boards straight out from her sides, a blanket over her belly, and nurses and doctors hovering over her. She was pretty mellow for the whole thing. I didn't really see much, which was fine. She said she could feel some pressure but no pain. Happily she never got cold -- she'd been warned that cold happens when your insides are taken out and a large mass of baby is removed from them. But it didn't happen, so she was happy. She did get sick, though, so she wasn't all that happy.

When all was cut open and splayed out, the nurse started shoving on Tina's belly from above and the doc (not me) started pulling on Amelia June's head from below.

"Big cheeks," we heard. We weren't surprised, but everyone else was. "Big shoulders, wow, really big shoulders." Yeah, we knew that too.

Amelia June was crying a little before she was more than head and shoulders out of the incision. Given that Elliebean wasn't breathing right away when she was born, we were thrilled with crying. The doc (not me) pulled the rest of Amelia June out and I could see that she was a she and not a he. I told Tina, who didn't seem any more disappointed than I did, which was not at all.

They weighed her (9 lbs 15.4 oz) and did all the new-baby things they do. She was all there, healthy as can be, so it was pretty simple going. The anesthesiologist took some pics with my iPhone (I think he just wanted to play with it) while the doc (not me) closed Tina up and did whatever else he did. The medical professionals were all pretty casual about the whole thing, which was in a way bizarre for me, but generally reassuring -- nothing was going wrong in a way that made their small talk go away.

We'd been led to believe that we wouldn't get Amelia June right away and we'd have to be apart while they closed Tina up, but happily we weren't split up just yet. We got wheeled back to the recovery area and then I got to tell everyone the news.

I went to the waiting room and found them waiting -- the doc (not me) had told them the weight but not the sex. So I grabbed Ellie and asked her if she thought it was a girl or a boy. She said "a girl" and I said "you're right!" and everyone was happy.

The nurses were cleaning Amelia June up by now, so we all had to wait a little to see her, but eventually we got her back and moved to Tina's room for the next few days.

More story later. I'm getting tired -- Amelia June likes to be up from 2 - 4 AM (when we most assuredly do not like to be up) and get massive injections of Similac, so we're not sleeping well these days.