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Daphne's Grand Appearance
(as told by a very proud Aunt Anne M.)
I have never seen a December last as long as
this one. The baby's due date was officially December 30th,
but I thought for sure that the kid would arrive ahead of schedule.
Although I tried not to bug Cindy too much when I asked her,
"Are you in labor yet?" I think I was beginning to
get on her nerves a little. A big clue to this was when Cindy
started to anticipate my question by starting nearly every conversation
with, "No, I'm not in labor yet." Soooo, I backed
off a little. Cindy was actually quite happy when Christmas
came and went without a trip to the maternity ward - she thought
that it would be easier to celebrate the kid's birthday after
the hustle and bustle of Christmas (plus, she would forevermore
be able to take advantage of post-Christmas sales to get birthday
presents for the kid - very practical of her!). Cindy, Dave,
and the obstetrician scheduled a C-section for Thursday, December
30th (the official due date) at 8 am. According to Cindy and
Dave, neither of them slept too much on Wednesday night. Dave's
parents, Kirk & Carolyn, drove from their home in Wichita,
KS to Lawrence on Wednesday afternoon to be here for the birth
and to help take care of Sophie. Big sister Kelli (Dave's 7
year old daughter from a previous marriage) stayed at her mom's
house this week to make things a little easier on Cindy and
Dave. By 5 am Thursday morning, they were both awake and dressed
and ready to go to the hospital, even though they didn't have
to get to the hospital until 6.
I arrived at about 7 - even though I knew that
Cindy wouldn't go in for her C-section until 8 at the earliest,
I just couldn't wait any longer. Cindy and Dave were all settled
in the hospital room. Both looked amazingly calm, although excited.
Cindy's mom, Anne W., arrived at about 7:30. At 8 am, the obstetrician
declared that it was show time and Cindy walked down the hall
to the surgical room. Anne W. and I were left to pace the floors
of the maternity ward while Dave gowned up and joined Cindy.
Apparently, the hospital has a policy that they don't allow
the dads in the room while the mom gets an epidural (so the
dads don't faint, I think), so Dave waited for a few minutes
while the anesthesiologist took care of inserting the epidural
in Cindy's spine to block the Cindy's lower nerves. Dave was
allowed into surgery and things started to happen. Unfortunately,
the epidural just didn't work right because Cindy was able to
feel the initial incision. The doctor quickly stopped and they
tried upping the drugs flowing through the epidural. After that
still didn't work, Cindy, Dave, and the doctor discussed the
options. They could move Cindy back on her side to try to reinsert
the epidural to get it to work or they could put Cindy under
general anesthesia and finish up with the birth a little quicker.
They decided to go with the general anesthesia. Meanwhile, Anne
W. and I were pacing a rut into the carpet just outside the
surgical rooms. We had no idea what was going on but we knew
that it was taking longer than usual. During one of my passes
by the entrance to the surgical area, I heard a lusty cry of
a baby. I had a pretty good idea that it was Cindy and Dave's
baby. As the older sister of Cindy, I am pretty familiar with
Cindy's louder vocal range, and I detected a definite similarity
in the unidentified baby's cries. Finally, at around ten after
9 or so, a nurse popped out of the surgical area to let us know
that Cindy and the baby were both fine and that Dave would be
out soon to let us know about the baby. Cindy and Dave had decided
that they didn't want to know if the baby was a boy or a girl
until the kid was born, therefore everyone else had to "suffer"
along, too.
Anne and I tried to be patient in waiting room
of the maternity ward, but neither of us could focus on much.
I think we looked at some pictures in a magazine, but I could
be mistaken. We kept peeking through a little break in the curtains
of the nursery windows to see if we could spot "our"
baby. Due to security reasons, the nurses don't show off the
baby to relatives without one of the parents anymore. But we
had scoped out the nursery earlier to look at the existing babies
in the nursery. When a new one appeared at what seemed like
an appropriate time, we had a pretty good idea that we were
peeping at the right baby. It became pretty obvious when the
baby started to cry again, but we had no official confirmation.
At about 9:15 or 9:20, Kirk and Carolyn joined us at the hospital.
They had successfully clothed and fed Sophie (who is suffering
from a mild cold or perhaps getting a molar) and dropped her
off at daycare. We filled them in on what we knew and pointed
out which kid we thought was "ours." About 10 minutes
later, Buddy and Beth Wuest (Anne W.'s oldest brother and his
wife) walked into the maternity ward waiting room. Buddy and
Beth live in Texas, but had been visiting Beth's side of the
family in Minnesota. Their timing was impeccable - not only
on the date they were driving back to Texas, but also the time
they arrived at the hospital. While exchanging hugs all around,
David walked into the waiting room with a big smile on his face
to announce he had another daughter.
I don't think that any of us realized that Dave
didn't tell us the name they had picked out. Both Grandmas went
into the room to meet their newest granddaughter, and Cindy
told them that she and Dave had decided on the name Daphne Arabella.
A few minutes later, Grandpa joined the room, and then I got
to see my gorgeous niece. I get teary-eyed just thinking about
that moment. It really is such a miracle each and every time
a new little person comes into the world. Shortly after, Beth
and Buddy came in the room and met Daphne, too. It was definitely
ear-to-ear smiles all around.
Meanwhile, Cindy was getting hooked up to a pain-management
pump with morphine on demand (limited to a few doses per hour
when she feels she needs it). Although she was very happy, she
also looked tired and quite a bit sore (to put it mildly), but
as soon as the pump was hooked up and working, I could tell
that the morphine helped to take the edge off the pain. By about
10:30 or 10:45, the extended family cleared out and left Cindy
and Dave and Daphne to spend a little quiet time together. Buddy
and Beth got back on the road to Texas and Anne and I went to
find a little lunch. A little later, Dave joined his parents
for a little lunch while Cindy got some much-needed rest.
We checked in with Cindy at about 1:00 this
afternoon, and she was recovering nicely. She was eating ice
chips and might possibly graduate to jello by this evening (normal
food is not good right after anesthesia). She will probably
get to go home on Saturday or Sunday.
(posted at about 3:15 pm by a
very tired Aunt who will actually proof read this later)
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