It has taken me nearly a month to get around to posting this. Usually when I post a story this late I set the date to be the date I intended the story to be done on so that in the future I don’t look like such a procrastinator. But with this one, I’m going to just let the date show how long it took me to get to sit down and write this article and touch up the photographs for it. So in the future, if and when I look back at this, I’ll laugh and recall how much fun it is to hang out with Bree.
So this article is basically going to be about the day Bree was born, from our perspective. I’ll include a photo gallery at the end of the article of never before seen footage.
The day started early… really early… but not so early that Mel and I weren’t both already awake when the time came to get ready and head to the hospital. We were scheduled to be at the hospital at 5:30AM (I thought there was only a 5:30PM and had to be corrected several times on this) and while we’re often late for things, we were NOT going to be late for this!
So at 4:30AM I told Mel, “From now on, things are moment to moment, you can plan with these little guys, just take things as they come…” and I proceeded to snap the following shot with my iPhone.
Off we went.
The drive in was rather pleasant. It’s a road I drive every day a couple of times and the people driving it at 5:00AM are much nicer than the people driving it during rush hour. So the trip was uneventful and we were able to find a really nice parking spot at the hospital.
Walking into the hospital and getting situated was a bit of an adventure. First, there was a huge puddle in the parking deck that completely soaked both of our feet. Then, we got into the elevator and it was the hottest spot found on the planet at that hour. I’m almost positive you could have seen the heat signature of this elevator from space with the proper equipment.
Once we got off the elevator we found a nurses station. When they asked, “Can we help you?” Mel responded with, “We’re here to have a baby!” It sounded weird and sent just about everything into a surreal world at that point. Of course, I was quickly brought back down when the nurse pronounced our last name as “Garlic.” Um… yeah. Either way, she directed us where we needed to go and informed us that our nurse, who was supposed to assist us for the entire day, was either late getting to work or MIA altogether. So much for us finally being on time for something!
The other nurses got us settled into our room, where Mel and I started coming to the realization that we were having a life changing event (it never quite fully sets in). Before too long, Mel’s mom showed up… and so did her cell phone. The thing was ringing off the hook and her ringer is set to “A Natural Woman” by Aretha Franklin. So for the next hour or so that song was, literally, stuck in our heads.
Eventually our nurse showed up and began the process of getting Mel hooked up to the various machines that are required to have a baby including an unbelievably painful IV. Luckily, our niece was on location to hold Mel’s hand through the IV / knife fight.
The doctor arrived on location at 6:08AM and told us to get started with Potosin. Game on!
Mel asked for an epidural at 9:30AM and pushing started at 12:30PM. One of the last things I remember before things got serious was noticing that we were going to spend the entire rest of the delivery with the television showing “Tom & Jerry.” Fitting.
The delivery was an adventure that I won’t post here. If you want details, feel free to ask us in person and we’ll give you the entire dramatic story. But here it should be enough to say that in the end everyone was ok and we’re ready to begin our life with our new little bundle of joy!
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Mel – before delivery
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Mel and I
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Our Suite – Pre-delivery
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Bree’s first photograph
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Bree’s feet
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Bree’s first nap
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Our Suite – Post Delivery
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The sunset on Bree’s birthday
