The Great Day Has Come At Last

7:45am - Mom Tolley just woke me up via phone wondering if I was going to make it to rehearsal. I told her that I had not heard from Caitlin yet, and I wasn't going anywhere until she called. In retrospect it was similiar to a scene in School of Rock, where Jack Black's character gets an abrupt waking from his roommate, demanding rent money. His response, "Aw man, you woke me up for that? You know I don't have it." My response to mom Tolley's question, "You woke me up for that? You know I'm not coming."

8:00am - Just got a call from Caitlin. They're putting her on the IV drip now. Time for me to get out of bed I think.

9:20am - After a breakfast of Shreddies and Cheerios, I went off to catch the bus. When I got to Staidium station, I didn't go out to the stop immediately. When it's cold out, you tend to prefer to look at the schedule that is located indoors. A quick check at the posted Saturday schedule told me that I had a fifteen minute wait ahead of me. Thirty seconds later, I saw the bus leave. Oops. I started walking because I didn't want to wait half an hour!

10:00am - Caitlin told me about a dream she had last night. This is the second time she's dreamt about a black kitten with blue eyes.

10:30am - Nurse came and dropped off some presents, if you call a full IV bag and some medication presents. One of then was Ranitidine, something to keep the level of stomach acid down. The other is some odourless, colourless liquid that they're going to give her right before she goes in for the Caeserean. I'm pretty sure it's not iocaine powder.

11:10am - The iocaine powder, or whatever it is, is down the hatch. Caitlin has been summoned to appear in the theatre. This is really happening!

11:20am - Turns out the "iocaine powder" was sodium citrate. Something they give to everyone before they go in for a C-section. Not deadly, but it's good for mommy, since it semi-neutralizes stomach fluids.

12:00pm - Now it's my turn. I had to change into some scrubs and put on a mask. I thought the mask was the biggest pain, until I learned I could clamp the metal bit over my nose so that my glasses didn't fog up. I was sitting next to Caitlin, holding her hand, and making small talk with the anesthesiologist. Partially as something to do, and also to keep myself, and Caitlin, calm. I tried to get a view of what was going on, and I kept hoping that it wasn't going to be something truly grotesque like I've heard described by others. At one point I saw the surgeons poking about with some leads that we causing smoke to arise for my wife's abdomen. I later found out that was cauterization. At the time, I was content to sit back and trust these folks knew what they were doing. Especially after I got a glimpse of the doctor tucking his hand into the incision. I just sat behind the blue veil, even when the anesthesiologist got up and gave us a play by play of what was coming out. "One foot, two feet..." and then everyone in the OR announced...


12:20pm - IT'S A GIRL! We got a quick view of baby before she was taken over to get inspected by the ICU personnel on hand. Dr. Litchfield will probably come by some time this evening to put his stamp of approval on Erini. I was about ready to take her out to see Grammie and Grandpa, but she hadn't been weighed yet!


12:40pm - In the nursery. Erini is quite the tough baby. She didn't fuss much, even when she got her Vitamin K shot. She complained when she was pushed and prodded as she had her first bath, but she calmed down as I talked to her explaining how my mind is like a sieve, and the definition of a sieve. I just kept talking, trying to soothe her, calm her, and help her get used to my voice. The nurse said she was listening to everything I was saying. I don't doubt it.