Due to popular demand, I bring you the email I sent out when my nephew was born on March 5th, 2008:

SOOOOO…
big day today.

I picked my very pregnant sister, Michelle, up at 9am to go to her doctor appointment since today was her due date. We were both pretty chilled because at her last appointment the doctor said it would probably be a while till Peter was ready to be born, so we went into the appointment thinking it was just a checkup……and walked out with a totally different agenda.

Her doctor wanted to do an ultrasound since he was due today and was showing no real natural signs of wanting to be born and join us. He was quite content in his little cocoon. During the ultrasound, the doctor noticed that there was some dark and murky stuff in the amniotic fluid, and it looked a bit disturbing to her. She believed it was meconium (for those not fluent in baby lingo, it’s a fancy doctor word for baby poo) and was worried about the baby suffering from Meconium Aspiration Syndrome. (simple translation: inhaling your own shit just ain’t cool and could lead to pneumonia — capeesh?)

Saying anything that could possibly be negative to any first-time mom is upsetting, but saying it to my ultra-pessimistic sister is another thing. SO the doctor (with horrible bed-side manner might i add) informed my sister that the murky stuff wasnt looking so good and could lead to MAS. Naturally,  my sister immediately fast forwarded in her mind to the world imploding, “our pet’s head’s are falling off!” and Godzilla eating her baby.
It was the whole issue of adapting to change….the issue of “i mentally prepared myself for a natural delivery and now you are saying i have to have a C-Section?” (which anyone who has had a kid or knows of someone who went through this, knows that’s just a lame thing for a preggo mom to realize who was planning on not having a C-Section.) followed by the thought process of:  “dude, i thought i was just coming in for a freakin checkup and i didn’t even shut down my computer because i thought i was coming home in an hour”…so needless to say….we left the Doctor’s office with Michelle (in tears) and her on the phone with Mike telling him to GetOverHereNowOr-I-WillKillYou and me doing my best to convince her that Peter was going to be OK.

Off we went to the hospital where Michelle underwent a non-stress test for the bub to see how his heart rate was and if he was freakin out in any way. Then the pre-natalist (special doctor who went to the School for Kids Who Can Read Good) came by to do another ultrasound to make sure that the first doctor was right in recommending a C-Section. Pre-natalists are legends when it comes to reading ultrasounds, and this dude was not lovin the “murky stuff” he saw and implored my sister to have the baby TODAY. It was pretty hard for my sister to argue with the Cute Doctor (anyone know Dr Naylor? HELLO, high-fiveh, verreh niiice) who was telling her that waiting for “nature to take it’s course” could be “tragic” and that “if you were my wife, i would tell you to have a C-Section today.”
Sooo umm yeah, good luck trying to get outta that one and talking yourself into doing in naturally.

The doctors and nurses all checked their BlackBerry’s and decided that 5pm would be a nice window in their schedule to pull this kiddo out.

In good sisterly fashion, as soon as my mom & dad arrived the hospital, I instantly bailed so I could eat, because HELLO, it was supposed to be a one hour  appointment and i didnt eat breakfast, and come 3pm, yo, i was hurtin. Off I ran to her house to get some not-packed in the hospital bag-stuff for michelle, and then off to stuff my face with my 100th In N Out burger, and then raced back to the hospital. My very food-deprived, hungry and very pregnant (translation: very grumpy) sister “politely” asked all us Claytons to get out of her room when we returned so she could have some chit chat time alone with Mike, who FINALLLLLY arrived from work.

My dad and I decided to go home to change clothes and get comfy because we realized it was gonna be a loooong night.

My dad and I got back to the hospital to discover my mother and brother in law had been abducted by Smurfs, and i learned how creepy it is having a conversation with someone who has no mouth (has their mouth covered by a white surgeon’s mask thing).

(Which, for the record, i totally stole my future ‘08 Halloween costume today, courtesy of Little Company of Mary Hospital, and now plan on either being a surgeon or a Smurf for Halloween depending on my mood.) We had a quick chat with the Smurfs, and off they went to watch a kid be born….delivered… removed? or extracted? whats the right word?
My dad and I “didn’t make the team” and were unsuccessful in our application to be Operating Room Cheerleaders/Paparazzi. The hospital has some dumb rule about “only two people from Team Mom allowed”…which i suppose made sense seeing that there were 8 –eight– freaking people in there that were doctors/nurses and not related to us, so i guess it woulda been a bit tight.

while we waited, my dad laughed at me, and i occupied myself by doing typical Heidi stuff, such as wheeling around the room on the little Doctor’s wheely stool chair thing, pretending i knew how to tap dance, and snooping in every cupboard to see what crazy stuff exists in a C-Section Recovery Room… (hence the discovery of the Halloween ‘08 costume).

i digress.

anyway, about 30 minutes later my mom came out to tell me and my dad the good news and show us pictures and video, etc of the new and fabulous Peter Marshall.
then the rest of the night was filled with waiting.
waiting for:
….peter to get out of the nursery
….michelle to get out of stitch-up surgery
….the nurse to stop Doing Stuff
….and all those yucky not so pretty moments with a new mom and nurses….moments that you never see in the movies (but thankfully i have seen before watching friend’s have kids, etc.) but also require waiting.
…and waiting for my turn to hold the little bub.

holding him was soooo surreal and so fun.
to meet someone who you have never met before, but are already madly in love with, AND who you are RELATED to…..
it’s just all so cool.

then all of us who did not have a C-Section tonight went to the nasty Marie Calendar’s across the street and de-briefed about the whole thing.

it was so neat to be a part of this day and finally meet someone who i have wanted to meet for 9 months…

:)

Peter Marshall Gregg

Born March 5th 2008
5:41pm
8 lbs, 15 ounces
20.5 inches long

I’m an aunt! Thank you for being excited with me!!!