Tuesday, May 05, 2009

The Surprise of a Lifetime

So, as you may or may not know, we are in Hawaii. That's Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time, which is ten hours earlier than Coordinated Universal Time, and five hours earlier than suburban Houston, Texas time. This means that at 10am in Houston, Texas, it's 5am here. I would imagine that's something that's easy to forget though, when your wife is in labor and you are on your way to the hospital to have Finn (isn't that such a cute name?!), your second baby boy two weeks early! Two weeks early! So, I totally forgive my brother for waking me up early last week when his wife had gone into labor in the middle of teaching her class at school, and they were on their way. I was just excited to be in the loop! He gave me the update, and then promised to call with later developments, and I went back to sleep.

Later we went about our daily business, eating, reading, swimming, relaxing,... you know, the usual. Eventually, my brother got back to me, a newly minted father of two, to give me the details. Apparently there had been an interesting development. As the doctor was delivering the baby, "Here comes your baby boy!" my brother looked down and was a little confused. Then the doctor took a closer look (or more likely a first look), and...





"No... this is a girl."
This is Hazel!
Can you believe that?! I can't even imagine.
It's a girl!
And what a cute little chunk she is! It's times like this that I wish I were closer to Central Standard Time, so I could squeeze those adorable cheeks.


To read my sister-in-laws account of the story (and also another reason why I never want to get an epidural), click here.

5 comments:

Heatherlyn said...

She is precious!

I've had 4 epidurals. They never hurt a bit and I could still feel my contractions, just no pain. I know they don't work out for everyone but I am soooo grateful. I think I would have passed out or just plain died without one! Child birth HURTS!!!!)

adventure knitter said...

Having the baby come out a different sex than what you were planning on is my worst nightmare when I'm due! I need to have things planned out and that would throw me through a loop! But she's a totally cute little one!

Mike said...

I thought for sure you would already be up jogging on the beach listening to the scriptures on your Ipod... I mean thats what I do at 5 a.m.
:)

Aaron and Melissa said...

I had to show Aaron the epidural story. He laughed as people tend to be very opinionated about them. He said the incidence of a headache is about 1%, but the incidence of labor pain without an epidural is a guraranteed 100%. :) So if you like the odds of 100% pain vs. a possible headache at 1%, i guess you should Go natural. :) I am a big fan of pain relief!!

Cal said...

I'm so brave, I'm going to get an epidural! Natural childbirth is for you sissies that can't handle the chance of getting a very rare, excruciating headache.