The Day You Were Born

The night before you were born, your dad and I went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Takoma Park with your Uncle Geoffrey, Tia Claudia, her mom Nina Haydee, and your father's favorite uncle Charlie and his wife Charlotte who were visiting from Indiana. The food wasn't the greatest for me but I stole sips from your dad's marguerita.

The food may have done the trick because at 1 am that morning I went into labor. Your dad went to bed without me because for some reason I was not ready to go to sleep. I suppose I knew you were soon to arrive. I fell asleep in the living room during the David Letterman show. When I woke up to go to the bathroom, my waters gushed out. They had broken while I slept on our brown leather couch.

Eighteen and a half hours later you were born via Cesarean section. Because your grandmother, my mother Mary Vaughan, had short labors for all her children, we didn't anticipate a long labor. Mom says that when I was born I came so quickly that they were speeding on the way to the hospital and were pulled over by the police. But I'm not her and you are not me.

My pelvis was too narrow, and after 17 hours of labor it had not even widened a bit. The contractions had been strongest at my pelvis, begging the bones to budge. I ended up taking an epidural. I pushed in hard labor for an hour and a half. Nothing. You were wedged in there pretty tight. So much so that when the doctor's went to remove you from me you were stuck. They had to go up through my birth canal to push you out. Your poor little head was cone-shaped and bruised. But you were alive and well at 7 lbs. 12 oz and 21 inches long.

While the doctors closed me up your dad and I watched the surgical nurses stimulate your circulation and clear your nose and throat, as they do with all newborns. Vigorously they stroked you and attended to you. I longed to touch you and hold you in those moments but had to wait.

A week before you were conceived your dad and I each had dreams that a baby wanted to be born. You were that baby and at around 7:30 pm on September 27, 2008 you arrived into our world. We were ready to love you.