"ClaraWren Hope Gomez" by Paul Gomez

Just let it roll off your tongue. Soon it will be like a party in your mouth. ClaraWren Hope. That's right. ClaraWren. One name, two capital letters. That's how we roll.

So here's how it happened...
It was a dark and stormless night. All was well in the world, except we were past our due date... two days past our due date and patience in such matters is not my strong suit. Patience in such matters is no pregnant woman's strong suit, so Kri-C was certainly ready. We'd been walking and eating spicy foods. All was prepared. And at 11:05 PM on August 21st, apparently God talked it over with baby sister and told her He was ready too. So, Kri-C's water broke.

She wasn't immediately feeling any contractions so she opted to go back to bed. I, being the ever thoughtful and cautious one thought we should make sure the doctor didn't want us to get to the hospital, as we needed antibiotics for at least 4 hours before the baby was born, otherwise we risked a guaranteed 48 hour stay in the hospital. Ten minutes later we were making phone calls and loading up to go to the hospital. One call to Kri-C's parents to come and watch Lillian (thank you, Rick), one to my parents to get them on the road to Albuquerque to relieve Rick, and a slew of text messages to all of the siblings to let them know we were on our way to the hospital. (I am happy to report that most had their phones with them and actually answered this time).

We arrived at the hospital at about 12:00 AM and 3 centimeters. The staff knew that we would be admitted, but we still waited in Triage for about 3 hours. Kri-C was at this time feeling some contractions, but they were not, as yet, very painful. I reminded the nurses that we needed antibiotics multiple times and they, in their infinite wisdom, continued to let me know that they would begin them soon, or begin them when we moved to the delivery room. I, in my lack of wisdom, found this odd as we had been in Triage for quite some time and was under the impression that you can never tell how long labor is going to take. Shouldn't we start it right away just in case Kri-C had a relatively short labor? Alas, this apparently did not occur to the ever wise and all knowing who were holding us in Triage. "Too many patients" they said. "Have to admit them all. Not enough nurses. We have to call someone in from home. Then we can move you and your wife over." "But the antibiotics," I said. "She needs them, 4 hours. Long time. We have already been here countless hours. Time... gone. Sleep... gone. Shouldn't we.... shouldn't we....."
So, we waited.

Eventually we were admitted to our room, and by then Kri-C was in strong labor mode!
Contractions about a minute apart! Pain flying everywhere! Pressure points, pressure points! Here comes another one! That one's gone. No! Wait! Another one! Pinch, Paul, pinch! Pressure points! Pain meds, pain meds! No, we can do this all naturale.
I was already exhausted and my fingers and hands were aching and tired from applying pressure to Kri-C's pressure points. The contractions were coming fast and hard. At 4:00 AM, I called in reinforcements.

Katy made it down by 4:20 and she began helping me to comfort Kri-C through this "hope it isn't 25 hour labor again because I'm exhausted and I just don't think I can massage for that long this late at night through that kind of pain and keep her from getting an epidural and becoming discouraged" mission to birth life into the world. So she began helping to pinch and squeeze and massage.

By about 5:00 AM, Kri-C was spent. The nurse, who was amazing by the way, decided to check Kri-C's progress to try and encourage her. 6 centimeters didn't seem to make her feel much better. I know I was certainly hoping for something like 15 out of the possible 10 centimeters so the baby would just fall out and we could get some sleep. But alas, it was 6. Kri-C wanted to try the birthing ball and so we moved her through contractions, intensity rising with every movement. We stayed on the ball for about 5 minutes when Kri-C said she was feeling constant pressure. The nurse wanted her back in bed immediately to check her again. I felt the urgency and tried to spur her on as quickly as her pained body and wearied mind would take her. Babies gonna fall out right here if we don't get back in bed, I thought. Tangled cords and pressured contractions later, she was back in bed. 9 centimeters by about 5:30 or so.

Suddenly the nurse is pulling out trays and laying down pads and calling another nurse in and calling the doctor in. Don't push, don't push. Through three contractions we talked Kri-C down as her entire body instinctively wanted to bear down. The doctor finally arrived (the same doctor who delivered Lillian) and she could finally push. Someone knocking a song at the door!? What the heck. At a time like this. Who's there? Banana. No, bananas can't knock on doors. Find out later who that was. Thinking all labors must take hours of pushing as Lillian did, I naively asked the nurse for a mirror to encourage Kri-C through the pushing. "I'd be happy to get one, but by the time I get back, this baby will be here." What, almost done? That can't be right. Check again. Baby coming? Okay, I'll have to trust you on that one.

Push and pinch and curl. Push and pinch and curl. Three or four contractions later, a smashed faced little alien baby who certainly looked albino at the time was born. Cut the cord, dad, and the doctor throws the baby onto Kri-C's stomach. Delivery at 5:44 AM. Whew! What a finale. 6 hours and 40 minutes from breaking waters to crying 7 lb 11 oz 20 inch babies. Two minutes later Brenda, mother-in-law, walks in. "Was that you knocking?" "No, must have been Rick." Ah, of course. That makes sense. Who else would knock show tunes during delivery?

Well, we finally got some sleep. Not much, but some. In fact, we were invited as required guests of the hospital for, you guessed it, 48 hours because we did not get the requisite 4 hours of antibiotics to ensure the baby didn't get the strep virus. I'm not gonna say that's because the infinitely wise didn't start the IV right away... I'm not gonna say it.. ah, the heck I'm not. It most definitely is because they didn't want to start it. I mean, have they never heard of less than four hour deliveries, because I sure have. But, look on the bright side: our daughter's cultures came back negative, so by God's Grace, she is perfect. We had the same great nurse as we did with Lillian and she was again amazing. And we had cable for two days and I caught up on my Orange County Choppers Discovery channel shows.

We're home now with a healthy baby girl, much praise to our Lord Jesus Christ, and after much deliberation, a name for our new daughter. ClaraWren Hope Gomez. But you can call her Wren.

Written By Paul Gomez

Look Who's New in Town...

Sweet Baby Hapa arrived safely and quickly (Thank the Lord!). As of yet, sleep deprivation, physical exhaustion and your basic post-labor experience has prevented me from putting our labor story to paper. Paul, however, has preserved his excellent sense of humor and has created written documentation (from his perspective) of the ordeal so I've invited him to be a guest blogger, a treat I hope he will repeat from time to time. But since my computer isn't working very well right now, you will have to wait until the next post for his accounting of said events. To satiate your curiosity, here are a few pictures of my girls. (You will also have to wait for the money shots of Sweet Baby since my sister took those with her camera) Patience, everyone. Patience.

Lillian has taken quite a fancy to Sweet Hapa and constantly asks to hold her. The first shot is Lillian trying to share Bop with her, and the second is our first night with just the Cuatro Gomi. So far it's been more smiles than tears, and only the latter when we tell Lillian it's time to put Hapa down for a nap.

Due

The Word DuJour'. That sounds good, I think I'll have that.

More Thoughts Than Energy

Yes, I'm still around. Yes, I'm still carrying what I suspect will be (at least) an 8 lb. baby girl. Yes, I'm filling my days with walking, vitamins, simple family meals, and waiting. Patience may be a virtue but healthy, on-time labors must make the list somewhere. Here's the latest baby update: Miss Hapa Gomez looks nice and chubby, with strong legs and a penchant' for punching my bladder at inopportune times. She is at 0 station and I am 1 1/2 cm and almost fully effaced. I haven't had any touches of 'maybe this is labor' episodes, and I don't know if that contributes to more or less frustration. What I DO know is getting up several times a night to use the bathroom is far too commonplace for me, and starting to irritate Paul's sleep pattern. His concern for my well being, and the chance my water might have broken, rouses him from his sleep and I am hit with a sleepy slurry of 'is everything alright?' line of questioning. I haven't had the heart to remind him (at 2 in the morning) that I've been waking up this many times for months. Sweet, wonderful man who spends his days working, evenings playing 'pillow' with his oldest baby girl (a video soon to come), and nights massaging aching pregnancy parts. Bless him. So, while I put family updates aside in favor of deeply desired naps, I tentatively plan on there being a better blogging presence in weeks to come.

Without Ceasing

Yesterday, per our usual, we went to our local pool. Lillian will graciously accept the baby pool but her real interest is the big pool, complete with short steps and a graduated entry, where she sinks down as low as she can go and duck walks until it's deep enough for her to stand up. (This girl has strong legs!) She also likes to practice her bible stories. I was sitting on a step and she knelt down next to me, folded her hands and said 'No, no, no, I muhst pway to Gode! So Daniel went intah hees house, got on hees knees, and pwayed to Gode, just like heee ahways did.' She completed the story by closing her eyes tightly, bowing her head, and 'praying' for a minute. Later, she marched through the water, proclaiming loudly for all to hear, that she was walking 'in' the water like Jesus, and Peter of course. So precious. My constant prayer is that these stories will resonate in her heart and she will see them as the Truth.

I Am Nesting

Hear me vacuum... and dust, and re-organize, and a multitude of other small tasks that consume my thoughts, if not my actions.