Ring ring!! Gah!! I startled out of bed after a few restles hours of sleep. Where did my phone come from? It's dark, why am I awake. Why didn't the rocket work?
Oh, there's no rocket (what a dream). I'm home. Annabelle is still asleep. It's still dark out. Where's Cheryl? Why did I wake up?
Oh! Cheryl is calling me. How did I get this phone in my hand?
After a minute of dashing through the fog between sleep and wakefulness, I was out in the living room... and Cheryl was having conTRACTIONS. Owie owie ooooooh graaaaaah!! Apparently, these were intense... and painful. I called the midwife. Halfway through the call, Cheryl said "I'm pushing!"
"She's pushing?" replied the midwife. Yup. In a mere 4 hours (only 40 minutes of which she thought was serious), Cheryl had gone from relaxing in bed, to a baby who was coming out. NOW...
Annabelle woke up. "Mommy is being too LOUD," she said with a slightly concerned tone. She rolled back over in bed and clamped her arms over her ears. "Daddy, would you please shut the door." And she was back asleep... just like that.
"Oooough" Low, groaning birth sounds were the order of the day. Belle woke up again and asked to join us. I picked her up and brought her to our perch. She looked concerned with Mommy's anxiety, but I smiled at her and told her the baby was coming. Wow! You should have seen the explosive smile that lit her face. "I'm going to be a sister!" She sat and waited patiently on a chair a few feet from us.
Cheryl went to feel for the head to get an idea of how far off we were. "I think I can... is that the head... ? Ow! *another contraction* HONEY CATCH THE BABY!!" *splort* out came the head, I dove. With a quick twist Isaac plunged from the birth canal towards the floor. Due to the odd angle and cramped quarters, I made a blind grab, and caught him on the way down.
Annabelle hopped off the chair to get a better look. With a proud smile, she observed "her baby", then hopped back up to her seat.
"Aaaah..." Cheryl's relief from labor was instant and complete. I quickly unraveled the cord from around his neck, wiped him clean, then verified his heart-rate and breathing. Healthy, happy, and apparently hungry, Isaac joined us in bed where we relaxed til the midwife arrived. :)
