About eleven years ago, my water broke outside the grocery store. Let's do this thing, I thought. I packed the groceries and my son Henry into the car and headed for home. I made a few phone calls and Ron came home from work soon after I was ready to leave for the hospital. I'd been feeling contractions since we got home and remembered reading that a second labor usually progresses more rapidly than the first. After Grandma, Aunt Holly, and Uncle Sean came over to take care of Henry, Ron and I headed for the hospital.
The contractions were getting closer and closer together and more and more painful on the way there. I remember the nurses at the check-in desk didn't really believe I was in labor because I wasn't wailing in pain. I was silently petrified and really hoping we had enough time for an epidural. I think the pain was easier to take because I was standing up and could sway myself through the contractions, standing with my legs wider than usual.
A nurse took both Ron and I to a room and made me lie down and hooked me up to all the usual gadgets. Lying down was too much to bear so I stood up, swayed, and tried to remain calm. Luckily, the nurse said their was enough time for one of the best inventions in the world.
The epidural slowed the progress of the labor and also made it more comfortable for me to lie down in bed. Family members came in to visit. I was happy.
It took a good six more hours of lying around, feeling some pain, wondering if the epidural was wearing off, and fearing that it would at the wrong time. Contractions were consistent, progress was being made. The nurses thought it might be time to get the doctor.
Not more than a few pushes later and a baby emerged. Hid by the sheet draped over my legs, the doctor held it in his hands. Clearly he didn't know what it was like to wait nine months to find out if I was having a boy or a girl. What seemed like years later, he lifted the baby up and pronounced it to be a healthy baby girl!
Day one was sheer bliss. She slept and ate and slept and enjoyed her bath. On day two, after we were all settled in at home, Emmy showed us her true colors. She was born, she made it out and wanted everyone to know! - in the grocery store, in the neighborhood, at Henry's school - they all heard her! This was a girl with a lot of energy!
Eleven years later we all went to the beach. I noticed Emmy glowing in the sun as she played in the waves and took a picture of her essence. Emmy having a day her way.
