Hungry Like the (Quiroz) Wolfs: Happy Valentine's Day Surprise

What a way to celebrate Valentine's with the arrival of baby #2 - aka Scarlet!

Scarlet's arrival was ... shocking. Yes - awesome and wonderful but shocking nevertheless. I mean - she was 4.5 weeks early! And 5 days before, I had been in California with my brother in his BMW zig zagging maniacally on the treacherous narrow cliffs of Malibu. I had also wondered if my water had broken and crossed my fingers that labor wouldn't strike while on the 5.5 hour flight back to NYC. I am learning my lesson that sometimes there is a point to these doctor rules that say you shouldn't travel after 32 weeks (though my state of reference was when I was 32 weeks with Bryson, Alex and I were in Haiti terrified of the men wearing face masks with guns trying to get money from passing drivers). So yeah - 32 weeks in California seemed like a cake walk compared to that.

Speed forward 5 days post-Malibu, and I realize that I need to pack for a Kellogg reunion trip with friends who are staying with us at our New Paltz house. And just as I wrap up my last meeting at 3:30 and begin to think about the stuff I need to pack, I get an onset of cramps. Here's a general outline of how everything moved after that - fast and furious.

3:45 - Last meeting of the day. Cramps start. Being the "mind over matter - whatever I believe is what will really happen" type of person I am, I dismiss the cramps and continue working.

4:00 - Cramps are still coming and now they are harder to ignore. I still continue to press on and continue working.

4:10 - I hunt down my notes from Doctor Fong. We're looking for cramps every 5 minutes lasting 1 minute each for 1 hour. I start to clock my timing. I am at 7 minutes.

4:15 - I email Alex about the cramps and that he should come home. The email subject line says, "I am cramping alot :(" No reply.

4:20 - The cramps are definitely not possible to ignore. I am curled up in the fetal position in bed bracing myself for the next one. And also doing work email on my phone :)

4:25 - I call the doctor's office and am on hold for 5 minutes before a nurse listens to my case and recommends that I go to the hospital.

4:30 - I call my good friend Sharad who has a daughter at the same daycare that Bryson attends. I ask him to execute The Plan - basically picking Bryson up and heading over to our house to take care of him. Luckily, I had the good sense to actually drop off a key at the daycare so he can get in if I'm not at home. I also ask him to call the rest of our Kellogg reunion gang to cancel the weekend.

4:40 - I call Alex at work. His secretary tells me that Alex is in a meeting and asks if it's an emergency. I say yes. Alex comes on the line and I tell him, "Get home asap."

5:10 - The commute for Alex is usually 20 minutes and it's been half an hour. Still no Alex. Luckily, I had just packed a hospital bag a couple days ago, so grab it and head downstairs. My plan is to wait for him outside by the curb so that once he arrives, we can head to the hospital.

5:20 - Still no Alex. And I am freezing outside. It is 23 degrees outside, but luckily (?) the pain of my cramps is distracting me from the cold. The cramps are now 5 minutes apart.

5:22 - It's been almost 45 minutes since I've called Alex. I don't think I can wait any longer. I try to flag down a taxi but this time of the day is one of the toughest times to get one. I get on my uber app for a pick up. Thank goodness for uber!

5:35 - The uber finally arrives. I realize it's an uberpool (had no idea until that moment what the heck that is). The girl who is sharing the uber with me asks me where I am headed. "To the hospital - I'm about to deliver!" She tells our driver to drop me off first, but he says, "Sorry - my app says I need to drop you off first." What?!

5:37 - Alex calls me. "Where the heck are you?" I hiss into the phone. He tells me that he's in a car a few blocks away. I get out of the uber.

5:40 - Alex arrives to pick me up. He is not in a taxi. He's in the 4-Runner, apparently thinking we are going to New Paltz to keep our original plans of rock and ice climbing. I don't react in a Rainbow Bright happy way in this moment. To make matters worse, Friday evening traffic is one of the most terrible times during the week. I tell Alex to hell with it, "Get in the bus lane!"

5:55 - We arrive at the hospital. I am facing severe cramps and hobble up to the labor and delivery ward.

5:57 - I tell the labor and delivery front desk, "My contractions are 5 minutes apart." They look me up and down, slowly shift over to their filing cabinet, and hand me paperwork. I can barely fill out the insurance information - my contractions are hurting. They tell me to sit down in the waiting room and go back to texting on their iphones.

6:10 - Still still in the waiting room. I am now clocking 4 minutes apart of contractions. I tell Alex to please tell them I need to go in now.

6:20 - Still still in the waiting room. I am now clocking 3 minutes apart of contractions. I tell Alex to please tell them I really need to go in now.

6:25 - Finally in. They give me a gown. I struggle to take off what I'm wearing and put the gown on. I search for the nurse and she points to a room to check me out. I tell her, "I want an epidural."

6:35 - She checks me and tells me I'm 2.5 cm dilated. I tell her again, "I want an epidural."

6:40- I am fighting massive shakes from the pitocin (had no idea that they put me on that!). The nurse is asking me about whether I smoke. I can't think - between the cramps and the shakes and ask Alex to pile coats on me - I am freezing. I tell the nurse, "Please. I want an epidural."

6:45 - A lady finally comes in and says, "Hi! I'll be helping you with your epidural." Finally! I can't wait for that humongous needle in my spine.

6:50 - Suddenly, I can't help it but I wet myself. "Sorry - but I just peed myself," I mumble to the nurse. She lifts up my sheet and says, "Oh no. That's no pee." (Alex later tells me that I'm covered in blood - sorry this is gorey!) She checks me and yells out, "She's 10+3 - she's going to have this baby NOW!" (I learn later that the plus 3 means that the baby's head is already poking out). I look over at the epidural lady my hopes all up. She smiles at me, "Sorry honey, but it doesn' t look like I'm going to be able to give you an epidural. You're going to do this all by yourself without an epidural."

I panic. My plan was to get an epidural. This is not going according to plan.

But then I'm distracted because I really need to push. Like right now.

"Don't push," the nurses yell at me.

I yell back. " I need a doctor NOW!"

And then all of a sudden, what was just 2 people in my room becomes 12.

And there is not just one doctor but 3. They put me in position and tell me to start.

(Alex tells me at this point that he already sees the baby's head poking out).

PUSH!

One, two, and three pushes later - the baby is out.

7:10pm - "It's a girl!"

Relief. Shock. More relief. More shock. Happiness. Shock. Relief.

So now Scarlet is in the NICU (where my mom used to work!) resting and recovering. She is healthy though tiny - so it looks like she'll need to be there for at least a week or maybe more. The NICU nurses are super nice and say all the right things. Tracey from the night shift told me, "I'm obsessed with Scarlet. She is a premie but acting like a big girl. Normally babies this young need respiratory help, but she isn't on any respiration support or IV or anything. She's just small so we're keeping her here so she can get a little bigger. She's a toughie!"

Shock. Happiness. Relief.

Also relief that she doesn't seem to have been impacted by the Zika virus from our trip to Cartagena, Colombia this past Christmas.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/13/zika-virus-more-than-5000-pregnant-women-infected-in-colombia

What a Valentine's Day surprise!! Apparently, Scarlet and I have already developed a reputation for our fast and furious entry in the labor and delivery ward and her exit. 45 minutes!

Fun facts about the name Scarlet:

- Scarlet Begonias (Grateful Dead) is one of Alex and my favorite shared songs

- Scarlet (and grey) are the colors of the Ohio State Buckeyes (Alex is from Cleveland)

- Scarlett is the tough, smart chick in GI Joe (flashback to our 80s childhood)

Photos below...

This is my "Give me an epidural" face.