IMR: Entries: 2002: May: 31 — Friday, May 31, 2002

Possibly Maybe Contractions again. Seven minutes and holding. For almost two hours.   Katie calls papa from the hospital Wednesday. Unfortunately, it was a second false alarm. Nana, Jen's mom, arrives in Honolulu. The ritualistic wait for luggage. Taking in the view at Nana's hotel. Nana gets an oceanfront room at the Hale Koa. Cuddling after a game of hide-and-seek. Still, we're not holding our breath. I finally setup the bassinet, and double-checked that Jen's hospital bag is packed, but we're otherwise just hanging out watching VH-1 Classic (okay, Jen is watching VH-1 Classic), pausing only to jot times on a small steno pad now and then. Even if this is it — and frankly, I've given up even pretending to think it might possibly be it — we've got at least a few hours to go before actually taking off for the hospital. For the third time. Yes, third. We had a second false alarm. This one Wednesday morning. Jen said she thought her water had broken. In most cases, thinking one's water had broken would be poor justification for a trip to the emergency room. If your water breaks — and contrary to Hollywood's depiction, it breaks early only in perhaps one in ten pregnancies — you usually know. In our case, though, even though we were not sure, we didn't regret the decision to go. Simply because, when Katie was born, Jen had a "high tear" — her bag of waters broke very near the top, and as a result very little actually escaped. When we first got to the hospital, the staff was dubious, and performed several tests (between several laps around the maternity ward) to be sure. In fact, they were on the verge of sending us home before one last test finally detected amniotic fluid. Since by then the baby's protective shield had actually been broken for almost an entire day, they had to push things into overdrive to get Katie out. Katie, of course, had a rough first few hours, and had to be readmitted to the hospital for a time. Jen suspects it's because she got an infection having been exposed so long before birth. Better safe than sorry now, we said. No matter how silly we end up looking if we're wrong. Well, we were wrong. But at least this time, the hospital staff didn't seem as immediately skeptical as they did when Katie was born. They even honestly thought, for a couple of hours there, that they did detect some amniotic fluid, and asked us to stay when we were eager to go home (having by then realized our mistake and feeling like fools). All in all, before going home with a second copy of their "how you really know you're in labor" tip sheet, we spent four hours in Triage Room 3 at the Birthing Center, drinking orange juice and listening to our son's heartbeat. To be honest, the chance to hear that sound again was worth all the embarrassment. Jen's mom Lorraine arrived from Florida yesterday. It was not an easy trip. I booked her ticket with frequent flier miles that my job helped me earn, so the price was right. But this week was — for whatever reason — a busy week for Northwest Airlines, and there were no convenient flight plans from Orlando to Honolulu anywhere near June 3, which is when we figured would be the best time for her to join the Baby Team. So I ended up booking her a three-leg May 30 trip ... originating in Atlanta. This meant that she had to cover the fourth, first leg to get there from Daytona Beach. That meant spending over a day in transit on four different airplanes. And the last flight, the one from Los Angeles to Honolulu, almost didn't make it. Worrisomely unspecified mechanical problems required the plane to be empty between rows 30 and 45 or so, causing a bit of a ruckus as hundreds of passengers negotiated who would stay on board and who would stay back for assorted airline rewards. By the time it was all sorted out, the air crew had exactly fifteen minutes to get into the air before federal regulations would mean they'd have to stop working — and a backup crew was nowhere to be found. Fortunately, they hauled ass, got airborne, and Nana and Katie were reunited at Honolulu International Airport only three hours later than expected. Katie gave Nana a construction paper lei she'd made earlier in the week, which Nana wore with pride. We all went to Zippy's for a quick dinner, then Nana checked in at the Hale Koa Hotel at Fort Derussy. We then just hung out in her room, and relaxed on the balcony while listening to the Thursday night luau and watching lovebirds frolic in the pool below. After the sun went down, Katie and Nana played a couple of games of hide and seek (there are few places to hide in a small hotel room, but they managed), Jen wrestled with a couple of crossword puzzle books Nana had brought for her, and I tried to draw a "simple" map of the area between our apartment in Makiki and the Aquarium in Waikiki, and failed repeatedly. We came home well after Katie's bedtime. And Jen and Katie went straight back to the Hale Koa this morning, where they spent the day together. I know Jen enjoyed herself, even though she was still stubbornly pregnant, because now she's a pregnant woman with a sunburn. Waiting for a baby to be born isn't so bad when you can still spend time with family. I suspect Nana and Katie and Jen will be joined at the hip any time we're not at the hospital. They're going to the zoo tomorrow, baby willing. Katie was supposed to spend tonight with Nana at the hotel, in fact, but after two hours she missed her mom too much. Still, it was worth a try. Katie will have to stay with someone, either Jen's mother or mine, when The Time finally comes. The time doesn't appear to be now, though. Just as we were heading into our third hour of consistent, seven and six minute contractions, they've started slowing down again. Fourteen minutes? Man. We're going to bed.

Comments I had laugh when I read what you are going through. Ali still whacks me when we think about the time my daughter was born. I called the Doc the night the water bag broke and she told us to go to the hospital already. We should've stayed home and slept first. A co-worker of mine and his girlfriend is also expecting any day now. They had so much false alarms that whenever we tell him to call his girlfriend, he hangs his head, looks at his watch, and walks to the phone grumbling about making her drive herself up to the hospital. (It didn't help that early on we made even non-urgent messages for him seem really urgent) —Tom (June 1, 2002 8:28 AM) Won't be long, now! It's great that that your family has some time to spend with Nana before becoming a family of four. To be fair, our youngest is Tom's first child but my fourth. I've got a bit more experience and we live less than a mile from the hospital. (Early on, I was hoping to have a home birth and that probably made him really nervous.) —ali (June 1, 2002 9:04 AM) Gosh...this is starting to look like that Shel Silverstein poem about the chick that would not hatch. Hang in there, Ryan, he's coming out soon. (BTW, I know I'm not winning the pool.) —Keith (June 1, 2002 9:45 AM) I hope to see baby photos! Lots and lots of them! —Samantha Ling (June 1, 2002 9:49 AM) If you 2 want to be extras on Sunday just show up by 10am! Jen...please bring a towel to sit on. My Tutu intuition still thinks Sunday's the day! —Tutu Sue (June 1, 2002 11:00 PM) Yikes, I couldn't stand the suspense. I would've lost the baby pool because I had 3 a.m. this morning in mind. :) I think too many people got in on that one, because the Comments box just didn't come up on the screen (or maybe it's this antique Netscape they have at UH) (4.7). —Panther (June 2, 2002 12:02 PM) Hope all turned out well! My wife was in labor for nearly 16 hours when our son was born. Talk about prolonging the inevitable. We are eagerly awaiting the news... —Cliff (June 3, 2002 6:55 AM) E kala mai! Comments have been disabled due to overwhelming abuse by spammers. Please click through to any of the video hosting services linked above to leave a public response, or feel free to send an e-mail. Mahalo! < May 28 · May · June 03 > © 1997-2008 Ryan Kawailani Ozawa · E-Mail: imr@lightfantastic.org · Created: 13 November 1997 · Last Modified: 14 January 2008