The Story of You, Part 4

I don’t remember much about the next few moments. Labor’s funny that way, and maybe someday you’ll know yourself, that your focus just narrows down smaller and smaller, until you’re only aware of a small part of your field of vision and your breath and the intense feelings in your body. For awhile, I was just aware of Liza at the foot of the bed, ready to help you come out, with Daddy on her left and Sue on her right, but then when you came, everything else just became a big hazy blur around the two of us. There could have been a marching band, a clown troupe, and a herd of llamas in the room, and I still wouldn’t have seen anything but you.

Liza held you up, and I remember Daddy just looking at you, completely awestruck, and then telling me, “Nora Rosalie is here.” After that, all I could say was, “You’re here. You’re really here.” They got you on my chest right away, where you promptly peed like you’d been holding it for nine months, and after that, the rest of the room just disappeared. They started cleaning me up, and I held you while the umbilical cord stopped pulsing. After they cut the cord, they whisked you away for a few minutes to warm you, wipe you off a bit, and give you a few doses of the routine medicines they give newborn babies. Daddy took your photo and texted it to everyone in the waiting room, but he was so excited that he didn’t realize that you were wearing a pink AND blue striped hat. Everyone was impatient with waiting to find out who you were, and he slipped out to the waiting room to tell them who you were. (We hadn’t known if you were a boy or a girl and we hadn’t told anyone the names we were thinking of. If you’d have been a boy, you’d most likely have been Davis Finn!)

Uncle Kelly and Mary were there, along with Pop-Pop and Aunt Robyn and Aunt Dana and your cousin John Paller who was visiting. Grandma and Grandpa got there just about 15 minutes after you arrived. Uncle Kelly came back first to see you all by himself, and then Pop-Pop, then Aunt Robyn, Aunt Dana and John. After that, Grandpa and Grandma came back for a few minutes. Everyone took turns holding you and admiring how very, very beautiful you were.