Welcome to the world, Kinsey Elizabeth!!!

From Sanjay:


Our little princess, Kinsey Elizabeth, arrived at 7:07pm on April 21 (Earth Day!). She tipped the scales at a colossal 5lbs and 4 ounces and measured in at 18.5 inches. Long fingers, big toes and feet, fair-skinned and . . . blonde hair! She roared almost immediately when born to announce her presence to the 11 other people in the room. Wait a minute; did I say 11 other people? Yes – and that’s not a typo. Keep reading see how this happened!

The eventful day, 39 weeks and 2 days into our pregnancy and several weeks into Braxton-Hicks contractions, started with Nicole having pre-labor/labor contractions at approximately 1 a.m. Since Paxton took 23.5 hours of labor before he graced us with his arrival . . . we both anticipated a casual saunter into the hospital (now 30 minutes closer to us since we moved) sometime the next evening.

I went about business downtown and Nicole went about business around the house, since she was already on leave from her job since a few weeks back. It’s funny, I still recall the look of shock in the eyes of a few colleagues at about 12pm ET when I told them I’d probably leave soon as Nicole has been in labor for several hours! At the time, I thought . . . “What?? What??” lol.

Soooo – I came home after talking to Nicole (now in discomfort, but contractions more than 10 minutes apart) and got our bags finalized and ready. Then, I downloaded the “Contraction Master” app for the iPad we were taking into the delivery room for music/entertainement. Unfortunately for the contraction tracking plan --- our 2.75 year old Paxton loved the iPad and routinely dominates the use of it. So – as he saw the cool Contraction Master ‘Start/Stop’ buttons --- he went to town. Reviewing Nicole’s ‘contractions’ on the app showed about 25 contractions a minute!!!!

At about 3pm, we decided, with no urgency to call Nicole’s sister Kelly over to pick up Pax, as we MAY go to the hospital that night. When she arrived, for some reason, she stressed urgency for us to get ready and go to the hospital (what??? What??) She left at about 5:30pm with Paxton (well prepared for the trip with his own cute suitcase and infamous ‘Green’ blanket.)

Looking forward to an evening of watching movies and laboring at home . . . I walked around the house recording our items that have been packed, then went into the bathroom to record Nicole (“This is NOT a good time, Sanjay” was the greeting). This was at 5:42pm.

We decided to leave for the hospital a few minutes later, as the contractions got close to 5 minutes apart. Still calm (at least I was). The hospital was 15 minutes away – no probs! Except . . . it’s rush hour still! Anyway, Nicole’s contractions got STRONGER every few minutes. Sanjay: “Honey – let me know when you’d like me to start running red lights.” Nicole: “OK, NOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!”

Outtake stream of consciousness . . . Visions of car delivery flashed through my head. Do I have a birthing kit in the trunk of my trusty Jag? I know I have a flashlight and umbrella . . . oh yea, and my tech kit with all sorts of network cables and routers!! Surely, I could improvise. In Africa, the women in some villages use a sharp reed to sever the umbilical cord --- so I kept my eye out for tall grass areas on the way.

We made it to the hospital at 6:15pm, Nicole was wheeled up to the ward and in place at 6:30pm. My beautiful wife . . . and her coy veins. Two nurses, a couple of threats to escalate to the attending physician, and 6 or 7 needle pricks later and Nicole finally had the IV in her (I requested an above the wrist placement so that she could keep free movement of her hand – which they fortunately were able to do).

Nicole was in so much pain that she requested/demanded the epidural, but no drugs/painkillers/petocin . . . so we requested that right away. At 6:30. One *(&(*&!! Anesthesiologist in the whole hospital? Really?) He was also in OR, so we had to wait. And wait. Contraction after contraction came and with increased intensity. This produced some great Nicole quotes . . . “Where is the anesthesiologist? Tell him I’ll give him a million dollars if he comes up here NOW.” And later, “Tell the anesthesiologist that I’ll give him everything in my purse, which is a dollar. I don’t care, I’ll live in a shack. For a year!” The room was in stitches (pun intended).

Then, the fun began. Nicole was 2cm at arrival. By 7pm, 30 minutes later, she was 10cm. When the anesthesiologist finally did arrive at this time ---- hastily putting his gloves on and poking his head in the room . . . it was too late for him to take action --- baby Kinsey was ready for primetime. He heard all the screaming and looked nervous (glad he didn’t try the epidural!). Our most frequently seen doctor during the prenatal visits happened to be in the hospital and heard Nicole was delivering, so she joined in the fun/coaching (after getting someone to cover up her new shoes with scrubs!)This all happened so fast that everyone was trapped in the room ---- Nicole, Sanjay, our doula Brandi, 2 doctors, 4 nurses, Nicole’s mom, and the anesthesiologist waiting in the wings.

After witnessing almost 25 hours of labor by Nicole in delivery rooms with both children . . . my knees got weak for the first time. I could not imagine the pain she was going through and the strength and courage it took to keep going. I was scared for her --- pushed quickly to the point of return and required to continue with only her own devices. All I could do was attempt to soothe her with my voice, coaching, and breathing. “You can do it honey. We’re almost there. You are so strong and so in charge now.” I think it helped a little.

The on-call doctor was coaching her as well. Our doctor came in and helped with her ‘push’ timing. Nurses all around. Nicole’s mom videotaping segments at request, but not having the heart to keep it running the whole time. No NASCAR laps this time --- this is the space shuttle version of labor!

You can do it honey.

Six or seven strong, incredibly painful pushes, and our blond-haired, fair-skinned beauty finally crowned. She was out shortly after and we noticed a knot in the cord. Not a tight one, but enough to explain her being on the small side. Strong, beautiful, and as vocal as her momma --- Kinsey cried out loud very soon and was on mommy’s chest doing skin to skin for an extended period of time (and after her cleaning which amazingly got her temperature back up).

This time, all of the peaks and valley of pain for Nicole happened on a compressed timeline. More intense, but shorter. At the end, she was glad and proud to have gone au natural. I am proud of Nicole, too!

Did I mention the blonde hair, very light skin, and light eyes?

Kinsey scored an 8-9 on her APGAR test, and also immediately had become a fan-favorite with those in the room (all 11!)

Baby Kinsey, Pax and Sanjay are the luckiest folks in the world, having such a strong, sacrificial and dedicated mother and wife for us!!! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX