incredibly late breaking baby news

On May 24th 2011 Savannah Lynn Mahon left her cozy spa to join the world. The arrival was surprisingly smooth. In fact we could not have asked for a better day. At 6 am Kayt's water broke and we knew that it was game on. Kayt had time to clean the entire house, perhaps even sweeping the living room twice. We were able to call Keli to come and pick up Asia, finish packing the bags, drop Mira off at the doggie sitters, make arrangements for the business and basically hang out and wait. After some strong persuasion from family Kayt decided to go to the hospital.

Last hugs before Mum goes to the Hospital to bring home my little sister. 

On that note it is great to live in a small town. Our doctor was coming home from his vacation that day and I get the feeling that he was on the way from the airport back to his house and he got the message that Kayt was potentially delivering. He dropped into the hospital in ripped jeans, T-shirt, leather jacket and sunglasses to tell us that things were happening but to go home and come back when it got a bit more urgent.

Now 2 pm we decided to go to Silvertip for some French toast. No sooner than we ordered did things become more urgent. We were back at the hospital by 3 pm. Things had progressed a bit and after another hour it was determined that Kayt was a prime candidate for epidural. Called the Dr. back in and he agreed but... also warned that he did not want to miss any of the hockey game that night!

We all thought we were in for a bit of a slow ride with the epidural so no problem. 4:30 pm the needle goes in and relief starts to flow in. Unfortunately so does two liters of IV fluids some "slight itching" as they put it.

The itching built up to a frenzy and the nurses gave her a bag of bennelyn. No effect, another bag of bennelyn, no effect. Finally something stronger that I cannot pronounce much less spell. aaaaaah relief.

Now 6:30 pm there is nothing to do. I was ready for anything, there to help, soothe, get things... I was left reduced to waiting, sitting, waiting, looking, waiting... none of which I do very well. Oh, I know... I will try to get something on the 14" TV mounted in the far corner of the room... yeah... not much help. Kayt was able to relax and get a bit of rest.  I am not sure if it was the epidural or being hopped up on anti-histamines but she was goooood aaaand relaaaaxed. Think Will Smith in Hitch.  Either way, I now thought that I wouldn't feel too guilty if I sat and read a book. Perhaps the Doctor was right and we would be in for a long haul.

The room was dim, quiet and soft music played. The nurses changed shift. Betty came and checked the vitals. I was quite concerned now. How, if my wife was so relaxed during labour, would she know to push? Betty assured me not to worry she would know and Kayt said that she would like to kiss the guy that invented the epidural.

At 8:30 pm things progressed quite a bit more and despite the drugs there was obvious discomfort. We tried the doctor. It was now third period of the hockey game and Vancouver was in the lead... no answer... was he joking about not coming during the game? Little did we know that it was going to be a double over time nail biter. http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?hlg=20102011,3,325. To his dismay labour continued to move in a forward direction and baby was eminent.

Betty started to round up help. The ER nurse had requested to help but was now on break. Betty found Tara, one of our dog food clients whom Kayt had not yet met. Now 9 pm Tara came in to the calm, dimly lit,  serene labour room playing classical music. "this is nice" she notes.  We exchanged introductions and the nurses realize the the doctor cannot be reached. They joke about getting the ER doctor and realize it would be better for us to do it ourselves. The place was so calm and Betty so competent neither Kayt nor I objected.


A word on Betty, she has extensive nursing experience in war-torn Sierra Leone, she delivered her baby and others in a hospital with bullets whizzing through and no doctors to be found. This delivery was a walk in the park for her.

Finally action time. As Betty promised Kayt knew it was time to push. She actually calmly looked up at us and said... "I think I am going to push now". In short after a few incredibly focused pushes out popped our baby. Things were so smooth and awesome we were talking about it for about 12 minutes and marveling that we forgot to check if it was a boy or girl. We had not found out during the ultra sounds so this was supposed to be a big moment. In reality we were so happy that baby was healthy and gave a little cry and went to nurse right away that nothing else mattered. Finally it clicked...we checked and we were blessed with a baby girl.

Right about then our Doctor showed up to do the vital checks. Mum and baby passed with flying colours. He ended up missing the tying goal but made it back in time for the OT win by Vancouver.