----- Original Message -----

From:Rachel

To:icanofbuffalo@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2009 12:56 AM

Subject: [icanofbuffalo] Congratulations to Renee!

 

Here's the details, as best as I can share them.

Renee and I are actually friends from high school, and when I was in labor with Erin, she was there, and I had the honor of being there when she had her second baby (Aaron, lol), which was a VBAC. So we go back a bit, and she asked me to come to Batavia for her third birth. I was put on notice Monday night that she thought "maybe" she was in labor, but it fizzled out shortly after she got to Batavia and her cervix was holding tight. Nothing more fun than fake-out labor when you have to drive :45 minutes.

So, I received a call tonight around 8 p.m. from Renee asking, "Do you want to see a brand new baby tonight?" and I gobbled up my late dinner, took a quick shower and headed out.  When I got to Batavia around 9:15, I was told that I could not be in the room, or even on the maternity floor.  I debated, but they held on, and so in an act of defiance, I told them I would not leave and I sat in the waiting room reading back issues of Artvoice and plotting how I could sneak in.  No luck there.  A little while later, I saw her husband come out and I went over to him.  He told me to go down to her room but the nurses said no, and he was as frustrated as I was, but there was nothing he could do either. 

Then, around 10:15 or so, he came back out to me and said, "It's a girl!" He showed me pictures, and then I asked him to take my camera back and take some pictures of the baby so I could show my husband and girls.  He came up with the brilliant idea to have me record a message for him to take back to her, and then he came back to me with a message from her.  No pictures since she was nursing J He also shared the birth video with me, and while I was watching it, Renee's mom came out, and we hugged and cried and it was lovely.  I'm actually really glad that her mom got to be there - in the end, I think everything happened just perfectly. And quickly.  Very quickly.

No weight or height details to share, but little Rosa Lillian was born tonight, under a beautiful, enormous half-moon on a clear August night.  Welcome, little one!

-Rachel