Violet gingham curtains bordered with broadly smiling fairy ,princesses and topped with a purple valance accented with castles capture the fairy princess theme seen around the room in pictures, books and wooden cut-outs. A closet stuffed with two racks of pink and pastel colored dresses in all sizes and a dresser filled with sleepers, onesies and baby-sized black patent leather shoes, white and pink crocs, moccasins and tons of socks – testify to the baby’s soon arrival.
A pristine white, lacy bassinet at the foot of the couple’s bed bespeaks the impending arrival of the expected child as does the three-tiered cake made of baby diapers, tied together with a pink ribbon on the shelf in the living room.
The infant will come home to the palatial preparations today- sweet, wide-eyed looking around trying to sort out all the new things she sees – now that she has left that special place under her mother’s heart.
Last week, momma told her big brother “the doctor is checking to see if the door is open for the baby to come.”
This week the doctor announced the door had opened and told momma to be at the hospital the next day to be medically induced to speed things along – if nothing happened overnight.
“It is the only civilized way to have a baby, ” a friend replied to her emailed announcement.
And it was.
April 29 was a day of casually watching television, getting an epidural to erase extreme discomfort, and then in the midst of it all a long nap for the expectant mother who joked as she waited for the doctor to escort the baby’s arrival – after her accommodating nurse tended everything else that day.
I bounced between my daughter at the hospital and my husband and grandson at the house. After a supper break, I came back and met the expectant father in the parking lot, rushing back from a quick outing to get his supper.
“They called,” he explained. The door was open and the baby paused before her grand appearance. “Can you take this in for me?” he handed me his package. I told him to run. I followed more slowly with extra pillows and blankets for his night’s stay at the hospital.
I still got to the room before Dr. Dreamy – as the nurses call him for his sweet personality, warm smile and easy manner with the new mothers .
Suddenly all the packages discretely placed in the room gained importance as the nurse, aide and doctor selected whatever they needed. With everything arranged, my daughter did five minutes of quick work and “Here she is,” the doctor announced.
A couple lusty cries announced a healthy child protesting the insult of bright lights, cool air and the need for clothes. Swaddling the tiny human in a receiving blanket, the nurse handed the yet-to-be-named princess to my daughter.
She reached out, crying, smiling, looking deeply into her daughter’s wide, inquiring eyes assuring the child that everyone welcomed her.
“Now what is your name? Emory? Ella? Or Caroline?”
The child stared soberly back at her mother waiting for the verdict as two grandmothers and daddy watched. Our turn to hold the newest grandchild would come. Right then, momma needed to become acquainted with this little person who had been dancing her delight in life for nine months in tight quarters.
When daddy’s turn came to hold his daughter, he took her like a pro – his fearful approach of two years ago expunged with experience.
The nurse cleared her throat, “I need to take the baby for a bit,” she said, a list of inspections, weigh-in, shots and eye drops lined-up on the bassinet.
I went over to the nursery table and watched her measure off 20 inches of length for the 6 pounds 13 ounce baby. “She looks like a sweet Caroline to me,” I said. With little more discussion, that became her name.
Two hours later, grandpa brought big brother to the hospital. He proudly wore a blue pin announcing, “I’m the big brother,” but mostly he just wanted to see his momma. He crawled up into bed beside her , looked at the burrito-wrapped baby and let his momma know that he wanted to be snuggled, too. After a snuggle and a story, he marched down the hall holding grandpa’s hand, waved at the nurses and went home to open the door to welcome his sister home to her new room.