The text message came through at 12:03 PM that our daughter-in-law was about to be induced. Our son's first child was on its way, and so were we. At approximately 2:30 PM, we packed quickly, got into our respective vehicles and headed out for Northern Virginia. After three failed attempts to find the parking garage that made sense (gold, blue, or green?), we arrived at the hospital at approximately 5:45 PM and entered the Women's and Children's Wing of the 365-bed tertiary care center.
We arrived at Room #1 on the maternity floor and began our wait.
The staff was pleasant enough, without ever making a real commitment, and the accommodations for mom were somewhat above average in the LDR (Labor/Delivery/Recovery) rooms.
Twelve hours after our departure from home, however, we found ourselves seated in straight back chairs in a brightly-lit hallway with carts and beds going by as we waited for the blessed event, with absolutely no chance of catching even a wink of sleep. These were not exactly comfortable surroundings.
In typical, traditional hospital fashion, the rooms had white curtains and white sheets. No, there was no bread baking, no hand-painted borders above the matching wallpaper, or comfortable lounge chairs and extra beds for the families. Food? Food was impossible to find without traveling the equivalent of three city blocks through a maze of hallways and between buildings. When you finally did find it, it was high in fat, trans-fat and consisted of all of the traditional hospital fare. (Green Jello anyone?) On the bright side, however, the halls were clean, the air was pleasantly free of the pungent smell of institutional antiseptics, and the paintings were tastefully arranged.
So, after 12 hours, what was missing besides the kid ?
Planetree was missing.
No one cared that we couldn't get comfortable. That's just the way it was. Overhead paging continued well into the night. The lights were never dimmed. There were no double beds in the maternity suites for the father and mother after the birth. It was chilly and very uncomfortable. No one stopped to talk, give directions, or even express interest in our presence...but it is the big time there, and they obviously are meeting their customers' needs.
At precisely 4:26 AM on Friday the 13th, little Lucy was born. On a positive note, when I asked her mom how bad the pain had been, she smiled and said, honestly, I didn't have any pain. So, kudos to the anesthesiologist. They sure got that part right, and that in itself may negate some of my other observations.
So, as the day ended at 6:00 AM for the new and the old family, it was really clear that one 11 month old girl who was with us throughout this entire journey and her newborn cousin would be bosom buddies. It was also clear that the BOY had better watch out when the two of them get together to play on holidays and special occasions.
Jude, Nina and LUCY in the sky with diamonds. . .this world will all be yours someday, not too far from now.
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