Oh by the way...

This is the first post in the Piper story. I forgot to post it. I was written a few hours after she was born.

After 600 hours or so of labor Melissa delivered. Well... it seemed that long. We got the call at early Wednesday morning (early according to Joe) and we headed up to Austin. Mel and Billy were all settled in and hooked up to the monitor when we got there. Contractions were already underway.

But... it took a while. Martha got invited into the delivery room to watch the big epidural needle thingy(there are a lot of words I don't know how to spell or pronounce after last night). That was about 330am... I think. Melissa at that point was exhausted and invited Martha and I in for the rest of the show. She kept say "I can't believe this doesn't bother me." I turned a chair around facing the corner of the room and listened and watched when I was told it was OK to do so. At one point I know I was awaken from a sound sleep... Billy was accused of the same at least once...

Most of the time was spent glued to the monitor (fetal monitor?)... everyone but Mel was eyes on that thing... Mel obviously knew what was happening. We became mesmerized by Piper's heart beat and the upper and lower red lines that they wanted the heart beat to stay within... it didn't always do that... We couldn't take our eyes off of it.

Billy was a wonderful husband and father... I was very proud of him. Way to go Billy. He even cut the umbilical cord. I hope I got a photo of that. I am not allowed to have the photos yet... they have to go through the censors first.

Piper Caroline was born at 6:09AM... I heard the nurse say 6-oh-9 right when she was delivered. She weighed 8lbs 5 oz... I think I sent a text message out that said 6lbs... that was wrong... it was 8lbs 5 oz. She was 2o inches long... later as she uncurled it would be 23 inches.

I headed down to the baby viewing area as Billy rolled her bassinet down there. I watched as he gave Piper his pinkie and she grabbed on and wouldn't let go... Billy looked up at me a proudly mouthed out the words..."she has got a grip," as he raised his finger and Piper would not let go. The nurse then proceeded to give Piper a bath as she explained everything to Billy... Billy was shaking his head that he understood.. but, he appeared to have a bewildered look on his face... I hope he doesn't have to remember how to give Piper a bath...

Since Martha was a C-section lady all three times I have always been a waiting room Dad. Now, unexpectedly I can say it was great to be in on the miracle of birth. Melissa and Billy were a great team. Melissa was so calm and composed the whole time. Not that there wasn't any pain involved... I heard her sucking her breath in quite a bit. I also heard her say...

• "This isn't so bad"
• "This really is quick" ... to that comment I heard a lot of laughter and snide comments...
• "Can I push the button?"... everyone just started saying yes...

I can't remember any more... maybe Martha or Billy can. I wrote this after Piper was safe in Melissa arms and Martha and I had gone to Pipers house for a nap. Shortly after writing this I somehow fell asleep on the floor... nice new carpet... yea. Not too much later the phone rings and Billy tells me that Piper is having trouble breathing and her heart rate is going nuts... and now she is in NICU... I go to find Martha and she is asleep in the other room... on the floor. Frightened, we head off to the Hospital to find a teary eyed Mel and Billy. We know the prayer chains are going, but...

We are standing in the imaginary rain with mud all over our feet... we are going to make some muddy footprints. With the phone call came a downpour of heavy rain.

We huddled together in a group. We prayed... we knew everyone else was praying. Often we found ourselves acting like deer caught in the headlights... just standing there... forgetting to pray... Thank you for Prayer Chains...

Deep down inside I was thinking of Piper's heart beat... I didn't mention it... I wonder if all of us were thinking of it... too scary to talk about.