emily claire bryson

amber waited all day for the call. she attempted to keep busy, and thereby distracted, but her thoughts never veered from the approaching adventure, and her phone was never more than a foot away. after an agonizing day of pacing back and forth, we finally had enough and called the hospital in fear that we had been forgotten. we were told to gather our bags and come on in. thus began one of the most exciting, as well as ridiculously nerve-racking, journeys of our lives.

after 9 months and 1 week of waiting, we finally found ourselves in the room where our little girl was supposed to be born, though fate had other ideas. we got comfy, amber was given some medications to start the dilating process, and we then settled in for a long night of waiting. had we been wiser, we would have tried harder to get a good night's rest, but the excitement of it all left us wide awake, so most of the night was wasted away playing on the laptop and tv. the night passed and in the morning amber was checked to see what progress she had made. we entered the hospital the night before at a 1, and we began the next morning at a 2. for those of you who may be ignorant to pregnancy terms, such as i was, that isn't much progress at all.
the next day was spent playing with the meds, trying to get amber's contractions to work in our favor. unfortunately they did not. they were either too spaced apart, too close together (often one starting before the last one had finished), or simply just not strong enough. amber was given an epidural and her water was broken, both with the hopes that they might speed up delivery. both failed to do so.
between the crazy contractions, the constant examinations, being stuck in bed unable to move, a crazy tingling sensation caused by the epidural, a catheter, not being able to eat for a whole night and day and night, and being pricked and prodded since minute one, amber's word for the day was 'miserable'. thankfully she had her mom and sister lia there for much of the time to lend us moral support. but that seemed to be one of the few bright spots because after a full 24 hours in the hospital, amber was officially dilated to... drum roll please... a 5. it was progress, but it meant she still had a long way to go. and in the next 4 hours, amber progressed absolutely no further.
i suppose that a c-section was always a possibility in the back of my mind, especially considering that amber is a smaller woman, but when the doctor recommended it, we both were a little scared. surgery is not a thing to take too lightly after all. but it meant there was an end in sight. and after a day of non-stop torture for amber, that sounded too good to be true. while she got an increased dose of drugs, i was given an awesome white jump suit to wear, complete with all this year's must-have accessories - a surgical mask, hair net, and little booties. that gave amber something to laugh at before she was wheeled into surgery.
some of my friends have recently told me how cool it was to watch the whole surgical process of their wives' c-sections. not i. i found myself quite content to hide behind the little curtain the doctors had raised to keep amber from seeing herself cut open. but after only 5 minutes or so of amber being on the operating table, our little baby girl was introduced to this crazy world. she was immediately taken away so she could be cleaned up, examined, and monitored for a bit, but a short time later, our beautiful daughter was laid in her beautiful mother's arms. we are officially a family now.
she was born at 10:04 p.m. on the 4th of august 2010. she weighed 7 pounds and 2 ounces. she was 20 inches long. she has dark hair and a whole lot of it. she has big beautiful eyes and when you look into them, you instantly fall in love. she is beautiful. she is our angel. her name is emily claire bryson. you can call her eclaire for short, if you want. :)
and reader, if we didn't express it enough, we love her with all our hearts.