Peyton’s Arrival – From the Waiting Room

Hopefully, Melissa will fill us all in on her birth story and the Delivery Room side of Peyton’s birth, but I thought I would give the new parents and Peyton a glimpse into the excitement the rest of us were feeling, as well as the antics of her grandparents, as we waited for her arrival.  When I finally got to the RIGHT hospital (after first going to the Heart Hospital of Austin which is right next to Central Market) and the RIGHT waiting room, I found Melissa’s parents, Bob & Olga, waiting with Matt’s parents, Bruce & Susan.  Mel’s sister, Jen, and her niece, Sierra, had just arrived and they were visiting Mel in the delivery room.  Matt soon walked in the waiting room to bring Sierra to the grandparents and he joked that, “Look, Peyton came out as a toddler!”

Sierra ran right to her Papa,who was trying to get some work done while waiting for his 2nd granddaughter to arrive.  Sierra soon put a stop to that business though and temporarily distracted all the grandparents.

Sierra was also a big fan of Bruce….I think the feeling was mutual. (TIME: 3:54pm)

Matt took me back to say “Hi” to Melissa before things got “serious.”  When I got to her room, Mel said that she was feeling more pain and the nurse came in to check her epidural.  Her sis and I evacuated the room and joined the grandparents back in the waiting room.  About an hour later we got a text from Matt that they had put in a new epidural.

Mel’s mom and I made a trip to the cafeteria to learn that they did not open until 5pm, so we waited and then Jen & I went down to get some grilled cheeses.  At this point, I was actually nervous about leaving the room thinking that any moment, Matt would be bursting in with news.  But, hey, I’m pregnant and I love my grilled cheese.  The only person who enjoyed their sandwich more than me was Sierra, she demolished it and it perked her right up, she was soon charging up and down the hall hoping to see a “Bubble” (Baby) in the nursery.

At about 5:20, I started to think, “Oh man, I better get some pics before Peyton shows up and we all run out of here.”  Little did I know we had another 3+ hours ahead of us.

Yes, the Grandparents had had a long day at that point…but they were very good sports for the paparazzi.

Jen decided she had better take Sierra home and get her to bed and then come back up to the hospital.  Bye, bye, Sierra!  Tomorrow you’ll have a new cousin!

A little after 6pm, Mel’s best and oldest friend, Tera, arrived with not only food from Wendy’s for Matt and food for Mel from Jimmy John’s, but TIFF’s TREATS.  I don’t know if those were supposed to be for everyone or not, but she passed them around the table and we dove in.

Matt had called in a food order to Tera thinking that Peyton would be arriving soon and they’d be hungry.  Mel had started pushing a little after 5pm and we continued to get texts of “Still Pushing.”  At this point we had quite a crowd gathered…from the left, Kirstine & Jen V. (college friends of mine & Mel’s), Jen (Mel’s Sis), Tera (she of the Tiff’s Treats cookies), Olga, Bob, Bruce, & Susan.

There were definitely some funny moments in the night…excited, nervous energy has a way of making people say the darndest things.  I’ll leave out a few quotes, because this is a family blog, but here are some highlights of our conversation.

“She’s easy” – Bruce, in reference to his wife and Matt’s mom.  This was in reference to her being gullible, after Bob had “made her look” at something, Bob was quite the practical jokester that evening, so I don’t remember exactly what it was this time.

“She was beheading the roses.” – Olga, in preparation for Jen’s wedding, Bob had gone to Costco and bought 30 dozen roses so that they could “behead” them and have petals to throw.

“Those roses had like a 100 petals each.” – Bob, Olga disagreed and went to her iPhone for support.

“The average rose has 7 petals.” – Olga, per Google (she had previously looked up Rodney Dangerfield’s early career…he was a singer/waiter).

“Not Costco roses.” – Bob

“If she [Peyton] doesn’t come by midnight, we get to pick a new name.” – Bob

“Everyone, just take a bite.” – Olga, trying to pass two pieces of gum around the table for us to all share.

“She’s not built for running, but she was running.” – Bruce, in reference to Mel’s second nurse, Monique.

Olga also described The Situation (yes, from Jersey Shore) as looking like a certain part of the male anatomy.  Kirstine came back in and saw the quote and said, “What is that in reference to?  One of the babies?”

As the day wore on, Bruce started to pace some in the hallway and Olga went to get an up date from Mel’s nurse.  Matt’s texts of “Still pushing” just weren’t cutting it anymore.  A little while later we got this text from Matt:

“We’re getting reports from the nurses of parents lurking in the hallway.”

Olga and Bruce started to point fingers at one another.

“Lurker!” – Olga to Bruce

“You’re almost a stalker!” – Bruce to Olga

“There’s this BIG woman coming down the hallway.” – Olga, in reference to Mel’s nurse

“I figured out why she was running…to get away from you!” – Bruce to Olga

As the evening wore on, the grandparents were definitely getting more nervous and anxious, as evidenced by the lurking.

“She’s out & crying!” – text from Matt

Happy Abuela & Nana!!!

We all intended to remain patiently in the waiting room, until Bruce came in and said, “You can hear her crying.”  Man, I’ve never seen grandparents move so fast and, of course, I had to follow to document their rule-breaking as they loitered in the hallway.

Soon, everyone was in the hallway and then Peyton’s first picture arrived!  I don’t know what US Weekly would have paid to have that photo, but Susan & Olga would have paid plenty.

The phones were all busy sending out texts and making calls to spread the news.

“Did you get my e-mail?  HUGE” – Susan, in reference to Peyton, not Monique.

“She’s a wall-hanger” – Bruce, comparing his new granddaughter to a trophy fish/deer/etc.

3 of the 6 Codeheads….poor Carolyn was stuck at work (thanks a lot Freescale), Lindsay was in Denver, and Melissa, well, she was had her hands full.

Matt came out a little after 9pm and was very surprised to see his Dad “lurking” in the hallway and even more surprised when he turned the corner and saw ALL of us.

A little before 9:30, we ALL got to go in and see Mel and her new baby girl.

Look at that sweet pretty girl!

Matt joined Bob & Bruce in the “Daddy Club.”  And one day it will be him out in that waiting room or lurking in the hallway waiting for his grandchild to be born.

Peyton had to get a shot before being wheeled off to the nursery for her bath & whatnot.  Melissa did NOT want to give up her baby even for a little bit, but nurses do not take “No” for an answer.

Yes, that is Monique wheeling Peyton down the hall.

This VERY WEIRD ceiling tile was right outside the nursery and we could not make sense of it.

While Bob stayed with Melissa until she got transferred to her Post-Partum room, the rest of us went to check out Peyton in the nursery.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t take photos through the glass INTO the nursery.  So, Matt got the camera and turned the tables on us.

Meanwhile, Peyton waited patiently for her first bath.

Well, she was mostly patient.

Then the torture began…

Ahhhh…finally over.  So precious!

Thank you Matt & Melissa for letting us share in your excitement and meet your new baby girl!  She’s wonderful and we can’t wait to watch her grow up…but not too fast.