Avery

I’m in the clouds as I write this. We’re somewhere between LA and Memphis, an empty duplex and wonderful friends behind us and family and a new baby waiting on the ground. My sister’s water broke around midnight, and 5 hours and 1 C-section later, Avery Cobb Suber, a 7 lb. 12 oz. ball of fury and black hair, hollered her way into the world. Avery was in breech position, so the C section was unexpected. I keep reading about celebrities and busy careerwomen who actively choose to have C-sections and where I understand the thought process of trying to control the labor or avoid the pain, electing to have your abdomen sliced open in addition to not sleeping for 3 months with a squalling newborn seems a trifle masochistic. But then that’s what the nannies are for, I suppose. Lindsey’s voice on the phone was thick with drugs and nausea. Apparently Mother Nature can’t be fooled so easily – it seems trading in labor pains for the epidural can result in one humdinger of a headache. I suppose in the long run jabbing a needle into your spine and getting a migarine after major surgery is preferable to experiencing an earthquake in your vagina, but sheesh. Anyhow, she sounded proud and excited to finally be a mom. We’re going to see her in the hospital tonight after we land, the same hospital where I will be delivering. I’m gonna do some snooping, see if they have one of them waterbirthing contraptions hidden away. I have it in my head that waterbirth is like a hottubbing party of one. Get the jets going, crack open some brewskis, maybe the doctor will have a giant mullet. I shared my thoughts with mom. I don’t think she shares my enthusiasm.

(later)

I met Avery last night. I never knew something so tiny could have the power to strip away all the sarcasm, the bravado, everything until all that’s left is awe. She is absolutely gorgeous, and not in the she’s really a lizard baby and I’m being a kind aunt kind of gorgeous, but the Oh My God there’s clearly no way anything that springs forth from my loins can compare with this kind of beauty. I now also see a major perk to the C-section. Instead of going through the trauma of birth, the baby gets plucked from the womb, their faces rosy and not squashed or misshapen or lizard-like. I can’t wait to go back today and just stare at her some more.