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Friday, February 12, 2010

Babes in the Snow


Everybody, meet one of my best friends, Liz.

Hi Liz!
Liz, Me, Sang (front)
Brian, John (back)
Ravenswood Vineyard, Sonoma, CA

Liz and I have been friends for many, many years. We have been through a lot together - shared some amazingly good times, some amazingly hard ones. I start fights with her parents' friends at a Knights of Columbus when she is 8 1/2 months pregnant and she just rolls her eyes at me and still loves me.

She is good peeps.

Liz was due to have her baby last week. Her due date came. And it went.

Girlfriend was not happy. But then you know what happened, right? Because everybody knows about that big, monster snowstorm - the largest in Washington, D.C. history - that came last weekend? You know - the one that dumped 3 feet of snow on us?

Yeah. That one.

(I am guessing you know where I am going with this).

So the Friday night, before the storm hits, I call Liz for an update. She sounded pretty miserable and obviously I was worried, but tried to play it cool so as not to cause panic, something which I am often known to do.

She had been to the Doctor that day. He told her to go home, even though she was set to get induced the Monday after the storm. Said, "Nah. It's not happening any time soon."

Now, Liz is really nice. She is way more polite than I am. Because if that had been me, I would have launched my butt off that table, grabbed that Dr. by the collar very calmly said, "Are you effing kidding me!!?? Get this baby out of me NOW, you donkey!"

But Liz is way classier than me and has some manners.

So she went home, with big plans to keep her feet up over the weekend.

And then it started snowing. And snowing.

And oh my goodness, SNOWING.

It's not a question of what happened, because I think you all know what happened. It's when it happened.

There was probably about 1 1/2 feet of snow on the ground when she went into labor in the early, early morning hours. Her husband, Brian, did a heroic job of shoveling out the long, windy and hilly driveway.

They got to the main road, somehow. The Reston Hospital was only a few miles away. It was not where she was registered to deliver, but she didn't have a choice.

But when they got to the main road, there were several trees down on the road. (What is this? Super Mario Brothers???!!)

Brian made it around the first two trees. But when trying to get over the third tree, they got stuck. Their wheels actually got stuck on the branches.

So you know Liz is probably freaking out about now. When you are in labor, every bump seems like agony. But girlfriend is trying to 4-wheel over trees in a blizzard so she was probably just a wee bit uncomfy.

So they called 911. The Fairfax County Fire and Rescue crew came to the rescue and actually had to take a chainsaw to cut through the tree and get the car out. (Is this a "Grey's Anatomy" episode?) In order to get the tree dislodged, the crew actually had to cut into the car, so there you go.

I don't think they liked that car anyway.

The EMTs got Liz and Brian into the ambulance. They battled through the nightmarish roads, roads you could no longer see.

Liz was in excruciating agony at this point. However, the wonderful folks who helped her and husband that night put her at ease immediately. They told her she was in good hands, tried to soothe and assure her that she could get to the hospital.


One of the EMTs, whose name Liz was able to get, was named David. "David" was always going to be the middle name of Liz and Brian's baby boy. The only question was the baby's first name. As David tried to ease both Liz and Brian's overwhelmed and somewhat frantic minds, he told them that his own son's name was Chase.

And so it was.

And so HE is.

Chase David.


A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on.
-- Carl Sandburg

Liz had to wait to get an epidural - she was not registered at this hospital so it took some time to get the paperwork through. By the time she was able to receive relief - she had done much of the labor drug free.

But after she told me her story, I wanted to take drugs. Seriously. It stressed me out a lot.

I want to say "Thank You" to the wonderful team that demonstrated human kindness, strength and tenacity to get Liz and Brian to the hospital during a storm in which you couldn't see two feet in front of you. For bringing this beautiful little boy into the world in a warm hospital room, where he was able to receive care from excellent nursing staff and a phenomenal Ob/Gyn that my friend is now a patient of.

I don't know if Liz and Brian know all the names of the EMTs that helped them that night. If you know any of the volunteer men on the force, please forward this to them and let them know how much what they do while they put their own lives on the lines is SO APPRECIATED.

I want to thank Brian for being an incredible trooper and responding with calm, rather than panic and for getting the job done after all that chaos was said and done.

Iknow that if we are in a crowded room of female friends and if anyone tries to talk about how hard their labor was, I have a feeling we'll have to look around to make sure Liz isn't there. Because if she is there, she's just gonna be shaking her head and saying, "No, I win this won. I seriously beat all of you at this one."

And I kind of have to agree.

26 comments:

Unknown said...

WOW. Just...WOW. That is amazing. Liz is a tough chick. Congratulations to her and her family. Chase is adorable!!!

Allyson said...

Congratulations to Liz and Bryan!! And this is the number 1 reason why I will probably put more time into planning my pregnancy next time. Because having a baby in February is crazy sauce. Especially around these parts.

And we have TOTALLY been to Ravenswood. I thought "hmm..that looks sort of familiar." We were in Sonoma on Halloween about 3 years ago. I LOVED the bartenders there. It was our first top after Gloria Ferrar so it didn't take much to impress us. If we couldn't see the bottom of your nostrils then we were instantly pleased. It's probably the number 1 reason why I buy Ravenswood over anything else at the liquor store.

Shandal said...

I would have been freaking out! I remember the car ride to the hospital after my water broke. Every little bump hurt! I would've started bawling after getting stuck on that tree. Oh I feel for her! So glad Liz, Brian, and Chase are okay! I love Chase's name! What a fun story to tell how he got it too!

Karls said...

Greys ep or what! That's a story that will be told for a lifetime.

Suzy said...

A great name for a terrific story. Except for the part where it snowed too much and their car got hacksawed! More like a Stephen King novel?

Shell said...

So glad that this story had a happy ending. It had to have been stressful, but what a fabulous story she will have to tell her adorable son!

Beth said...

Your friend deserves a medal!

Candy said...

Wow. I love labor stories but kudos to LIZ. Jeez, it's starting to make me think of my own impending labor coming on. She handled it with courage. Loving ur blog and coming thru from Dana's blog. It's good to see another INDIAN lady out there blogging. I just started mine but how come there aren't more of us?! Can't wait to follow along :)

Kathy's Klothesline said...

Congrats to your buddy and her new little guy! Good story with a happy ending.

Jayne Layne said...

Hi Kiran! I didn't know you had a blog either! Yours is WAY funnier and more interesting than mine! I have been sucked in post after post, so I will give you a quick recap of all my thoughts as I was reading (in no particular order)

Great for your friend Liz! What a scary day, I would have totally panicked!

Your family is so darling! Those kids are just yummy, I bet you have so much fun with them.

The dentist office... So funny/cute that they love your husband so much. I don't blame them though, I like him just from the pictures. He automatically seems like such a great guy.

I like your relationship. It seems you and John have fun together, and that you appreciate him and vice versa.

I will definitely be popping in more, definitely a fun read!

Oh... and you are TOTALLY Natalie Imbruglia! You are a true hot-tay.

jessalyn said...

congrats to your friends!!

these are the stories that make me scared to get preggers. that is the kinda luck i would have.

i am so glad they got to the hospital safe and have a beautiful baby boy! (and maybe a new car?)

Serenityville said...

What a FAB one-up story! And a great way to mortify Chase as his parents tell the story for the 6000th time at his wedding.

The Mommy One said...

Congrats to Liz and Brian and baby Chase. That is an incredible story. I would have been fa-rea-king out!

Tricia

Sadia said...

What a story. I'm glad that mom and baby are well. Night feedings will be easy after that!

Thanks, too, for acknowledging the paramedics. They so often do what they do with little thanks.

foxy said...

Seriously... what a story! I would have been FREAKING OUT. Wow. Congrats to them!!

Macey said...

Oh WOW! What a great story! I'm SO glad she was okay and the baby was healthy and stuff. I swear, EMT's, Nurses, Emergency workers...they're all angels.

Shannon K. said...

Beautiful baby, and that's a great name! So strange how things work out. That is one heck of a birth story.

Heather said...

Yay! Chase David. Beautiful and what a great story. So glad it turned out okay for your friend!

Thanks, BTW, for stopping by to "visit" me. I'll be checking out your playlist!

Heather said...

Okay, I was thinking from your comment that you had a playlist somewhere on your blog. Not. Figure of speech . . . you should listen to my playlist? I'm a dork.

SaraPlaysHouse.com said...

AMAZING birth story. Thank you for sharing! And congrats to Liz!
Once upon a time we were in a really scary wreck, while I was 27 weeks pregnant with Zoe. If you go back to Dec. 2007 on my blog, you'll see it.
Anyhoo, I really wish I had the names of the passersby who stopped and told me that it was going to be OK, and the EMT who held my hand while I was FREAKING out because Zoe was being so, so still. And the one who started hooting and hollering with me when I felt a big kick.
Those people don't get paid NEARLY enough.

Kim said...

I love her birth story! Just love it! I'm sure at the time she was thinking this is the worst birth story EVER! But she did it! And what an amazing story to tell! And how sweet and perfect that they named their baby after one of the paramedics that helped make his birth possible in the safety of a hospital! And isn't he just gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

awwwww... look at the wittle munchkinnnnnn

JennyMac said...

Congratulations to Liz. What a darling baby!

alessandra said...

What an adventurous story.
Beautiful baby, and a beautiful quote.

Sarah at The Stroller Ballet said...

You always have the most interesting stories! It's nice to hear about yoru friends. It seems like you have such a nice group of girls. And I love hearing about labor/birth stories! I definitely agree Liz wins at the labor/birth comparison thing. Thanks for sharing!!

Salt said...

Straight out of a movie. Congratulations to the new mom and dad! I'm so glad they and the new baby are doing well! He's ADORABLE!

HUGE kudos to the heroes that helped them!

Gosh the things they could hang over that little guy's head when he's a teenager.... :)

 

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