Coming Right Up...Baby # 2

In the excitement of becoming an aunt again, I failed to mention that I'm going to be an aunt AGAIN! This time its actually a non-familial birth but looked forward to none-the-less. T-Bird's sister, Chay, and my sister-in-law were actually due the same day, August 4th. Chay just called and said they are inducing her due to low amniotic fluid. We know she's having a boy, so that's a nice balance. Just for historical purposes... T-Bird and I hated the sight of one another when we first met. This was due to the fact that T-Bird's aunt had lied about both of us to each other (What a drama queen!). Anyway, once her aunt moved away and way lead to way, we ended up talking and found out what this bitch had done. We've been friends ever since, sometimes the best of friends, sometimes we want to kill each other. What are friends for? As it happened, T-Bird and I found out about her aunt when I was three months pregnant with Hyper-Boy. Over the next six months we forged a delightful friendship which included me calling on Saturday mornings as to inquire of her then-boyfriend, then-husband, now ex-husband, Boob, if my breakfast was ready. Boob is a good cook. T-Bird was visiting relatives in Detroit the weekend I went into labor and after a six hour trip home was met by Boob at the door announcing I was in labor. She tossed her stuff and came to my rinky-dink trailer, trying in vain to convince me I really needed to go to the hospital. I wandered and puttered and made her fix me toast with strawberry jam. I told her that I just had to go to the bathroom one more time... and she yelled down the hallway, "Hey, when my mom thought she had to pee her water broke!" Pwashhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I yelled back, "You bitch!" She laughed and laughed. I waddled out with a towel between my legs and agreed, yeah, maybe its time to go to the hospital. On the way there, everytime I would have a contraction, amniotic fluid would gush and I would say, "Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew." T-Bird would speed up. LOL!!! Anyway, T-Bird stayed with me for most of the time, in-between taking Boob to work and eating out of my sight. She helped push my kneecaps to my earlobes and was standing beside of me as they placed Hyper-Boy in my arms the first time. She moved to Michigan when HB was six weeks old. I missed her, a lot. She and Boob married in August 1997. She was four months pregnant with their first child. Little T was just a bonus to the festivities. Unfortunately, Little T was born three days after their wedding and at a little over a pound, was too small to survive. Even worse, because I had just been to Michigan to be in the wedding, I could not return to be there in person. Little T was perfect in every way, she just got there too soon. T-Bird had developed an infection around the amniotic sac, probably due to a small leak and the only way to save her was to deliver the baby. In January 1999, T-Bird got pregnant again. They decided to do a cerclage, which in layman's terms, is a great big staple used to keep the cervix closed until birth. That meant, no sex. Not only no sex, but no excitement either to prevent any chance of infection. Then she developed gestational diabetes, then high blood pressure. Until she was 34 weeks, everytime she called I asked what was wrong. I had my bags backed, ready for the six hour trip to Michigan, whenever she called. She called September 10th to tell me they were doing an amniocentesis (which means they stuck a long skinny needle into her uterus and withdrew amniotic fluid) to check the baby's lung development as they were preparing to induce her due to pre-eclampsia (a toxic condition characterised by seizures and high blood pressure.) At 4:30 she called to tell me they were inducing, at 4:35, I left my office, swung by my house and left for Detroit. My mom had HB. It took me forever to get to the hospital, a lot longer than normal because some Einstein let T-Bird answer the phone under the influence of Stadol and she directed me away from the hospital (I was one mile away!!) and into downtown Detroit at 2 a.m.!!! It took me even longer to figure out how to bypass Windsor Tunnel, which would have taken me to Canada!, and get back to the hospital. Twenty minutes after I arrived the doctor came in and announced they were doing a C-section (no definition hopefully needed). J3 made it in fine shape, 7 lbs. 7 oz. a full month early. T-Bird was not so good. Her blood pressure bottomed out and she spent two days in ICU. She has no more babies planned for her future. I've taken part in practically every major happening in their lives since 1996. Birthdays, graduations, holidays, make-ups, weddings, break-ups, divorces, baby showers and a few police encounters, not to mention, some of the best food you'll ever eat. So, here we are. I'm aware of the striking differences and similarities between this birth and the birth of my niece. First, my sister-in-law is 37 years old, Chay is 18. It was my sister-in-law's third, this is Chay's first. Married vs. unmarried. Decent, hard-working father vs. ugly schmuck. Girl vs. Boy. Both induced, both due on the 4th. Called by family vs. called by Chay (Anna, they have to induce, told you I would call, Mom and T-Bird will be in touch, come see me if you can!!) I know if I'm not there five minutes after the birth, Chay will call and ask, "Why aren't you here yet?" vs. "see my previous post." Its hard to believe when I met Chay she was nine years old. Now, she's having a baby. Technically, since I'm 15 years older than she is, I'm old enough to be her mom. Which means, technically, I'm old enough to be a grandma!! Ughhhh... think I'll stick with being an aunt.