Sorry it’s taken so long to get this story out. The last few weeks have been really exciting for the Pharaon family. Noble Orion Pharaon was born on Saturday morning 3-8-08 at 7:42am at Woman’s Hospital in Houston. He was 6lbs, 12oz and 20.5 inches long.
Thats’ the Cliff’s Notes version of the story. The REAL story, however, is HOW Noble got here 10 days earlier than expected and our trip to the hospital…
First, it’s important to know that Noble’s actual due date was March 26, but he was scheduled to be born via planned cesarean on March 18, the Tuesday before Easter.
Friday night was a fairly ordinary night. We had gone to dinner with some friends and were looking forward to a pretty low-key Saturday. We all went to bed a little later than normal, but there were no real indications that the next twelve hours would be so exciting. I played video games and Kristi lay on the couch reading a book. We fell asleep watching Big Fish, a great movie about the power of storytelling that seems appropriate to set the tone for our night and morning.
About four ‘o-clock in the morning, Kristi was having a dream that she was dressing a little boy in a Superman outfit. When she picked up the boy in her dream, his foot touched her stomach and (in her dream) she instantly urinated all over herself. She woke up immediately, the dream still very vivid in her mind, and ran to the bathroom. She wasn’t entirely sure whether her dream had actually happened (the peeing part, that is) or if her water had broken. She thought about it and decided to call the doctor, just to be certain. She called the doctor and told him that she thought that maybe her water had broken. He said to wait an hour and if anything out of the ordinary happened, to call him back and let him know. She thought about it and debated it to herself. If it was nothing but a false alarm and a weak pregnant bladder, she didn’t want to have to rush to the hospital for nothing. Still, she thought that she’d probably better wake me up.
“Hey, Boy. I think my water broke. I need you to get up” is how I woke up on Saturday morning. It was 4:12am. She told me what had happened and said that there were some things that she needed for him to do before they talked to the doctor again. Just in case, she wanted me to take the jeans out of the dryer that he had put in the night before and put the load of Noble’s clothes that was sitting in the washer in to dry. The dishwasher also needed to be unloaded and loaded again with dishes from Friday’s lunch. Being pretty foggy-headed (and a dutiful husband), I got up and got to work on Kristi’s requests while she took a shower. Halfway through unloading the dishwasher, I realized that even if it were a false alarm, it would probably be a good idea to get on the road an start heading SOMEwhere, just in case it was the real thing. After all, the hospital where Kristi was supposed to be giving birth was a good hour-and-a-half drive away in the Houston medical center. Even when they moved to Brenham two years ago, we decided that we had such a positive experience at Women’s Hospital when Kayci was born that we wanted to have our next baby there.
Meanwhile, Kristi was more and more certain that her water had, in fact, broken. The fluid just kept coming and coming. All the noise from the dishes and the showering and the walking around had woken up Kayci, who began calling for Mommy. I went in and gently told Kayci that it was time to get up because we might be getting a Noble today. That got her up in much more of a hurry that on a usual morning. Mommy, being Kristi, had already laid out the clothes days in advance that Kayci would wear when Noble was born. She wore jeans, a little thermal long-sleeve shirt and her Big Sister -shirt. I helped her get dressed and put her hair up in a ponytail and put on her shoes.
By this time it was about 5am and Kristi was out of the shower and getting dressed, while still making frequent trips to the potty. Then the contractions started. They were very mild at first and were about 7 minutes apart. Once the contractions started, I kicked it into high gear and started getting flustered. I threw on some clothes, got the cell phone chargers and Aero and quilt (Kayci’s sleeping buddies) and put Kayci in the car. Kristi followed us out and we got on the road at 5:10. Kristi’s next contraction started at 5:12, just as we were pulling onto the highway.
On 290, Kristi told me not to drive so fast. I was only doing about 70 at the time, but the very real non-Braxton Hicks contractions only inclined me to drive faster. Between Chappell Hill and Hempstead there is a long straight stretch of road just after the Brazos river. It was on this stretch of road that I got to live out every expectant father’s movie-like fantasy. I blew past a Sheriff’s Deputy doing about 80 miles an hour. The Sheriff kicked on his headlights and began to pursue, slowly at first, then closer and faster as I proceeded without pulling over. After what seemed like a few minutes (but in reality was probably only 30 seconds), I pulled over. The officer pulled up very close to the rear of the car. I started to open the door, but Kristi said “don’t get out! You’ll get shot!!!” So I rolled down the window instead and stuck my entire upper body out of the window. The officer was just getting out of his car. Behind his bright spotlight I could see a bald head. I yelled to the officer, “MY WIFE IS IN LABOR!” The officer yelled back “okay, go ahead! But turn on your hazards!” So I turned on my hazard lights and was soon cruising down the highway again at 90 miles per hour.
Kristi’s contractions were getting closer together and more intense. Kayci sat in the back seat, wide awake, listening to Mommy breathing heavily and watching Daddy drive. She did a great job. By the time we reached Cypress, Kristi’s contractions were about three minutes apart. All of the stress of the morning had not done good things to my stomach and I began getting some sharp cramps. It soon became clear that I was going to have to stop to find a restroom – and fast – or it was going to get really messy in the car. It was just after 5:30am and the only thing open was a Starbucks. I pulled up, jumped out and ran inside just as Kristi began another contraction. I ran into the restroom, sat down and began doing my business as quickly as possible. Just then, I heard someone coming down the hall and the door handle move. I called out “there’s someone in here” just as one of the female baristas walked in and froze like a deer in headlights. I apologized and hurried up back to the car, never making eye contact on my way out. It was a quick pit stop, but one which only seemed to fit in with how the day seemed to be going. So far, almost everything in our “worst case scenario” plans had been coming through.
Luckily, all this was happening on a Saturday morning so the roads were fairly clear. There were a few morons who don’t know to get out of the way of somebody coming up on your tail with their hazards on – even when you flash your brights at them. So I had to do a little creative driving. Luckily, I learned to drive in Houston and am well practiced in Houston freeway driving. Cruising down the freeway at 80 miles per hour with the hazards on, people were actually passing us up. So I turned off the hazards and just tried to stay out of THEIR way.
It took just over an hour to get to Women’s hospital from Brenham – surely not a record, but quite a feat nonetheless considering we had made two stops. By the time we got to the hospital Kristi’s contractions were less than two minutes apart and were getting quite a bit stronger. Kristi began sobbing during some of them, which caused Kayci to tell her grandmas later, ” Mommy was crying, but I tried my best not to listen.”
We grabbed the bare essentials – Kristi wanted me to carry in all the bags right then, which prompted a little spat in the valet driveway – and headed upstairs. The nurses conducted Kristi, me and Kayci into a birthing room. Kristi had called all the grandparents – her mom and dad, my dad and my mom as we left Brenham an hour before to let them know that they were on their way to the hospital. Somehow, we beat all three sets of parents to the hospital, which meant that Kayci had to sit in the room and watch Kristi in labor for a few minutes before I took her out in the hall to wait. She was so calm. She stayed out of the nurses’ way and just watched everything that was going on. What a big girl! Kristi’s mom and dad finally arrived and took Kayci to the waiting room.
Meanwhile, the nurses were asking Kristi questions and having her sign papers. It was a little frustrating to watch nurses doing paperwork with a woman in labor right in front of them. Kristi’s contractons were very strong by this point and about thirty seconds apart. After what seemed like forever (but what was probably only about ten minutes) they took Kristi to a room to get an epidural. They gave me a pair of scrubs and conducted me to a waiting room where I sat and waited and sent text messages to pass the time until they came to get me.
A few minutes later, they came and told me that it was time. I followed the nurse around the corner to an operating room where Kristi was laying on the table with doctors and nurses all around her. Kayci was born in the same way four years ago, but it all felt a little new again. I didn’t know where to stand. I didn’t know what to do. They offered me a chair, but I knew I didn’t want to sit. So I stood and watched the procedure. And a few minutes later, Noble was born. He began crying instantly – and loudly. And one of the first things he did was stretch out his arms all the way. Impressive wing span!
So that’s the story. Everyone is doing well, and Noble is growing very well. People ask us who he looks like, and the funny thing is is that he looks just like Kayci when she was born – right down to the shape of his head and his “stork bite” birthmark. So it looks like we’ve got another baby who is a really good mix of the two of us.
- James
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