Amalia Sienna

It was about 11:30 pm when Laurence rolled into bed after his last blog entry, a Facebook update and a letter to Irini. Natalia had trudged to sleep a while earlier, if you want to call it that. She had been having contractions all day, and by that time of night they were coming at ever shorter intervals. Still, she insisted on staying home. Laurence turned off the lights of the small visitors' room and felt his way down the hallway, pushed the door open and tiptoed across the floor to pull the sheet aside. With one foot up onto the bed, Natalia, feeling the movement, turned and said, "I think it's time to go to the hospital". Alas, there is no rest for bloggers, it seems. :-)

Instead of bed preparations, the pre-packed hospital bag was picked up off the floor where it had been patiently waiting for a few days. We took a pillow and the necessary toothbrushes and such, and slowly made our way to the living room, the hallway, and beyond.

The trip to the hospital only lasted a few short moments at that time of night. The parking ticket read 12:04 am upon arrival. A few minutes of additional transit time - with necessary breaks for contractions - and we were finally in the delivery room.

The nurse on staff said the contractions were too far apart and not strong enough to signal that the baby was due any time soon, but we should settle in and expect to stay until the morning. She returned a little later to check on Natalia, and changed her ming, "this baby is coming out soon" she announced and rushed off to call the doctor. The doctor arrived a half hour later, looking sleepy but happy.

By 2:16 am the little one decided to make the move and get to know mom and dad. She arrived in the middle of the night, at a time so quiet and in such isolated circumstances that her birth is still vividly juxtaposed to Irini's. Where Irini had arrived to a mass of nurses and extended family and friends in the middle of the day Amalia Sienna arrived to no one more than mom and dad, a doctor and a nurse in the quietest of moments in the deep of the night. She was placed in an incubator, with no fanfare and no extensive exclamations of jubilation. She was quiet and looked around at the world which is now her home. What she saw as a very tired but content mommy and a father filled with tears.

Welcome to our lifes Amalia.