Introducing Noa (continued)

Not much time here, but I'll take a stab at squeezing out an entry.

To wrap up the story of Noa's birth:

we got to the hospital, Dana was already transitioned, her contractions were strong but not quite close enough together to have the baby in the lobby. a little while longer (3 hours) she was ready to go, and our doctor came into the room looking like she was still dreaming, since I had woken her in the middle of the night with a phone call.

Dana gave one gigantic push, and Dr. Solomon noticed that the crown of the baby's head was already visible. She commanded her to stop pushing to give her enough time to get her gloves on, but Dana ignored that (who wouldn't? Hey Tom, just hold that ball of fire with your bare hands while I check my email.. then I'll splash water on it). The next push popped the head out completely, a blue mess of flesh and hair that I was supposed take to the park someday. All the while, the doctor had one gloved hand under baby's head to support it, and the other was frantically motioning to the nurse, accompanied by the most serious facial expression I'd ever witnessed, to put the @#!@%#% glove on. (no curse words were used, mind you) She noticed that the umbilical cord was wrapped around baby's neck, and the doctor performed a series of ninja-like moves with her scissors to cut the cord, then suctioned out mucous and pulled baby fully into the outside world. There was a moment of silence during which my heart sank, but shortly thereafter the baby (yet un-named) began to cry it's first cry, filling it's lungs for the first time with the refreshing natural scents of––a hospital.

Next one we're delivering in the woods.

We had a short list of names, and after ruling out Broome Hilda, we decided on Noa, which means movement in Hebrew. Noa turned six weeks old yesterday and she is no longer blue, but she is getting more hairy as the days pass. Her older sister Sofia likes to occasionally kick her, and she threw a tennis ball that bounced right on the soft spot of Noa's skull. But other than that, Sofi shows much love and affection to her new little sister.