May 1, 2011

Birth Story: Crafty

Crafty was born in September of 2000. The Summer Olympics were in full swing and I was very happy to have something to watch on TV during the long hours I had to wait during her induction. I don’t know why I have so much trouble trying to have a baby by myself, but for some reason, I can’t make it happen without plenty of Pitocin flowing through my veins. My doctor is the coolest because he always wants to be present at every birth. He doesn’t have any partners, so he schedules inductions in the late evening so the babies will be born during the night and he won’t have to interrupt his office hours. I have no idea when or if he sleeps!

We showed up at the hospital on the appointed day at about 4:00 in the afternoon. Things were relatively slow and it wasn’t long before I was changed into my pretty hospital gown and hooked up to all the necessary machines. My doc showed up about 6:00 and broke my water, but things were still moving pretty slowly so he took off and offered to return in the wee hours for the delivery. We switched on the Olympics and hunkered down to wait.

I love the Olympic games! I’ve never wanted to be that kind of athlete, but I can appreciate the hard work and dedication required to get where they are. We watched basketball, swimming, and diving. Then we saw some great footraces. As the evening drew on, the sports got stranger and stranger. About 1:00 a.m., the Greco-Roman wrestling began. We had never heard of that sport, but we knew an American was supposed to be pretty good, so we were interested in watching (besides, it’s not like we had anything better to do…). The Russian, Alexander Karelin had been undefeated for 13 years. He had not even had a point scored against him in six years! We were pretty sure that Rulon Gardner didn’t stand a chance, but we figured it would be entertaining.



The match began at 5 centimeters and by the time we got to 8, the nurses called my doctor. He was only a few minutes away and he arrived just in time for me to measure 10. As he walked into the room, he glanced up at the TV. Usually the nurse would switch it off about that time, but since Rulon was so close to victory (as was my little Crafty), we let it stay on. "Is he still winning?" asked the doctor as he scrubbed his hands in the little sink. "Yeah," my sweetie said. "We think he might get the gold!" The doc snapped on the gloves. "Yeah, he’s a good kid," he said. "How do you know?" I asked. "He’s from my hometown," he said, matter-of-factly. We all glanced at the TV. Rulon was still winning and the match was nearly over. "Did you know him?" I asked. The doc laughed. "Everybody knows everybody in Star Valley, Wyoming," he said.

Star Valley Panorama by Scott O. Smith

He opened his tools and spread them on the tray. "He was a little punk kid. We hauled hay together." Shortly after that Rulon won the gold (I guess he grew a little from his hay-haulin’ days), but we got the real prize…a beautiful little dark-haired, hazel-eyed girl. (Good job on Biggest Loser, Rulon!)
The Biggest Loser on NBC

4 comments:

IamTeach said...

Mom,
This really has nothing to do with anything... but I just wrote a blog and referenced your blog in it. So... you should send some readers my way because all eleven of my readers are comin' yours! (:
Oh, and I love Crafty!

Love you,
Teach

http://iamteach-teachme.blogspot.com/

Bill Lisleman said...

So Crafty is going to be 11. Has she followed Rulon career? That was a fun interesting story. Thanks for dropping a comment over on "A Few Clowns Short"

Mom of 12 said...

I hate to admit I don't think I told Crafty this part of the story until I wrote this blog. I'm not even sure she knows anything about him except that she was very excited to read the blog this morning!
Sandy

Nitisha said...

Such a beautifully big family, you have. Adorable. :)