Thursday, September 30, 2004


Jamie Ling Say - Day 1 Posted by Hello

Welcome Jamie Say!

BERKELEY, CA -- Jamie Ling Say was born, 8:00 PM, Thursday, September 30, 2004.

Jamie weighed in at 8 pounds, 4 ounces and measured 21 inches at birth.

It was a very exciting, funny, sometimes painful day with a wonderful ending.

Sept 29 -- 7:00 PM
After dinner, Jackie experiences light twinge in abdomen.

Jackie: Ouch.

Philip: Is it “game time?”

Jackie: Um…don’t think so

Philip: I better set Outlook to “Out of Office”

Sept 30 -- 5:00 AM
Quiet night, quickly changes.

Jackie: Ouccchhhhhhhh

Philip: Is this it!!!???

Jackie: No, my leg is cramping. Can you massage it?

Philip: Sure honey…snnzzzzzzzz

Sept 30 -- 7:00 AM
Water, water everywhere.

Ella: Mommy, did you have an accident? I had an accident in my diaper too.

Jackie: Ouuuuuchhh.

Philip: On a scale of 1-10 how would you describe the pain?

Jackie: How should I know? Questions like that are for those who’ve been through this before.

Jackie’s Mom: You better go to the hospital…..


Sept. 30 – 8:30 AM
A man and his wife.

John Girard, MD: Hi, I’m the on-call doctor this morning. I just heard the funniest joke. This man confides in his Rabbi, “Rabbi, my wife tried to poison me last night.” The Rabbi says, “Really? Let me speak to her and find out why.” Few hours later, the Rabbi returns to the man and says, “Listen, I just spent three hours speaking with your wife and here is my advice. Take the poison.”

Jackie: Ouchhhhhhhh….

Sept. 30 – 10:30 AM
How much pain can you take.

Sandy Martin RN: Now, you know, you can always have an epidural.

Jackie: AHHHHHH…..Um….let me try to get through this.

Philip: Are you sure honey? This isn’t a dare and you don’t get extra points for the pain.

Sept. 30 – 10:45 AM
Good deal.

Anesthesiologist: There, you should start feeling better soon…good deal.

Jackie: Will I feel any contractions?

Anesthesiologist: A little pressure, but no spikes…..it’s a good deal.

Jackie: Thanks.

Anesthesiologist: Your welcome…..good deal.

Sept. 30 – 11:30 AM
529’s vs. Coverdell’s

Jackie: Honey, listen to this….a Coverdell educational savings account offers advantages to those saving for college with a gross household income of less than $200,000. It says here that you can save up to $2000 annually, on a tax-free basis, gain great flexibility in types of investment assets and apply the saving for elementary, high school and college education….what do you think of this?

Philip: Don’t you think you should try to get some rest?

Jackie: Oh yeah….

Sept 30 – 3:30 PM
8 cm and counting

Nancy Martin, RN: Wow, you’re at 8 cm. My shift is going to end in two hours and I can’t do overtime because my husband is out of town and my son has a cub scout meeting at 6:30. Why don’t we start pushing? I really want to see this baby.

Jackie: Honey, can your read this article? It says something here about the little known advantages of investing in annuities. Don’t I have one of those? What does this mean?

Philip: Um…I think it can wait.

Sept 30 – 5:30 PM
Pushing really starts.

Jackie: My neck is killing me….

Philip: Here let me give you a little massage.

Jackie: It takes labor for you to volunteer your neck massages?

Sept 30 – 7:30 PM
All bets settled.

Philip: Well, everyone is officially out of the pool, except me. Jackie you had 6:45, Dr. Foley (Jackie’s OB) had 7:15 and Nancy (the RN) had 5:45. I’m the only one left at 8:15.

Jackie: I’m not sure I can take this…….

Loretta (new delivery nurse): OK, Jackie, you’re doing great. Now just pretend you’re trying to shoot this baby through the ceiling. That’s the feeling I want you to think about…

Philip: That could be messy, don’t you think?

Sept 30 – 7:58 PM
Top of the hour.

Dr. Wharton: You’re doing great Jackie…..just one more push.

Jackie: mmmmmmhhhhhh…

Philip: [silence]

Dr. Wharton: Time of birth 20:00. Congratulations. It’s a girl.


Epilogue
I am blessed that Jamie and Jackie arrived in good health. Birth is the definitive mind-blowing experience for a father and husband- a complex emotional cocktail of joy and terror.

Why Jamie? Well, because it sounds good. That’s been my canned answer. Try saying Frances Say three times fast. You start sounding like a rattlesnake.

Why Ling? Ling in Chinese means harvest or autumn moon and it is a part of Jackie’s mom’s name (Sou-ling).

How is big sister, Ella coping? So far, so good. Time will tell though. There are a number of really great children’s books that tell stories on this subject. Just ask if you are interested in the titles or authors.