Madison Victoria!

I will cut to the chase right away. Early Thursday morning at 2:19 AM weighing in at 6 lb. 11 oz. the Hunny Bunny gave birth to a beautiful and healthy baby girl, Madison Victoria. The Hunny Bunny and Little Bunny Foo Foo are both doing great and napping whilst I type quietly. The following is a timeline of the incredible 24 hours leading up to the most wonderful event in our married lives...

Wednesday November 19th, 2008

0600 hours: Alarm sounds. I stumble not out of bed. But off the couch. A couch in Los Angeles, CA. Yes, I am not in Tucson. Today is a big day for a Residency Interview. One of my top choices. I'm excited.

0610 hours: Text message. "Say a prayer for me my belly hurts. I think its just gas but won't go away".

0611 hours: Underwear change.

0612 hours: Phone call to the Hunny Bunny. Reassures me that she is doing ok. Encourages me to go to my interview. I remind you at this point in time 5 days prior she was less than 1cm dialated and has had very few contractions to this point. Also, we are still 2 entire weeks until our due date.

0615 hours: Begin preparing for my interview. Shower, shave, wax, pluck, practice social smile and eyebrow raise in mirror with no shirt on. Read my CV one last time.

0740 hours: An entire hour and 20 minutes before the interview I'm out the door to sit in traffic. Yippee. Stupid LA traffic.

0745 hours: Phone call to the Hunny Bunny. The pain this morning were irregular contractions. "False Labor" as we call it in the business. They are going away at this point. A good thing. Underwear changes are much more difficult in a suit.

0850 hours: Arrive at the interview. Meet fellow interviewees. My suit is the most Mack Daddy in the room. Life is good.

0900 hours: Interview officially starts. Tour of the hospital, meet the faculty, lunch with the residents, 6 individual interviews with faculty members. So far so good.

0950 hours: Text message. "The belly pain is gone. Heading into work".

0951 hours: Sigh of relief.

1400 hours: Text message the Hunny Bunny to see how she is doing. Still no belly pain. Life is still good.

1700 hours: Interview concludes. All in all an awesome day. Rocked the interviews out of the park. Told the residents I would see them in the morning for a couple of hours so I can come back and hang out.

1705 hours: Traffic.

1706 hours: Elated phone call to the Hunny Bunny talking about my interview. As we were talking on the phone, (Gulp) irregular contractions start again.

1800 hours: Arrive at dinner. Great to send spend time with the family I lived with during my away rotations. Bottle them with a delicious carne asada burrito...and you have something sweeter than Yoo-Hoo.

1830 hours: The Hunny Bunny phones again. This time there is a little panic in her voice. She is now having contractions every 15 minutes. She quietly states, "I want you to come home now". I hang up the phone look everyone at the dinner table and tell them my trip is going to be cut short, I have a baby to catch.

1831 hours: Underwear change.

1930: Back at the house. Grab my bag call my airlines. I frantically tell the woman on the phone my story. She is excited to help me find a flight. "1000am tomorrow morning is the soonest I can get you there." You have got to be kidding me. I begin to loose my patience. I tell her to search all the LA airports to get me back to Tucson. "This is very weird" she states, "There must be something going on in LA...the last flight out was at 630pm." I couldn't believe it. Nobody could get us there. We thought she was just slow, so to confirm I looked quickly online. She was right. Nothing. I had but one choice...start driving.

1931 hours: Underwear change.

1932 hours: Hop in the rental car and start speeding.

1935 hours: Back on I-10 heading home. My cell phone battery is dying. I am ordered by the Hunny Bunny to get a charger. I stop at the closest Best Buy and buy a car charger (which I exchanged the next day for another memory card). I'm on my way baby. Make sure your sitting with your legs crossed.

2030 hours: Contractions are getting stronger and closer together.

2031 hours: Underwear change. Yes I am in the rental car and no I didn't have to pay extra for the stain.

2130 hours: The Hunny Bunny's waters break. Now she is worried I won't make it back in time. The feeling is now mutual.

2145 hours: Contractions are 8 minutes apart. Our friend arrives at the house to pick her up. My mom is en route to meet them at the hospital.

2230 hours: Phone call from my wife's driver. Had trouble placing an IV (still not sure how you struggle to find veins on a pregnant woman, but thats neither here nor there). After her IV she is 3cm dilated but still having regular contractions. Contrary to our previous decision, she opts for the epidural.

2231 hours: Praise God, I think to myself. At 3cm and her first child, she won't be delivering for awhile. I notice on my speedometer the needle just went from 95mph to 90mph.

2235 hours: The Hunny Bunny is getting her epidural. I call MarkyV for a late night pep-talk. We covered becoming a father for the first time, the debacle of season the UofA Basketball team is having, and take bets on what color her eyes will be. "Good talk Russ".

2345 hours: Caller ID says "Hunny Bunny". When I answer it is my mom this time. "She is COMPLETE". (GULP). You have got to be kidding me. How on earth does a first time mother go from 3cm to 10cm in less than an hour. They couldn't even pass a catheter because the baby was on her way down the birth canal. Oh this girl is so grounded when she comes out.

2346 hours: The Hunny Bunny gets on the phone. We both know I can't make it back now. But thanks to the marvel of technology, I can still be her coach via SPEAKERPHONE!

2350 hours: It starts to hit me that I am hours away from being a father. I'm somewhere near the California border, but I couldn't be happier.

Thursday November 20th, 2008

0100 hours: Its pushing time. Even via speakerphone, I'm a great Labor and Delivery coach. The Hunny Bunny is lucky to have me. Mind you, I'm even luckier having her.

0200 hours: The baby is THERE! The doctor is dragging his feet getting to the hospital (doctors kill me sometimes). The Hunny Bunny is in a holding pattern waiting for him. Can you imagine. If she was able to push, this baby would have been out in an hour. I'm gonna check the world record books for the fastest labor times.

0205 hours: A photo-radar camera in PHX takes my picture breaking the land speed record in a Chevy Cobalt. I can't help but laugh. Everyone in the hospital finds it just as hilarious.

0219 hours: The Baby is Out! Madison Victoria enters the world! Eighteen inches and 6lbs 11.4oz of beauty.

0225 hours: The Placenta is Out! The Hunny Bunny finally understands why I call it the Jellyfish.

0230 hours: Momma and baby are doing great.

0300 hours: Baby's first meal starts.

0400 hours: Baby's first meal ends.

0401 hours: Poppa Bear is here! I lay eyes on the most magnificent little girl ever! Brown hair, blue eyes, skin like her mothers. She is adorable. Thank goodness she doesn't look like her father!

0430 hours: I get the honors of giving Little Bunny Foo Foo her first bath and put on her first diaper. Did I mention she is incredible?

0500 hours: With 8 hours behind the wheel and 4 hours of active labor behind us. We couldn't be more happy (or tired). We make it up to our room, kiss Madison goodnight and all three of us for the first time go to sleep together. Nothing went according to our birth plan, but it ended more perfectly than we could have ever imagined. Even though she is grounded...she already has her Dadddy wrapped around her tiny little fingers.



Proud Mommy and Daddy after my long drive in.



She loves to sleep like Daddy! Finally get to hold Little Bunny Foo Foo.



How am I ever going to ground a face like this.

Derrieres & Destiny

Well I've been on vacation for an entire week now and I have yet to have anything to show for it. I continue my escapades on the interview trail in sunny California again next week. But until that time, I sit around all day and wait for the Hunny Bunny to come home so I can rub her belly.

However, on an unrelated note...a couple of weeks ago I jumped ship to California again for a couple of days. This time to Monterey. It was a pretty awesome place. It was cold and foggy the second day but lots scenery to take it. The main reason I was there was to present my research on bladder cancer. I got to make a giant poster, dress up in my monkey suit, and answer questions to enquiring Urologists. It was a blast. The atmosphere was a lot of fun. All the people I worked with over the summer were in attendance so it was good shooting the breeze and catching up. The best part was the "open bar" on opening night. All the kids from a very prestigious residency were a little tipsy. Hopefully I won brownie points with that crowd because due to their shenanigans, I may have alienated myself from all the other programs there (sigh). I doubt this fact since I saw everyone else hitting the bottles of wine pretty hard so they probably won't remember anything that transpired that night. Doctors are funny drinkers (chuckle).

With all of those stories aside there was basically only one reason why I went to Monterey. It wasn't to boost my resume, network with the Big Wigs of Urology, or even beg on my knees in front of multiple residency directors for a spot in their programs. Although I did all of these things that weekend, I had a bigger quest to perform. A quest to visit the one and only, Pebble Beach. I get goosebumps just thinking about this place. Tiger, Jack, Arnold...the history of that course is incredible. My hotel was a mere 5 miles from the course. As soon as I unpacked I ran downstairs, hopped in a taxi and headed towards the course. As we spiraled up the hill, the fog began to set in. I thought of Tiger's US Open while he hit shot after shot in the fog. I was giggling in the taxi cab. As I hopped out of the cab I took it all in. The smell of damp grass, the Rolex clocks scattered about, and yes...the Asian tourists (seriously, they are everywhere with their Nikon cameras and oversized visors). I started off down the 18th fairway. As I got to the tee box, one image sat out in my mind and I had to do my best to replicate it.





I'm actually crying as I finish this post. It was so beautiful. Think about it. My butt has touched the same place Nicklaus' butt has touched. It almost makes us soul mates. Or better yet...Blood Brothers, bound by the same love of striking a pose on old wooden fences. I love you Jack. That was truly incredible. One day I will be back. And next time I'm taking my clubs. I will sell off my Best Man Badge if i have to in order to afford the $500 greens fees. But I will be back because my derriere longs for yours Jack...