Daphne McConnell Allen arrives
Daphne was born on March 21, 2006 at 5:43pm in Oakland, California. As you can see, she has an uncanny sense of numbers: 5:43 on 3/21 in '06. As any sensible person would, she waited until the Spring equinox to start the short, long journey from mommy's uterus to mommy's chest and environs. She just made it to Aries, but hopefully she'll have a touch of Pisces to mellow her out. Also, the Moon was in Sagittarius at birth, which makes for quite a combo with an Aries Sun.
Cortney's labor started at about 9:30pm on Milvia Street in Berkeley on March 20, this year's Spring equinox. Cortney and Ben were eager to meet their off spring (formerly known as "Sunshine"), so they decided that they should eat some Zachary's pizza with plenty of hots. Naveen and Emily came over with some fancy French wine to share Zachary's spinach & mushroom deepdish pie. It was a great dinner and produced the desired effect in Cortney.
Just after our company left and Ben dried the last dish, Cortney said: "Oh boy, that was a big one." After many practice contractions over the previous days, the main event was here.
The first contractions were about 6 minutes apart. They soon got closer together: 5 minutes apart, then 4, then 3. It all happened much faster than we though it would. During this phase of labor, we talked on the phone with Felicia, our great doula. Soon enough, Felicia came to our home to labor for a couple more hours. Then it was 1am, then 2am....Just before 3am we drove south a few miles to the hospital in Oakland. We were admitted upon arrival (thanks to Felicia's patience--without her, we would have drove back in forth between Oakland and Berkeley for hours). The hospital staff led us to labor room #6, which could just as easily be called labor suite #6! Here is a picture of the early labor team in our room.
By late morning, Cortney had labored for more than 12 hours and hadn't left her labor suite since arriving there. She asked Ben to take some quick photos of the outside just so she could see what Daphne's birthday looked like. As you can see from this south-west view from the baby-making floor of Kaiser Oakland, it was partly cloudy with a chance of rain. Of course, this describes just about every March day in the Bay Area, but it was nice to see that at least the weather was unpredictable as usual.
For those of you who have experienced birth, you'll probably agree that words aren't useful to describe it. For those of you who haven't, here's my attempt. Imagine the most amazing thing you've ever seen a human do. Then add to that the mystery of creation and the miracle of life. Then throw in a couple beautiful sunsets, a good meal, a Dylan Thomas poem and a couple inspirational tales. Add all that together, and you're close, but still a long way off.
I wish this picture below had sound, because it would be Daphne's first screams. It was her first, but just one in the long song of women and men that came before her. It was pretty great. Cortney called out Daphne's name when Kelly asked what it was, and that was that. Welcome to the world, Daphne McConnell Allen.
After a couple hours of "skin to skin" time with mommy, Daphne was washed, given some preventive medicines, and swaddled nicely (the nurses make it look so easy!). Then Dad (heretofore known simply as "Ben" or "Benjamin" or some clever nickname derived thereof) got to hold his little girl. I don't think I could ever be bored of looking at Daphne. There's a chance I'm bias, but I think she's just about the prettiest little baby I've ever seen.
We had a great supporting team with us at the hospital. Ben's brother Peter drove up I-5 the morning of from Santa Monica, making incredible (and probably illegal) time. Peter was really great--the morning after Daphne was born, he brought us good food, magazines, chocolate, a pack of baseball cards (for Daphne, who apparently loves the Red Sox) and a bottle of 18 year old Scotch. Here he is holding his niece and sporting a sweet LA beard.
Cortney's sister Kelly was great too. She was part of the small team that helped Cortney in the final stages of labor, along with Felicia, Ben and the hospital staff. Cortney was able to draw on Kelly's recent birthing experience, which happened just nine months ago and produced beautiful little Emma. Ben was happy to have his Sacramento brother Rob at the hospital for encouragement. Emma was also at the hospital and was an incredible reminder of what this day was all about: creating and eventually nurturing a miracle of nature.
It's going to be great to have Kelly and Rob so close for Cortney and Ben to spend time with as new parents. It's also going to be fantastic to have Emma and Daphne grow up so close in age. We've already talked about volleyball camps in Sacramento and trips to the shops and museums in the Bay area with the girls! Here is a picture of Kelly holding Daphne. Emma was so curious about her new "prima" and showed so much affection that Kelly had to remind her to use her "gentle touches" with Daphne.
We were so happy to have Cortney's family at the hospital as well. Cortney's mom Kathie was there. She's given Cortney so much encouragement during her pregnancy. Over the years, she's laid down a wonderful path in mothering for Cortney to follow. Cortney's Dad, Dan, and wife Gwenna were also there to support the NorCalAllens. Having done an excellent job raising his own two girls, Dan will hopefully give Ben plenty of advice in how to raise his beautiful baby girl.
The picture below really shows what this whole thing is about: family. We're going to do the best we can to raise Daphne well, but we know that family doesn't stop at the front door (just ask the Vellanoweths!). We'll look forward to introducing Daphne to the rest of her family in California, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New England, Old England, and beyond. And of course you're always welcome to see us in sunny Berkeley, known around here as the Athens of the West.
And now for some pictures of Daphne.
Here you can see her cute little lips. Looks like she inherited Cortney's mouth!
Thanks for reading. We'll be posting more as we go along. Now it's time to grab some sleep.
posted by NorCalAllens @ 7:35 PM
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