uncle brother

I'm an uncle!!!

My sister isn't due for another two weeks, so I wasn't expecting the call. But last night, just after 11, my mom called and said "This is it! Come on down to the hospital!" So I got dressed and set out. I was the first one of my family to arrive, since I live closest to my sister. My brother in law was there, of course, and was remarkably calm. The hospital room was really big, with a bathroom and couch and stuff. So there was plenty of room to just camp out.

Pretty soon after I arrived, the rest of the family showed up. And, as it turns out, even my grandma insisted on coming. But she's not really mobile, so she decided to just stay in the car and sleep until it was really time.

The contractions were kinda unsettling (more for my poor sister, I'm sure!!) It's weird to see somebody you're close to in pain. It's just so uncommon. But she was a trooper.

As these things sometimes go, it was a lot of "hurry up and wait." Eventually they made us all leave the room, because they were going to check out what was going on under the hood. And I most definitely did NOT want to see that. The hospital had a great cafeteria, so we did a lot of eating, a lot of People Magazine reading, and a lot of cat-napping.

It was really satisfying, around 4am, to email my boss and say "I'm not coming in to work today." You only get a few of those free passes, you know? Basically just when somebody is born or dies. Score!

Sometime after 6am, the real show started. The doctor made us leave the room again, but we just sat down in the hall outside the room so we could listen. But then a nurse came and shooed us away because we were a fire hazard. So we went away, and just my mom and sister went back to linger. The baby was born at 8:48am. A little girl! And she's perfect.

Apparently the first words she ever heard were my sister saying "OH SHIT!!!" Hahahahaha!!!

They got her all cleaned up and we went in to see her. It's an amazing thing to see a baby for the first time. Particularly one you'll be close to until the day you die. I kept thinking, "What will her first word be? What will her favorite subject be? Will she like to dance? Sing? Read? Act? Will she speak a foreign language? Will she have kids?" There's SO MUCH to look forward to! And it's amazing to think that she's completely unblemished. She has NEVER done anything wrong. Never made a poor choice. Never hurt someone (well, except my sister, but that doesn't count). Never had a sunburn. Never scraped her knee. She's brand new and perfect!

Everybody was cooing over how beautiful she is, but honestly, I don't see it. I mean, she looked kinda squished and discolored. But I guess that's normal. I'm just not used to newborn babies. I'll take their word for it that she's truly perfect. And she's healthy! And that's all that matters.

Hooray!!! What an exciting time! And her first cousin (my brother-in-law's sister's baby boy) was just born a month ago, also in LA. So they'll grow up together. How perfect! This is the first baby in our family, and we couldn't be more excited.

Since my sisters refer to me as "Brother", I'm going to be known as "Uncle Brother". Yay!!!