Wow... What a ride!

On Tuesday, July 14th, I got a call at about 1:15PM from my mother.  For the past month, I was told that my mother was going to call me right after she hears that Jina's going into labor.  When I received that call, my first question as soon as I answered was, "Is this THE call?!" She laughed and kindly replied, "Yes." Then I felt a rush right up my back as I got all excited that my sister was in labor.

Of course, I didn't rush to the hospital immediately as I wanted to... I was in a meeting with the Burlington Free Press showing a video with the staff about the United Nations project:  Electronic Game to End Violence against Women.  After that, I got pulled in to another interview with a radio show talking about another game we've been working on for kids with Cystic Fibrosis.  And RIGHT after that, I was following up with students about other important projects at the EMC.  3 to 4 hours later of perpetual feeling to run over to the hospital, with every minute feeling longer than necessary, I finally got picked up by Corinn and we head over to Burger King to get poor Nate his 5:30PM lunch.

When we finally arrived, many of us were waiting in the room anticipating more, positive news.  Nate was a trooper and gave us updates almost every half hour!  He was totally cool and calm.  Armed with so much medical information and labor knowledge, we were impressed!  I felt he was missing his doctor's white coat with clipboard!

"Hello, I'm Dr. Couture at your service...!"

As anticipation grew amongst the crowd, so did Jina's contractions.  At one point... she went through a contraction that lasted 1 1/2 hours!!!  I have NO idea what that would be like and am not aware of any other woman who had to endure that much stress and physical activity before!  Despite this, things seemed to go smoothly.  By 12AM the next morning, Corinn, My mom, Nate's Mom, Beth and Michelle (Jina's friends), and I were the half left waiting.  Nate came in and informed us that we should probably leave as the doctors were predicting a 7AM birth.  All of us were stubborn and wanted to stay to represent our support for both of them.

"Where's the baby?!?!"

When 2:30PM just about rolled around, Beth was finally tired and decided to leave, and since we did not seen Nate for about 2 1/2 hours, she decided to call the Nurse and ask if she could get an update as she was about to leave.  When the Nurse came back, she said, "The soon to be Father said, 'Hold on a little longer...'" We all looked at eachother and the lack of sleep immediately left our eyes.  We were so excited and waited until Nate came to open the door for the last time to let us into the room where Jina and the little one staid. 

"Common guys... Come and see the work that Jina and I did!"

Because I was asked to keep photos off of the web, especially our blog, for their privacy, I unfortunately cannot share all the photos that I wanted... But thought that I'd at least let one slip through for your viewing pleasure:

Thank you Jina and Nate for allowing us to participate in this very special moment and we look forward to spoiling Anastasia rotten. 

Today was the long awaited, much anticipated baby shower for Jina!  Vanessa had put together quite a crew of helpers, and we were all at St. Francis Xavier school at noon to get ready.  Vanessa had recruited Nate's mom, Patty, and most of Jina's former bridesmaids (myself and Nate's sister, Krista, included) to set up the room.  The guests were due to arrive around 1:30, so we started setting up tables, arranging gifts, flowers, cakes, silverware, etc.  Vanessa arrived around 1:00 with almost all of the food!  She and Patty had also put together some awesome photo collages of Nate and Jina's lives:

Guest of honor was due to arrive at 2:00, and everyone else knew about the shower, including Nate, but her.  Fortunately, Jeff and Patti (Nate's best man and his wife - also a former bridesmaid) were up for the weekend for the St. Mike's reunion.  They had spent the morning visiting with Nate and Jina and had convinced them to come to Colchester to visit another friend.  Just as they were getting ready to depart, Jina started having some minor contractions.  Occassional contractions are nothing new for this lady - she has them generally a few times a day for less than an hour.  Since the party was for Jina, and since we didn't actually want the baby to arrive BEFORE the shower, everyone waited patiently for things to settle down.

Fortunatley our ace in the hole was able to update me via text message about their delay and arrival status.  When we heard they were just around the corner, all of the ladies attending the shower rushed out to the front of the school, where Nate neatly pulled up and deposited his wife.

It took us forever to get her inside and sitting down!  Jina greeted and hugged every person at the shower and even spent a little time looking around the room and at all the photos.  Vanessa had also decorated the room with art work Jina had done in elementary school and a college of children's books and baby clothes.  Once Jina was settled we did some introductions around the room and each one of Jina's former bridesmaids offered small speeches with bits of advice (from those who are mothers) and well wishes.  Then it was time to eat!  As you can imagine, Vanessa put out quite the spread!  There was WAY too much food, but everyone enjoyed it hardily and had no trouble going for seconds.

After lunch Jina did her best to open all of the gifts that had been brought - and there were quite a few!  She received almost everything on her registry, including a few homemade treasures from family members - highlights were hand knit blankets and hats from Nate's Grandmother and a wooden toy chest by Aunt Diana.  By the end of the gifts it was late in the afternoon and most of the guests had to head out.  Vanessa had invited the boys to join us for cake, so Nate, Ray and Jeff arrived to do some damage to the food and help with the clean up.

Poor lady - Jina started having contractions almost as soon as the gift opening was complete!  When she arrived we had joked with her that she only needed to make it through opening the presents before she had the baby - and then we could send the cake with her to the hospital!  While it didn't come to that, she did end up making a visit to the ER, just to check things out.  They put her on a bit of bed rest, and after about 36 HOURS the contractions did finally stop!

Overall we were all thrilled that the shower ended up as a surprise, and I know that Jina was touched and excited to see so many family and friends there to celebrate.  We are so excited to meet Anastasia - now that the shower is over, she can come any time! 

I’m going to be an UNCLE!!! 

"Wait... whaaaa?!  Can I be an uncle too?!" - Jason

Yes Jason, you will be an Uncle too! 

So, long story short, my sister is due in July (the projected date of the 13th is on the cow plot)!!!  At Thanksgiving this past year, Nate and Jina announced the excellent news by Jina taking off her sweatshirt, revealing a NY Giants helmet on a white t-shirt with an arrow pointing down to her tummy and words stating “Future little Giants fan”.  The revealing, by the way, apparently was REALLY subtle… So subtle that Corinn stood in stunned silence with her eyes bugging out looking back at my blank-faced family and confused friends for a good 10 seconds.  She wanted to hug my sister, but was frustrated that both my parents on either side of Jina and Nate had not recognized the subtle announcement.  Finally, Corinn decided to SUBTLY drop the hint and blurted out “SO JINA, DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO TELL US?!”

“I’M PREGNANT!” Said my sister with a huge grin on her face!

(highly detailed view of the ultrasound.  Notice how the helmet is starting to form...) 

My parents soaked up the message and before I knew it, my mom’s talking about how Jina needs to do x, y and z, while turning to me and focusing on how I need to immediately get life insurance so I can cover the condo, car, loans, etc.  I was wide eyed; I turned to Dan, one of my student workers from the EMC who joined us, and told him that I didn’t plan any of this.  Meanwhile, our friends and two students from the college were diligently eating the goodies in awkward silence while the talk that dominated the table was all about baby stuff... lot’s and lot’s of focus was towards baby... stuff...

"You mean I won't be the baby of the house anymore?" - Merlin

Wow...

...

I’m going to be an uncle?

...

How the heck did this happen?

Yeah, yeah, yeah… I know how IT happened (I did take a biology class or two, Googled it and I verified it on Wikipedia), but what I really meant was it feels like this event should be years from now, but not NOW!  It kind of feels like one of those “life comes at you fast” commercials of which you see on TV all the time.  I feel like I haven’t accomplished enough in life for this to happen… I almost feel like I should have been the one to have the first kid of my siblings (being the older one).  But Corinn and I decided to hold off on the baby thing so we can experience life and obtain our graduated degrees (I’m slacking on that objective so far). 

I cannot begin to comprehend how I’ll react once I see the newborn.  Am I supposed to sense something like a light switch being flicked on that says, “I’m an Uncle!”?

I imagine it’ll be a phenomenal feeling, but the uncle thing won’t hit me until I see proof of concept. 

"The baby's going to look like me!!!" - Nate

Until then, Corinn and I are preparing funds for an attack to spoil the kid rotten to get back at Jina for all those years of pain and suffering being her older brother.  Corinn will work on training the kid to enjoy Dallas Cowboys Football while I will teach the kid ninja tricks so he/she flips out and kicks Nate for no good reason. 

(Congrats Jina, I'm proud of you.  Love ya lots...)

So today was full of fun surprises!  Around 4:45 this afternoon, I was doing my homework, and I heard a knock on the door.  Low and behold, it was my parents!  They had come up for a surprise visit for my birthday!  Turns out my husband had been up to a wee bit of planning: a family dinner was planned a Junior's Italian Restaurant with my folks, Vanessa, Nate and Jina and then at 10:00 we were meeting friends for a bit of bowling!  Big smiles all around!

Dinner was great; it was wonderful getting to visit with everyone and the food was yummy!  Ray came a wee bit late, as he was finishing the final touches on my birthday cake.  This is an annual tradition: every year Ray makes me a delectable confection for my birthday.  This year did not disappoint, it was both yummy and beautiful!

After dinner we had a bit of time to spare, so we headed back to the house with Nate, Jina and my parents.  We chatted until it was time to go and then headed over to Spare Tim (formerly Yankee Lanes) for some bowling action!  Ironically, my parents had been playing Wii bowling this afternoon while I was finishing my homework.  Due to the late hour, they opted to stay at home for the real deal.  As we very quickly discovered, Wii bowling skills do not translate to real bowling skills.

We had a great group!  I think we talked (and ate) more than we bowled, but we certainly did have fun!

Tonya and Jami came, and brought excellent ice cream to compliment the chocolate and raspberry cake Ray had made.  They also brought Sesame Street plates, which appropriately reflected my new age (well, maybe my mental age).  Sarah and Jay came, and as expected, Jay had the best score on our game.  He couldn't just let the Birthday Girl win?!

Jen (VSC's Stage Manager) and Evan (her boyfriend) came out as well.  Today was the first day of tech, and Jen had JUST gotten out of work around 10:00 and had easily put in a 12+ hour day.  For all you theatre folk out there, you know how incredible it was that she made the trip!  While Jen and Evan didn't bowl, they did eat cake (which was practically required) and were excellent company.  Evan was a bit camera shy, but Jen was a good sport.

Nate and Jina even stayed out waaaay past their bed times to hang with us.  I think Nate came for the cheese and gravy fries....

Since the bowling alley has recently changed hands (or at least changed names) ALL of the shoes were new!  I was struck by the color-spectacular that Ray's shoes and the floor made!

On Lane 34 we had a game of Corinn, Danielle, Ray, Sarah and Jay (and a little bit of Ken helping everyone out).  Remember what I said about Jay before?  Here he is in action!

One pin left!

In Lane 35 we had Nate, Jina, Tony and Jami.  While Jami is flaunting her mad bowling skills, ultimately it was Tonya who took the night.  No one in my game broke 100 (but to be honest, I think we were distracted by the cake).  EVERYONE in the other game broke 100, with Tonya having the high score of the night!  Look, she's so proud!

An excellent time was had by all!  Unfortunately, Galatic Bowling started at 11:30, and we were not allowed to stay (for reasons that are as of yet still unclear).  Fortunately, there was a small arcade in the bowling alley, and I have friends who know how to play video games!

Danielle took me on in air hockey (twice) and whooped my butt (twice)!  Again, no love for the Birthday Girl?  Actually, I'm terrible at air hockey, and have a somewhat reasonable/somewhat silly fear that I'm going to hurt myself (because I did once).  It might add a tiny bit of "timid" into my game.  The first game was a shut out, but in the second game I held my own (you know, I scored almost half what D did).

Jami and Tonya also took on the air hockey table.  I can't remeber who won their game, but this is Tonya's fiercest competitor face!

Beside air hockey, popular games were shooting games, driving games and skeet-ball (I totally beat Ray!).  Sarah took on the Big Africa Safari Hunt game, that girl knows how to hold a rifle! I wonder if the game was more meaningful since she'd actually eaten some of the animals she was shooting....

I don't quite think Ray understands how this game works.... but Ken sure does!  That must be some serious kick-back if he needs both arms to shoot!

Danielle took the first stab at the driving game, which she claimed is her favorite.  Isn't this the look she always has when she's driving?

As Sarah is so kindly demonstrating, some of the games spit out tickets.  The group was super sweet and pooled their tickets and gave them all to me!

There were a bevy of prizes to select from, and I had 81 tickets to burn, so I selected carefully.  I was able to get three prizes:

my completely adorable be-beanied mini-rubber ducky, an adorable frog finger puppet, which I gave to Tonya to add to her collection,

and a dark green rubber snapper, which I gave to Ray, and he played with for about 15 minutes and then promptly lost.  Probably for the better, as he was describing several ways to torture the cat with it. 

It was about 1:00 am when we finally headed out in the sub-zero night to let our cars warm up and head to our beds.  It was an AWESOME evening, and I had so much fun!  It was so sweet of Ray to plan all of this, and so cool that people came out in the freezing weather to hang out, eat cake and bowl a little bit.

A big shout-out to Danielle and Tonya and Jami, who all took photos at the par-tay and were kind enough to let me post them here.  Some of these were taken by these fine ladies, so thanks!