First Family Photo
Serenity Jane Marie Bury was born on May 25th, 2009 at 10:49am. She weighed 6 pounds 11.8 ounces and was 19 inches long.
The Big Day (Memorial Day 2009)
Crystal and I have been waiting since October 13th 2008 (it was a Monday) for our baby … that’s when we found out Crystal was pregnant. And the day was finally here.
I got up at 6am; Crystal slept in (probably conserving her energy *wink* *wink*). My Dad and Merrilee were down for the Memorial Day 3-day Weekend (they slept in their RV). My Mom (Sheri Bury) was still in ICU in Puyallup on life support.
We had beautiful weather that day and a gorgeous sunrise. I packed the truck, got the pups (Major & Daisy) ready for the day, talked to my Dad for a few minutes, got Crystal in the truck and off we went for our 8am appointment.
We arrived at the hospital and hustled to the 4th floor Family Birthing Center. Crystal wasn’t moving too fast due to being full term and sporting very swollen feet (poor honey). They gave us a room and a really cool nurse. The air felt electric with what we both knew was going to happen that day – we were going to meet Serenity face to face for the first time. We were both very excited! Would she be a large baby, hence being breech? Would she have brown hair like both Crystal and I thought?
They did another ultrasound to see if Serenity was still breech – she was. She had flopped from one side to the other over the weekend but not head down. They prepped Crystal and instructed me to adorn my nifty scrubs outfit. I was pretty excited/nervous. I was instructed to put our stuff in our room (415) on the other side of the floor then return and wait in the hall and the nurse would come and get me when they were ready. I guess I got confused because I tried to follow them into the operating room and the nursee had to treat me like a lost puppy … she was very nice though. She said very sweetly like she was speaking to a toddler, “You stay here, go put your stuff in the room and come back here.” I was just so excited.
I returned to the hallway (like a good boy) and waited. Another nurse instructed me to wait in a waiting room that was right there in the hall. It was a small room with windows facing the OR’s double doors that I saw Crystal and the nurse pass through earlier. I never took my eye’s off of those doors for more than 2 seconds. The room I was waiting in had a nice wood table that had been scribbled on by a toddler (I suspected), four chairs that didn’t match and (ironically) two waterbirth tubs on their side … with liners … all ready to go. There where a few magazines, a phone book and a phone that I didn’t touch. Time passed on and my mind began to wonder. Did they come out to get me and I missed them? Is something wrong? Did I get the instructions wrong?
The doors opened several times but not for me.
Then 45 minutes later there was our nurse. She ushered me back and walking in that room was rather surreal. There Crystal was on an operating table with a sheet blocking my view of what the doctors and nurses were doing. There were machines of every type, beeping and pinging. And several stations waiting for the baby’s arrival. I could kind of see what was going on in a reflection on an overhead light. It looked pretty amazing as they opened up Crystal’s tummy. I was surprised that it didn’t bother me. Later Crystal said she didn’t feel a thing but at the time all I saw was Crystal grimacing from what appeared to be the incisions they made.
Then I heard it.
Whhaaa err wwhhaaaa! Our baby girl was here. They popped her around the corner of the curtain and she was all bloody and cheesy but she was healthy and she was finally here.
They did their array of prep and tests on her while the doctors and nurses worked on Crystal. Serenity’s nurse bundled (swaddled) her and handed her to me to show Crystal. Crystal was overjoyed (of course). I felt kind of bad because through the entire process, Crystal could only lay there and watch while everything took place. I never saw Crystal take her eyes off of Serenity for even a moment.
After quite a while Serenity’s tests, shots and footprints were done and Crystal was all put back together. They scooted Crystal onto a 2nd bed to be wheeled out of the room. Finally mother and daughter were able to be reunited and Crystal held Serenity for the ride down the hall to the recovery room.
C-section wasn’t in our birth plan but neither Crystal nor I could care less … our baby Serenity was finally here and we are overjoyed!
