It was a pleasant Tuesday night, about 6:15pm. I was supposed to be at a public meeting, but I'm running late - luckily, I knew we have lots of helpful DOT and MTA staff there already. I stepped off the subway in downtown Jamaica, and immediately get a call from Rachel. Rachel doesn't call me at work very often, so as I'm answering, I'm already figuring it's not good news, and I'm looking around for cabs. Of course, I still was not quite prepared for a call that says "There's so much blood, I'm in an ambulance on the way to the hospital, Leo is with the neighbors". In retrospect, the really remarkable part was just how calm Rachel sounded - outside of the content of the call, she could have been reminding me to pick up milk on the way home.
Luckily, I found a yellow cab right away, and had a spirited discussion of the fastest way to Brooklyn Heights at rush hour (we decided to take Atlantic Avenue the whole way). I did call my mother to ask her to come take care of Leo (she called my father), and let Rachel's parents and sister know what was going on. I did not call anyone at DOT to have them turn all the lights green; probably not the best time to find out just how limited my power is at the agency. At some point along the way, Rachel called again to say that they were going to do an emergency c-section. I tried my best to be calming, but again, she sounded totally in control.
I also ordered sushi to the apartment from Seamless. If my parents were going to need to be there for an unknown period of time, at least they should be fed, right? Plus, I needed to do something sitting in the back of the cab - it was really a very helpless feeling.
By around 7pm, I'm back at our apartment building, shortly after my father got there. Leo is having a great time with the family down the hall (thank goodness toddlers are so flexible, right?), but amazingly the nanny from that family had cleaned up most of the blood from our apartment. Though just to be clear, even the remaining blood was a lot of blood. We're pretty sure that Leo isn't going to become Dexter, but if he does, we'll know what happened.
I did a quick change out of my suit, and headed straight out for the hospital. I may have been slightly out of it, since I had a very awkward conversation with a woman on the corner of Remsen and Clinton waiting for a taxi (Her: Looks like you are in a hurry - you go first; Me: [gestures to crosswalk], please go ahead, I'm waiting for a taxi; Her: No, you can really go first; Me [not getting that she was already waiting for a taxi] Look, you can go, the light is green; Her: I'm going to hold the door of this taxi for you and gesture for you to get in).
Extra transportation notes: 1. I can't remember the last time I took two taxis in a day - you know this was big stuff going down. 2. Over the next three days going back and forth between my apartment and the hospital, I would walk, bike, bus, drive, and take the subway, in addition to that first cab ride. The winner? Probably the subway outbound, the bus back, though Citi Bike was very competitive.
Anyway, I got to the hospital, and after being given a bit of a runaround (really Emergency Room, you couldn't let me just go into the hospital there, I needed to go around the corner?) I made my way to labor and delivery. Where I was pretty much the only person there. So, when an portable incubator rolled by, I had a pretty good idea of what was inside. The nurses were able to tell me that everything would be fine for baby and wife, but were somehow not able to say whether it was a boy or a girl (I mean really, it's not that hard to tell!). So I just waited in the hallway to accompany Rachel to recovery, asking each doctor that came out what was going on until one let slip that he could tell it was a boy.
I think from here the story is told - Rachel has been recovering fine, and Seth is a beautiful baby boy!
Luckily, I found a yellow cab right away, and had a spirited discussion of the fastest way to Brooklyn Heights at rush hour (we decided to take Atlantic Avenue the whole way). I did call my mother to ask her to come take care of Leo (she called my father), and let Rachel's parents and sister know what was going on. I did not call anyone at DOT to have them turn all the lights green; probably not the best time to find out just how limited my power is at the agency. At some point along the way, Rachel called again to say that they were going to do an emergency c-section. I tried my best to be calming, but again, she sounded totally in control.
I also ordered sushi to the apartment from Seamless. If my parents were going to need to be there for an unknown period of time, at least they should be fed, right? Plus, I needed to do something sitting in the back of the cab - it was really a very helpless feeling.
By around 7pm, I'm back at our apartment building, shortly after my father got there. Leo is having a great time with the family down the hall (thank goodness toddlers are so flexible, right?), but amazingly the nanny from that family had cleaned up most of the blood from our apartment. Though just to be clear, even the remaining blood was a lot of blood. We're pretty sure that Leo isn't going to become Dexter, but if he does, we'll know what happened.
I did a quick change out of my suit, and headed straight out for the hospital. I may have been slightly out of it, since I had a very awkward conversation with a woman on the corner of Remsen and Clinton waiting for a taxi (Her: Looks like you are in a hurry - you go first; Me: [gestures to crosswalk], please go ahead, I'm waiting for a taxi; Her: No, you can really go first; Me [not getting that she was already waiting for a taxi] Look, you can go, the light is green; Her: I'm going to hold the door of this taxi for you and gesture for you to get in).
Extra transportation notes: 1. I can't remember the last time I took two taxis in a day - you know this was big stuff going down. 2. Over the next three days going back and forth between my apartment and the hospital, I would walk, bike, bus, drive, and take the subway, in addition to that first cab ride. The winner? Probably the subway outbound, the bus back, though Citi Bike was very competitive.
Anyway, I got to the hospital, and after being given a bit of a runaround (really Emergency Room, you couldn't let me just go into the hospital there, I needed to go around the corner?) I made my way to labor and delivery. Where I was pretty much the only person there. So, when an portable incubator rolled by, I had a pretty good idea of what was inside. The nurses were able to tell me that everything would be fine for baby and wife, but were somehow not able to say whether it was a boy or a girl (I mean really, it's not that hard to tell!). So I just waited in the hallway to accompany Rachel to recovery, asking each doctor that came out what was going on until one let slip that he could tell it was a boy.
I think from here the story is told - Rachel has been recovering fine, and Seth is a beautiful baby boy!
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