The Moment Everyone's Been Waiting For!

Hanging out with the fam at Central Park

Hope everyone had as good of a holiday as we did. After putting up the last post, Lisa, E, and I walked over to Santa Clara's Central Park for the annual pancake breakfast. We plopped down chairs and blankets in the usual grassy hill and chatted with friends and neighbors as they strolled by. Most of the family assembled by lunch and we watched the local dance productions, listened to the live bands, and ate our way across the park until mid-afternoon. The three of us then went to a big BBQ hosted by the president of Lisa's company at his beautiful house in the East Bay. Tuckered out, we headed home for a relaxing night of trying to keep the dogs calm as the neighborhood sounded like a war zone with all the fireworks.

Red, white, and Ballou

Ok, ok, ok...THE moment that y'all have been waiting for (I pray you haven't lost too much sleep).
Yep, you're right, it's...the exciting conclusion of HOW E CAME TO BE.


Previously on HOW E CAME TO BE: Our soon-to-be parents, Bret and Lisa, had checked into the hospital around 2:15 in the morning. By 2:35 A.M the doctor had examined Lisa and was shocked to find this first time mother 10 centimeters dilated with the baby's head at a +2 position (translation: this baby was on its way out). In a blink, several nurses were pushing Lisa into the delivery room with Bret racing behind, desperately trying to hold on to all the useless things he'd packed...

"Don't push. Don't push. Keep your legs crossed," one of the nurses told Lisa. "We never got a chance to test you for type B strep, so we need to get you on an IV before the baby comes."


Lisa moaned. 


"Breathe like you're blowing out a candle," I said, finally remembering something useful from class. 


We got a few jealous stink eyes as we passed a whole floor of women slowly walking the halls, waiting for their chance to deliver a baby. Finally, the mad dash ended and we entered Room 5 of Labor and Delivery. 


The chaos continued as the staff transferred Lisa to the delivery bed, set up an IV, took her vitals, and started monitoring her contractions. They kept telling her that she’d still have to push for a while since it was her first child, so not to worry and everything was under control. At some point, I talked with Lisa's dad and gave him an update, but honestly I'm not sure what I said. Then, in what must’ve been just a few minutes, the room cleared and things calmed. It was just the two of us, Joie (our primary nurse), and Casey (a student nurse). 

“Now, on the next contraction," Joie smiled at Lisa, "I want you to push for a count of ten…then deep inhale…and another push-for-ten. We’re aiming for a total of three per contraction.”

I stood at Lisa’s side as she pulled me into a bear hug at the next contraction. Her face went bright red as she pushed. It took a few tries for Lisa to get the hang of it, but she did. After a few good pushes, Joie made a joke about seeing a blonde baby crowning. No one laughed…

On the next contraction, Lisa pulled me close again, saying, "It hurts really, really bad."

I counted with the nurses and did my best to let Lisa know how proud I was of her and how excited I was to meet this little baby.

“Shouldn’t we get the doctor?” asked the student nurse.

“We still have plenty of time,” said Joie.

Two contractions later, Joie snatched up the phone – “Get Dr. Greenstein in here now.” And then turned to Lisa, “Stop pushing - the doctor is on her way.”


Happy to use my training again, I said, "Blow out the candle, blow out the..." but I trailed off as I looked down. 

Holy head of hair!

For the first time, I saw the baby crown. The thick, dark hair was just peeking out. 

"Lisa, I can see him! You're almost there!"

I’ve never been that excited in my life.

The next few waves of contractions were intense, though nothing compared to the screaming monsters I’d seen on TV. Mostly Lisa just breathed heavily. 

Dr. Greenstein, another young woman, popped in and took the catching position. From here, my memory gets very blurry: More bear hugs. More pushing. Me laughing uncontrollably. Lots and lots of cheerleading. The baby appearing – more magically than if actually flown in by a stork. That beautiful, deeply relieving, infant WHAAA. The baby on Lisa’s belly, silent again, but squirmy. People shouting their congratulations. Lisa’s tears. My tears. I cut the umbilical cord - it's tougher than I imagined. 

But then comes my favorite moment - one so vivid and real and perfect. A moment that I’ll clutch on to like a pirate’s treasure. In all the chaos of the first minute, the baby was on Lisa’s chest, instinctively looking for his first meal, ignoring everyone. I said my first words to him – who knows what they were – but…

He lifted his head. Opened his eyes and...looked at me.

He knew me. He recognized my voice. 

He knew his daddy. 

Evan James Ballou was born at 3:05 A.M. on 4/17/2012 at the Santa Clara Kaiser Permanente Hospital  – less than two hours after Lisa's water broke – but nearly a full month ahead of schedule.