Happy Birthday Nicolas!!!

No matter how you refer to him, Nick, Nicky (a sisterly favorite), NicNak, Ruff ruff (also from the sisters), little man, NicolaPicola, Neek-co-las, or just Nicolas, today was a great day for us 5 years ago. Yes 5 years ago!

He is the last but certainly never the least (and if he keeps growing like he is we will just refer to him as "the beast").

Unfortunately I am traveling today but that hasn't kept him out of my mind all day and it seems a little apropos that I am traveling out of the country (to Montreal) on the day that our only child born IN the country was brought into the world. He makes all of our lives better and brings a smile to our faces even when he is a bad mood. I will have a toast for him tonight.

As always we remember his birth story.

Nicolas Aidan Kreisa
April 6th, 2004 -- 1:16 PM (8 lbs, 6 oz) Los Gatos California, USA
Nicolas (French): Patron saint of children, virgins, sailors and thieves Aidan (Irish): "Little Fire"
10:30 AM Julia and Lea at home with Gramma and Baba (Mel's parents). They are playing Candyland as we go. It is a beautiful, sunny day. Perfect blue sky, no clouds. Maybe 66 degrees...
11:00 AM (Room 202, Los Gatos Community Hospital)
Here we go again! We are sitting quietly in a birthing suite, waiting our instructions. It took us a long while to park, but we made it on time. Mel is on the bed in her gown. It is wrinkled. This would never have happened in Paris! =)
11:20 Nurse comes in to put on the baby monitor. Now we can watch and hear the heartbeat.
11:30 Mel giving blood, looking nervous.
11:45 Nurse brings in some kind of nasty tasting antacid and a whole bunch of paperwork. Mel not too happy.
12:15 Get coffee in lobby and put on the blue-man suit. A bit on the tight side! Gotta go to the waiting area while Mel goes in for the Spinal.
12:40 Still in the waiting area! Have they forgotten the husband? We bet on weight. JK -- 7lbs 7oz, Mel -- 7lbs 6oz. Will see soon!
12:58 Polly is here! (wonderful friend who is a doctor at Los Gatos).
1:00 Finally called in. Mel is all laid out with tubes, her belly behind a curtain. Polly comes in and holds Mel's other hand.

In the operating room: Dr. Totman (Mel's Doc), Dr. Gravin (assisting), Dr. Pearlman (pediatrician), Dr. Holly (anesthesiologist) and two surgical nurses. Medical team is behind the curtain. JK in a chair next to Mel. Polly kind of straddling the curtain -- able to give support to Mel but also watching the operation. (JK not looking!)

Takes a long time for the doctors to "get in" because two previous c-sections left a lot of scar tissue. Doctors gabbing away to each other about their vacations. Kind of strange. Mel keeps asking them if they are "in yet"... Doc finally says, "I see another blondey". Mel feels pressure. Doc says, "I see shoulders". Polly says docs are pushing down very hard on Mel. Baby is stuck.

They all say it is a big baby... Doc says, "it is a boy!"

Tears everywhere! Seconds go by, seems like hours... hear him cry. Sounds like a "boy cry"!

Nurse takes baby to the cleanup area. Mel asks JK to go see him. JK says he thinks he looks a bit like Julia. Says he thinks he is a "Nicolas. Mel says she wants to see him before agreeing. He wails. Mel says he sounds like a "Nicolas". Nurse brings him over. Kind of lay him across Mel's neck. Wow!! Yeah, he is Nicolas!

Polly, JK, Dr. Graven, the nurse and the pediatrician leave with baby. Mel gets sewn up. "Landslide"by Stevie Nicks playing in background. Seems like everyone starts quietly singing...
Oh, mirror in the sky -- what is love? Can the child within my heart rise above? Can I sail through the changes... ocean tides. Can I handle the seasons of my life?
Welcome to the world baby Nicolas!