Erik Briggs' Blog

In yet another whirlwind adventure, our family was visited again by a spirit from beyond the veil, which left us with another son.  This time was much different than the other two, in pretty much every way.  It was a good thing we have come to expect as much, as such is life.

We were told by the doctor weeks ago that Annelise would be induced today (August 9th), which was a week earlier than her due date.  This was a welcome suprise, as it meant a) she wouldn't have to go over the due date yet again, and b) the baby would be coming out soon!  We didn't know what to expect from an inducement, since the other two happened in much different circumstances.  We were told that the hospital would call us at 6 in the morning to tell us when we might expect to be able to come in.  If we didn't hear from them, we should call in at 8am.  It sounded simple enough, so we went with it.  In actuality, however, it wasn't anything like the other two, and was not as fun (I'll explain why as we go).

So, the first call did not come in at 6, so we waited until 8am and called.  We were told that it had been a busy night, so we should call back at 11am.  Okay, minor hurdle, no big deal.  We let the boys play outside, we shower and get ourselves ready.  Annelise was excited to have been able to shower and put on makeup this time around (which definitely didn't happen before, with middle-of-the-night trips to the hospital).  11am rolls around, another call made, still no go.  They told us to call back 1pm.  …Okay, now its getting minorly annoying.  We decide to take the boys (and Mormor) to In-and-Out for lunch. 

Lunch is now done, and its time for Owen's naptime, so we head home.  We start him napping and Sam and I play some games (since I took the day off).  We play for a while, and then we call again.  Still busy at the hospital.  This time they don't tell us when they want us to call back, and say they will call us.  Hmmm, that doesn't sound all that promising.  They do call back in about 15 minutes, yay!  I missed it on the phone, and Annelise was up with Owen, so I go get her to have her call back.  This has got to be it.  She calls, and it was a change of shift at the hospital and the new nurse just wanted to update us that there was still no news.  Ugh.  She doesn't tell us to call back either… they will just call us. 

At this point, it's 1:30pm.  I took the day off (for crying out loud) so we could go do this.  Not only was there lots more anxiety because we "knew" when it was supposed to happen (and yet it wasn't), but add in all the uncertainty, and I would rather have it the other way 'round.  To me its just better to let it happen, especially if it is going to go like this. Back to playing games.  Sam's neighbor friend invited him over to play, and Owen was still sleeping, so at least we didn't have to worry about them, but that was almost worse too.  Now we just get to dwell on the fact that we're sitting there doing nothing.

Now it's 4pm, and we've been officially waiting for 10 hours.  The phone finally rings.  They ask when we can be there.  We do our thing and prep the boys, then head to the hospital.  Okay, it's about 4:35 when we get there.  We had hoped for an Aug. 9 birthday (sorry Mormor, we wanted him to have his own), so this was doable.  A lot can happen in 7.5 hours, we say.  So we walk in and they ask us to sit down.  So we sit and watch Oprah for a while.  It finishes, and the news starts.  Then the news is almost over.  We ask if we should be doing something (paperwork) to help.  The nice lady says that she is still waiting on a nurse and a room.  Hmm, I'm thinking why would they ask us to come if those weren't already lined up.  Then finally "Annelise, can you come sign some of these."  At least that is progress.  The nurse finally came and took us to our room.

This is where we can do our part (or Annelise's, I mean).  She was fast with Sam, even faster with Owen, so this time has to be.  We get in the room around 6pm.  They break her water at around 6:30pm and start petocin 6:45pm.  Annelise was at a 2+ to 3.  The nurse walks us through all the steps and gets the histories, etc.  Epidural, check.  By 8pm, she is trying to figure out why the baby's vitals are dropping so much during contractions.  She had measured at a 5 just 10 minutes ago, but might as well cheack again.  Doh!  She's 100% and ready to go.  Page the doctor!

The doctor shows up about 8:20pm and then within 5 pushes, they are pulling shoulders,  At 8:37pm, Emmett Maurice Briggs was born to the world, a normal, healthy boy.  He was 8 pounds, 3 ounces, and 19.5 inches long.  Yay!

Now, wait, where did that name come from?  Don't ask me.  Sometime after 3 cm, Annelise said all the names we had thought about didn't seem right, and that I should check online.  Seriously?  You're in the middle of labor and I should be googleing new names? … Okay… So the names were (on Annelise's list) Miles (boring), Max (okay, but needs to be longer, although all the long versions suck (I mean, Maximillion, really?  Maxton seems like a made up Utah name)), Wesley (no Pricess Bride names), Bennet (her favorite, but just not doing anything for me), Will (that's okay), and Holden or Joseph as middle names.  I was in agreement that none of them seemed quite right.  I had added William to the list, which went with her Will.  I had Maurice (my paternal grandfather's name) as a possible middle name.  She had been lobbying for Bennet, which wasn't flying for me, and I was saying William or Max (just max).  Here we are, T-minus 30 minutes, and now its time to google again.  Elliot… that one is okay, but too popular.  Ethan, the number two most popular name (bleck) and sounds too much like Owen.  Not even seeing it on the page, the name Emmett comes to mind, and she likes it.  It makes it onto the list, and we decide that we need to see him and one of those will fit. 

When he was born, I saw him and thought of Emmett, and didn't tell Annelise, to see what she would say, without any influence from me.  She looked at me and said, what do you think, Emmett?  At that point I knew that we both had been inspired about a name that neither of us had previously picked.  I don't think it gets any better than that.  Without further ado, I give you Emmett Maurice Briggs: