Excitement exudes with news of first grandbaby (01/09/06)

We have a baby! My first grandbaby, little Emma Elaine Cline, was born last Wednesday while I was on the way to the airport. My daughter had called in the middle of the night and told me that she was on her way to the hospital and that she needed her mommy.

The earliest flight we could find didn’t leave until 6 p.m. Wednesday. I was so excited at work that I was bouncing off the walls. I stayed in contact by cell phone throughout the day. I am one of maybe five people in this country who doesn’t own a cell phone. Thankfully, all the rest of her family does.

Each time I called I talked to someone different. It really didn’t matter who I was talking to, everyone in the labor room with my daughter loved her and was more than willing to relay information.

It was finally time to leave for the airport and I called her one last time. Her 15-year-old step-sister was the last one I talked to. I could barely hear the girl. All I could understand were the words, “birth canal,” and “full head of hair.”

After I finally got to the airport and through security I headed for the nearest pay phone. This time I talked to my daughter herself. When she told me that, “We have a baby.” I started crying and jumping up and down, much to the amusement of the other travelers. I reassured her that I would be there as soon as I could and hung up.

Then I accosted some poor guy and yelled at him, “We have a baby!” As he maneuvered his roll-on suitcase between himself and this obviously crazy lady he asked, “Boy or girl?” in broken English. I said, “Girl.” He quickly escaped before I could hug him.

I grinned like a lunatic all the way to the gate where I paced until it was time to board. It was the longest three-hour flight to Houston that I have ever been on in my entire life. I talked to the lady across the aisle and played peek-a-boo with the little girl in the row ahead. The plane was moving at less than two miles per hour, or at least it seemed that way. I have no idea how we arrived at our scheduled time but we did.

I was met by my son-in-law’s parents. I immediately hugged Carm and declared that she was the first person I had been able to hug since this whole thing started. We retrieved my suitcase and headed for the hospital.

Carm talked almost the entire way and filled me in on the details of the birth. Even though she has many other grandchildren, I think she was as excited as I was about this newest member of the family.

They stayed for a little while and left to get some much needed sleep. My son-in-law looked exhausted and proud as he stroked the baby. He kept one arm protectively around his wife as he flipped through the TV channels.

They suggested I stay the night with my daughter while he went home to get some rest. She didn't want to stay alone and I know how scary hospitals can be in the middle of the night so I slept on the chair in the corner of the room. It pulled out into the most uncomfortable bed ever but my daughter was close by and the baby was brought in to nurse every couple of hours. She whispered to me just before she went to sleep, “I did good, didn’t I?”

I reassured her that she had indeed, “done good.”

All babies are perfect and this one is no exception. She has a full head of dark hair. (That must be a Texas thing as every baby in the nursery had lots of hair — even the blonde ones.) She has ten fingers and ten toes and was seven pounds, eight ounces at birth, which is the perfect weight for her 19-inch height. Her eyebrows are practically nonexistent but that will change.

There is something about celebrating a new life that brings a smile to even the grouchiest people. Babies are full of possibilities. Their choices are endless. They are so tiny and helpless but more than that they are trusting. We owe it to our babies not to violate that trust and to treat them like the precious gems that they truly are.

Welcome to the world, Emma Elaine. We’re happy that you are here. We have so much to share with you.[[In-content Ad]]