Dar Luz

Back on April 14, Yo-Nenny sent me an email that she was going to name her new baby Whistlepig Allison Redwine. She didn’t.

On October 1, 2010 at 11:11 a.m., 20-inch-long and 6-pound-2-ounce-heavy Ember Redwine arrived in our lives. In attendance were her father Jason, her aunt Lulu, and her Mama Ginna. I should not neglect to mention that Yo-Nenny did in fact show up at the birth. Not only that, she is responsible for popping out the new light of our lives. My  teacher told me that dar luz is how they say give birth in Spanish: to give light. Eleni’s name means light in Greek. So if you put it all together, you could say that light gave light to light.

We all are besotted. It was a hell of a long night. I had been at my friend M’s house in Sac for a few days when I had this sudden feeling I needed to get back to the Bay. Ten minutes into my drive I called Yo-Nenny, whose water broke during our conversation. That was about 8 pm, so I knew there’d be no sleeping that night. Rather than going home for a coat and camera, I went straight to pick up the imminent parents and on to Kaiser. We got there around 10. Lulu showed up around 11. The night went on and on and on. Childbirth, I must say, is pretty bloody boring, unless you’re the one dar-ing luz. It was tiring and boring and uncomfortable until sometime after 10 am, when the world began to brighten with the appearance of a wedge of fuzzy head.

Emmy’s beginnings were a little tense. Yo-Nenny had spiked a fever that was a tenth of a degree from landing her in the OR with a Caesarean and Emmy in neonatal ICU for a day. Emmy had been imbibing meconium and wasn’t breathing when she made her appearance. An impressively large team of doctors and nurses whisked her away and got her pink and active. When she was placed on her mother’s breast, she reached out to see what was nearby: not the startle reflex, but actually extending her arms till they touched something. Her unfocused eyes flicked back and forth, trying to take in the strange place she’d landed.

She is beautiful. The first thing I noticed about her was her long and thick black hair. The second thing were her long fingers. I said they were like mine. Jason agreed. Smart man. It wasn’t till five minutes later that I thought to find out if she was, indeed, a girl.

Welcome, beautiful Emmy. I adore you, and I congratulate your wonderful parents and your devoted auntie.