Baby Scarlett Arrives in Budapest

Hey everyone!
I am so excited to announce that Scarlett Ann came into the world safe and sound at 12:30 pm Budapest time Saturday May 19th.

I arrived in Budapest early Thursday morning. Friday Kelli and I went to see her Dr. He did a sonogramand checked her, then delivered the news that nothing was happeningand that he thought the baby was big. Just what we didn't want to hear. Kelli asked if there was anything she could do to bring onlabor and he said "sex and chicken curry". We went out for chicken curry that night and the other part I know nothing about. Dr. did stripher membranes though and from that time on Kelli got more and more uncomfortable.

We went shopping and to lunch and then took a 1 hr. round trip trialrun to the hospital on the trolley and subway so I could find it on myown. That night we played "Ticket to Ride" and were just settling down to bed when Kelli's contractions got serious. Of course!

She didn't sleep at all but Jared and I got about 3-4 hours. At 4:30am we decided to head to the hospital via taxi arriving at 5. Kelli was dilated to 2 cm and so they admitted her but warned us that the maternity ward was very full (quite an understatement) and there would be no private room available.

The hospital was unlike anything I have ever experienced in the states. First ofall...they don't use lights during the day because they can't afford electricity. I tried to turn the light in the small waiting room on so I could read a couple of times and a Nazi nurse turned it off andslammed the door.

Kelli was supposed to have an English speaking midwife to help herthrough the labor part. She did have a midwife but I never heard her speak any English. I went out and got a bite to eat for Jared and me. Kelli was hungry too and contractions weren't too bad yet so we asked the nurse if she could haveanything at all to eat and the nurse said ONLY CHOCOLATE and
she was dead serious. So I went out and bought her a chocolate bar. A good argument for giving birth in Hungary.

Kelli was a TROOPER!!! No epidural. She Finally gave birth at 12:30after about 7-8 pushes. I was in the waiting room, heard a baby cry and Jared immediately came and got me so I got to see them clean her up and dress her. What a beautiful baby with lots of dark hair. It took a while before we knew how much she weighed and how long she was since all of her stats
were in kilos and centimeters.

Because there was "no room at the inn" Kelli and Scarlett were put in a 5 bedward....with about 2 feet between beds. No TV No curtains No privacy. The lights were off and it was very warm. And all of the beds were full. There were crying babies in the room, in the hall, next door onboth sides. Each bed had a metal wire bassinet hanging over it at the foot for the babies.

The bathroom had no toilet paper, no towels and no lock. It and ashower were down the hallway. Bring your own nightgown, utensils to eat, and something to dress the baby in. Lunch was a bowl of white mushy stuff with a round breaded chicken circle on top. Dinner was a roll that the nurse brought by on a napkin with a roll of cheese spread. No drinks. No monitoring of blood pressure. No kneading of the uterus. No pain medication allowed until about 2 hours after
birth. There was some tearing and cutting so Kelli was hurting.

At one time I counted 19 people in our room...men, women, babies. All one big happy family speaking an unfamiliar language. We were all asked to leave at night and so Jared and I stayed till about 9 pm and as we left...Kelli put on a brave front. She spent the night awake with Scarlett and 30 other babies crying (in Hungarian).

The hospital personel couldn't believe we wanted to take Kelli and Scarletthome the next day. By Hungarian standards they were supposed to stay until late Monday or early Tuesday. We had a tough time convincing them that it was quiet and dark at home so she could sleep while Grammy and Jared took care of the baby.

To be fair...most of the nurses were nice and people were courteous of each other. The Dr. was very competent and spoke good English. Kelli and Jared were happy and positive. We called one of Jared's friends from school and asked her to bring us some dinner since we were starving and there were no take out places nearby.

The whole event was a "once in a lifetime" experience that I will never forget.