First Born

1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? yes,  but we weren't expecting it to happen so quickly, i.e. first attempt

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? no

3. WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION? speechless happy anxiety and desire for a cigarette

4. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 31

5. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? home pregnancy test purchased and taken at Gatwick airport during layover between flights on the way to the Edinburgh Festival from Freetown, Sierra Leone...needless to say the planned hedonistic vacation became something altogether different.

6. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? david...I can still see him pause in pushing the luggage trolley when he read the look on my face

7. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? no, but they accidently told us anyway

8. WHEN WAS THE DUE DATE? April 2, 2004

9. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? no, I had all day sickness, but in the second trimester (I vomited more in those months than total over the course of my life up to that point)

10. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? lemonade & coke

11. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU? not knowing for a long time where we would go to have the baby: insurance by my Dutch employer covered me anywhere in the world except for the US due to high cost: should we go to Europe? (cost of rent, no family help) We can't stay in Freetown, not capable to deal with unanticipated complications. But TN could not tell us if I would qualify for Tenncare unless I flew there to apply... Best not to get married then, to increase my chance of qualifying. The alternative was risking bankruptcy if, god forbid, the baby came early or either of us needed special care.... Couldn't buy insurance at that point because it was a "pre-existing disorder"...

12. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? boy

13. DID YOU WISH YOU WERE GETTING THE OPPOSITE SEX THAN YOU WERE GETTING? in a way...I  was expecting him to be a boy, but I was not mentally prepared to mother a boy.

14. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? 50!

15. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? yes, my high school friend, Lisa hosted, and it was beautiful!

16. WAS IT A SURPRISE? no

17. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING THE PREGNANCY? no

18. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? Women's East Erlanger, Chattanooga, TN

19. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? about 10 hours

20. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? my mother...she decided to go through downtown on a Friday night. Nothing quite like watching people out enjoying the evening while having contractions.

21. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? my husband, mother, sister, mother-in-law, doula, midwife, nurses, and doctor (it was quite the party)

22. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? natural

23. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? no

24. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 7 lbs. 15 oz. (about 3.5 kg)

25. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN? 4:02 a.m. on April 3

26. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? Miles Louis Rudder Brigham

27. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? 4 years, 10 months, 16 days