On Friday, Marjorie was 5 days overdue. The midwives estimated the birthweight to be 8.5 lbs. They did a sonogram, which showed that the amniotic fluid was just about gone, but the membranes were intact. It was time to induce. Marjorie and Jonathan went home for some clothes and on the way back to the hospital stopped at the 2nd Avenue Deli for a corned beef sandwich. The waitresses were so farklempt that this was their pre-partum meal, that they threw in some free chopped liver and rugelach, with Jonathan videotaping all the hubbub. At the hospital, they started Cervadil, but let Marjorie tell it:
 

    The cervadil took me from 0-1 cm dilated. I woke up at 4 AM on Saturday with mild contractions. At around 9 AM, they started the pitocin, which hurt like a m......f....., and after 2.5 hours on it, I had only gone from 1 to 2 cm and thought I was gonna die by the time I got to 10 (I had "back labor" which added to the unpleasantness) Jonathan was awesome, applying pressure with the heel of his palm at the peak of a contraction, just like we learned in childbirth class, alternating that with the hot washcloths and a faux hot-water-bottle he rigged up out of hot-water-filled latex surgical gloves in typical Jonathan-Macgyver fashion). So, I asked for the epidural, which somehow (by relaxing me?) made me dilate from 2-10 cm in another 2 hrs. Then I had one hour of pushing, in which Dana kept saying "Think about seeing the baby! look at the mirror! she's coming!" and I said: "AAAUUURRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHAAAAAARRRR."

    That's all it took--5 hours in all, and out she came, gorgeous, perfect, with an Apgar of 9. "I never give a 10," boasted the midwife. Bitch.

    Now, the real news is she weighed 9 lbs. 10 oz.!!! She is so big, so alert (she can pick up her head, follow with her eyes, and mirror faces), that she looks like she's two to three months old. Her first word? "Zayde!" The baby arrived at 2:56 PM. Marjorie called. We wept for joy and jumped in the car. We arrived at the hospital at 8:00 PM, and found them all in the room: Marjorie, Jonathan, Josie, Andy, and Neal.

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Her uncles returned with some Chinese food for Marjorie and Jonathan, and the four of us went out to eat next door at Café de Bruxelles next door to the hospital. Don't worry, this wouldn't be a Farklempt page without some food reviews. How poignant that Andy and Neal chose this restaurant; this was where Carol and I went out for dinner after visiting Marjorie at St. Vincent's 9 years ago, when she had her near-death experience after eating nuts. It is a wonderful Belgian bistro featuring a huge selection of Belgian beers and ales, and a number of different preparations of mussels. Andy and I split a huge bowl of fresh Moules au Vert--mussels with a basil, onion, and cream sauce--the best I've ever had. Carol and Neal had salads. Then we had penne with red sauce, trout, ris de veau with salsify and mushrooms, and monkfish--all delicious. Andy had a wonderful beer--La Moinette--and the rest split a bottle of Muscadet. For dessert, a dense chocolate cake and a pear almond tart. Neal insisted on treating, saying how happy he is to be a part of our family. We are so happy to have in in our family. But Neal, you are not blood. You will never be blood. Andy is blood. Carol is not blood. Marjorie is blood. Jonathan is not blood. Josie is blood.

Blood Not blood

    We went back to the hovel to sleep. So happy. So happy.