The Story of Solei (‘sun’ in french) Lani (‘heaven’ in hawaiian) Fortson
I was desperate for a little surf.
As due dates near, expectant fathers will use the due date as reason to squeeze in any extracurricular activity. So, I posed the question to Terra and she agreed that I should go surf and she and Talia would join me.
So we headed down to Refugio with the surfboard in the truck and Terra, Talia and I squeezed in the cab. It was a gorgeous late afternoon. A bit warm considering it was December 31, 2007. The swell wasn’t that big, but quite clean and plenty big to bring out the longboards.
We threw out a couple of towels and just goofed off in the last of the sunlight in the sand. With the sun dropping, I headed out for a lovely session on the point and watched Terra and Talia go for a walk. Heidi, Guner, Sequoia and Kai joined us as well (this was little 1 month old Kai’s first trip to Refugio). It was another epic time at the beach.
Given that the Tautrim family had a newborn and we had one on the way, we all decided to take it easy for New Year’s festivities….cook, chat, play some board games and spend some time with people we loved.
So we all headed back from the beach and it was clear that Talia was not feeling well again. The day before, she got sick all over my friends nice hard wood floors during his son’s 1st birthday party. So, we got home and kept a close eye on Talia while we started planning out dinner for the evening. Before we even started cooking, Talia vomited all over her changing table…bummer.
I tromped up to Tautrim home and told them we were going to stick close to home tonight as Talia was sick. On my way back down from their house, I also started to feel a little off. We continued on making a Chinese chicken salad to give to the Tautrim’s in exchange for some pizza from them. Terra and I agreed that neither one of us were hungry as we finished making the salad.
By 7:30pm, Terra was feeling off as well and decided to head straight to bed.
Well, our New Year’s plans quickly unraveled as I pulled up on the couch to watch a movie solo style.
By 9:30, Terra was out in the living room with me complaining of nasty stomach pains and chills, and my own stomach was aching bad as well. I pulled out a pan for Terra and then I headed straight outside to wretch. When I got back, Terra was on all fours on the floor making a deposit in the pan. I cleaned her up and then headed back outside to return my lunch back to the planet…again.
We were both a wreck. Beyond my concern for Terra and our unborn baby, I couldn’t make it more than 20 minutes without horrendous heaves that continued on through the New Year.
Terra finally made it to bed and I decided to spread out on the couch. Mercifully, we all fell asleep.
6:30am, January 1! Happy New Year!
Talia woke up still feeling sick and came out to join me on the couch. She wanted to eat bananas and I just wanted to sleep. Groggy from the night before, I looked over at Terra standing in the doorway. She informed me that that she thought she was in labor. It was 7:45 am.
“Are you serious?” I asked.
Serious she was.
Immediately running through my head: No bags packed (again), is the baby ok?, what am I going to do about all the puke piles around the yard?, who’s taking Talia, it’s New Years, call the doctor, what the hell happened to our house (it looked like the apocalypse)…
(Back to reality). Terra was experiencing contractions…every 4 minutes and laid up on the couch now.. Geezus Christ. I called the hospital. They thought she was experiencing ‘simulated labor’ due to dehydration. I looked over at Terra moaning on the couch…nope, not simulated.
I ran up to the Tautrim’s, dropped off an ailing Talia and loaded Terra in the car between contractions. With Terra in the back on all fours and me in the driver’s seat, we took off out of the ranch at 80 miles per hour down Highway 101 on the 25 minute drive to Cottage hospital in Santa Barbara..
Twenty five minutes is generally a short time in one’s life. With your wife on all fours moaning in the back in advanced labor in your dirty little sedan, things tend to slow down a bit. Terra told me to drive faster and threatened to give birth in the car. I was humming along at 80 mph without a soul on the road New Year’s morning praying I wouldn’t get caught in the speed traps.
We pulled up to the Emergency Room entrance (aka, valet parking with a security attendant now that Cottage is under renovation). Terra was losing it and I was just stoked we didn’t have our baby in car.
We loaded Terra into a wheel chair and started through the labyrinth to Labor & Delivery at Cottage.
Thankfully, Terra’s OB Suzanne R. was on duty. She knew us and Terra loved her. She confirmed that Terra was near crowning already and this baby was coming very fast. Terra was stripped down, they put a monitor on her and she was pushing like mad.
I did remember the birth plan (again) and (again) it was thrown onto a desk and buried by a nurse. I kept encouraging Terra to breath through the painful contractions and she leaned on my for rest. They installed a birthing bar which allowed her to get into a full supported squat position.
Dr. R was cool and collected as she peered and prodded underneath Terra in her power squat on the bed. Just one more push…
At 9:12am, January 1, 2008 Solei Fortson was born. 6 lbs, 14oz, 19 inches, happy, healthy, everything was great.
We sat there in the room relieved, in awe at what just happened and thankful that Solei was sitting there with us….not being whisked away to the NICU like our daughter Talia almost two years before.
Terra was amazing again. Another natural birth, an amazingly short labor, and when she was done…she looked better than most anyone in the room.
After 30 minutes hanging out in the room, we were informed that the media were clamoring for interviews as Solei was the first baby born in 2008 in Santa Barbara.
By 11:30am, Terra was giving television and newspaper interviews and Solei was resting peacefully in her bosom.
The next two days we rested and were cared for intently by the wonderful cottage staff. Our community rallied as always delivering all sorts of nice things, cleaning our disaster of a home and caring for our daughter.
We give thanks for our daughter Solei (French for ‘sun’). We give thanks for Cottage who supported our birth experience in every way. We give thanks to our community of friends and family who care for us and our family..every day.
May you have an inspirational new year!
Love,
Terra, David, Talia, Solei and Roman
