At 10 am, we found out that Steph had forgotten to add leading zeros to the hour when these comments get posted, and therefore, it wouldn't sort right. It should have been '09' comes before '10' but instead it was '9' comes after '10.' Alphabetically, anyway. So, suddenly posts seemed to disappear, though they were really just appearing way down on the page. Steph started applying a fix, and said "Gosh, I hope I get this fixed before they call you for surgery!" Of course, they immediately called. The following comments came in while everyone packed up and went down to the recovery room, to begin prepping for surgery.

Once she knew where everyone would be, Steph ran back to the 14th floor and tried to fix the site. There wasn't enough time, so she packed up the laptop (anticipating more waiting before surgery) and went back down. She reconnected, but only had time to send the following post before having to put on her bunny suit.

The conversation continued while the surgery got underway.

Meanwhile, back in the hospital, here's what was happening:

Suman and Steph got into the bunny suits. Kitty was taken into the operating theater, and Suman and Steph tried to follow, but were sort of in the way. An orderly (probably) watched them mill around, and then gently took them back to the recovery room, to wait until the epidural had been administered. Time ticked by again, and Steph tried to get the site back up, but her first attempt didn't work like she thought it should. The orderly came back and said that the epidural had been administered, but that they should wait further until they were sure it had taken effect. More waiting. Finally, they were allowed in. They were shown where to stand: Suman sitting next to Kitty's head, Steph standing behind.

About a dozen people bustled around, all in blue. They were checking supplies, setting up equipment, monitoring Kitty and the baby. Kitty was shaved a little, and she said it sounded like a lawn mower. Then some yellow liquid was wiped all over her belly, and a drape hung that would hide the operation from the squeamish civilians. Though there was some laughing and joking around, it was hard to relax with all those serious medical people concentrating on the job. Finally, the operation began.

Suman seemed a bit dazed, and Steph starting asking Kitty about her maternity leave, to distract her from thinking about the scalpel. She pretended not to know that Kitty's probation period at work had been waived in order to keep the conversation going. There was picture taking and videotaping going on, anything to pass the time, really. After what seemed like forever but was really only about 10 minutes, the intensity level in the room went way up.

"We've got the baby!" Steph had taken over the video camera as Suman wanted to concentrate on Kitty and the baby, and suddenly there came a faint gurgle, then a cry. Steph was afraid to peer around the drape, as there are some things you can't un-see, but forgot when the baby started crying louder. Watching through the video camera viewfinder, she saw a red, sqalling baby handed to a nurse waiting with a towel. He was rushed to a table right behind Steph, but so many people clustered around him, it was very hard to get a shot. The camera was entirely forgotten, and only video was being filmed. The baby was cleaned, his mouth cleared, lots of medical things were happening to him, and he cried lustily the whole time. Suman looked pole-axed, and Kitty couldn't really see anything at first. Steph was closest, and could see how hairy he was. She told Kitty and Suman, "He's got sideburns! He looks like Elvis."

Finally, they held up the baby for all to see. They swaddled him and handed him to Suman, and they both forgot anyone else was in the room. The baby was making little noises, and Kitty murmured to him. Putting in the sutures started to get a little painful, and Kitty started her deep breathing, and Steph and Suman encouraged her to relax. Cleaning up from the surgery was messy and icky - The suction tube ran right between Suman and Steph and there was lots of blood going through it. Kitty asked Dr. Jessica if she had lost lots of blood, and was assured hat everything was fine. The drape was lowered, and everyone could see the staples holding Kitty's belly together, but she was covered up before anyone could get a picture of the Frankenstein moment. Steph asked a nurse to uncover it for a minute, but her hands weren't sterile, and by the time someone else could have done it, it was forgotten. A gurney was wheeled in, and Suman stood up with the baby. He and Steph were gently shooed out of the room, and Suman hesitated, not sure if he should take the baby with him. Steph told him "Go on, he's yours, take him." They went to the recovery room, and Kitty was wheeled in right behind.

Steph stripped off the bunny suit and tried to fix the website again, panicked about the people not knowing what was going on. Suman held the baby, and Kitty was hooked up to the morphine. Steph's second fix didn't work either, so she determined to go home, where she had better tools available, plus could upload the pictures and sound recording made in the delivery room, and so typed the following.

Steph made sure she would not be missed, then drove home to fix the site. People kept posting messages.

Steph had finally fixed the site, and began explaining what was going on, and posting pictures.

Steph drove back to the hospital, calling her husband, Peter, and giving him an update. By the time she made it back, everyone was back in the nice room on the 14th floor, and Val was there.

Peter, Kate, and Val had joined everyone in the room by now, and it looked like more were coming. Steph and Peter went home, and Steph posted pictures.