I arrived in Seattle excited about the birth of my first grandchild and to share in the adventure Laura and Keith were about to experience.

We were all a little worried about the inducement process and concerned about the baby's and Laura's welfare. At the beginning, the labor seemed very normal, although Laura's pain was difficult to watch. The pains were very regular but things seemed to go really slowly.Ê

Laura and Keith chose not to know the gender of the baby; their first intuition was that it was a girl, but on the ultra sound thought they saw ÒevidenceÓ that it was a boy.

Several hours into the labor, as Laura's pain got progressively worse, suddenly she began feeling the need to push. Then things began to happen fast - the doctor was summoned, and before we knew it there was a perfect, tiny baby boy!

I fell in love with Griffin immediately. He was so alert and serious and looked us all right in the eyes. Because of his small size, he had difficulty maintaining his blood sugar and body temperature, which made it necessary for him to spend a few days in an isolette in the nursery. We were all very disappointed because we wanted to take him home. Keith stayed with him all that first night. Laura was allowed to stay in the hospital, even though she was released on Saturday, to nurse the baby and hold him as much as she could. Then, just as he seemed to be stabilizing, he developed jaundice and had to stay three more days for phototherapy.

Finally, after six days in the hospital, we brought Griffin home on July 19. I was so excited I burned the spaghetti sauce. I returned home to North Carolina the next day.

Except for having my own two babies, it was probably the most exciting experience of my life!