11-8-00 5:57 PM W

Ada was born at 4:10 AM. She weighed six pounds, four ounces. I had been sitting on the couch before night school watching CNN declare that Al Gore had won Florida's twenty-eight electoral votes when the phone rang. It was my dad, wishing himself a happy birthday. "Aw, I was going to call," I said. 

Rochelle came down the hall and said, "Honey."

My dad said, "I thought I'd save you the trouble since you've got so much going on."

"My water broke."

"You mean you didn't get the card? I just mailed it about two hours ago."

"Honey, my water broke."

"Hang on a second, Rochelle's saying her water just broke."

Whoa. I told my father I'd call him back. Then we called Dr. Schwartz. He said to go the hospital. We called the moms. I ran down to the polling place. If Gore won Florida, I figured it was locked up, and I voted for Nader and Campbell for Senator. I hurried back. Rochelle was packing some last-minute items. I assembled the bassinette and belted the car seat into the Olds. And off we went. We were hanging around triage when Rochelle's mother showed up after about an hour or so, followed shortly by Rochelle's sister and her husband. The atmosphere was festive. They ignored the rules. Rochelle insisted that weighing 177 lbs. was awful. The nurse said it wasn't so bad. Yes, it is, Rochelle insisted. I kicked the bed; the nurse weighed at least 185. Whatever. I went out to the lobby a sec. CNN said Gore had NOT won Florida. Oops. We were moved to another room. Rochelle's contractions became more frequent and painful. My mom and Mardi showed up with champagne. Everyone was partying down, getting buzzed on booze, and getting in the way of the midwife. Rochelle was crying over her IV, the fear, and the pain. I finally had to boot the party out into the hall. The anesthesiologist administered and epidural. That calmed her down. She even slept a little. The TVs then gave Florida and the presidency to Bush. Ugh. I was disgusted. My mom was disgusted that I was disgusted. I went out to the sidewalk for a wee puff. When I came back, the contractions had intensified. The TVs retracted Bush's win. No one knew who the winner was. At three in the morning, we wheeled Rochelle into the delivery room. A big window looked out to the Sunset Strip and Hollywood Hills. Rochelle pushed and screamed and moaned and pushed and panted and cried, and I kissed her and kissed her and told her I loved her and out popped this incredible creature.