Here We Go
Fatherhood is by far the biggest responsibility I have ventured into; with that said it is also the most exciting. To know that I am accountable for the livelihood of a human being that I helped create is still surreal to me, even as I go through the daily routines of feeding her, changing her, burping her, consoling her, bathing her and cleaning up after her the reality is slowly setting in but it hasn’t hit me fully. Initially, when my wife and I found out we were pregnant we were both extremely enthusiastic. When we found out we were having a girl, our joy increased and so did the opinions and advise from friends and family regarding the supervision and protection little girls require. The opinions and advice I received spurred my imagination to the point that I visualized caring my baby girl home from the hospital, setting her down inside her new home for the first time and while my wife and I were taking all this in there was a knock at the door. As I answered the door I was met by a mob of horny guys pushing their way in to my home trying to get to my daughter, I ferociously fought them off and locked the door. Fortunately, this hasn’t happened yet, besides, the fortitude that my daughter burps and farts with would be discouraging to any male but definitely makes me proud.
And Now It Begins
On Thursday Aug 2nd my wife was extremely uncomfortable and having random contractions. During all this discomfort her and I went to a new clients house to take measurements and get things rolling, if anything just to keep my wife occupied because she was miserable. Early on Friday morning the contractions started to become more regulated and prompted us to contact the doctor to see if she should head to the hospital. The doctor told us to hang tight for a while to see what happens. With that said we headed over to my wife’s parents house at around 5am (they are on the way to the hospital) there we dropped off Strider and hung out for quite a while. The contractions slowed down and I crashed for a few hours. When I woke up around 10:30 am the contractions decreased significantly but the severity had increased. We contacted the doctor once again, explained the situation and she told us to head to the hospital. Once there we sat in triage for a while and finally got check out by the doctor on staff and according to her findings we were in early labor. THIS WAS IT! We were admitted and put into a birthing room. We called family and friends to give them the heads up. As labor continued agony increased, although my wife desired a natural birth she was finally convinced to take an epidural. This worked WONDERS and allowed her to take a much-needed nap. Once hard labor hit my wife was ready to tackle it head on and she was AWESOME. The nurse (Barb who is spectacular) did not expect her to push so hard and cover sooo much ground in such a little time (but that’s my wife) so she had to call the doctor ASAP. My wife was in hard labor for about 30-40 minutes. The doctor came in assessed the situation and pulled the baby out roughly 15 minutes after she entered the room (DOB 12:31 AM 8/4/07). CRAAAZYYYYYYYYYYNESSSSSSS!!!!! The delivery was done and had gone very smooth but we weren’t out of the woods yet. The placenta was not extracting itself like it should and the doctor was working to remove it feverishly. After about a half hour of the doctor trying to remove the placenta, my wife’s body started to try. This is where it hit the fan. My wife’s body started GUSHING blood with one massive spurt. This typhoon of blood covered the doctor, momentarily stunning her, but in that same moment I watched the doctor transform in to Super Doc. Totally focused and ready to take action she looked at me (I was holding Mel’s hand doing my best to stay focused and keep her calm) raised an eyebrow and swiftly inserted her ARM UP TO HER ELBOW in to my wife’s uterus. REALLLLLYYYY CRAZZZZYYYY!As you might imagine this was just a bit uncomfortable for my wife and she responded by screaming “WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME!!!!” Super Doc responded “Melanie, just relax I’m sorry but this is necessary”. Even though I started seeing spots and became ridiculously light headed I was able to maintain my composure and stick with my wife. After about 30seconds of Super Doc fishing around in my wife’s uterus she extracted her arm and pulled out the entire placenta “ there we go!” Super Doc said. Watching Super Doc remove her arm from my wife with a handful of EEEWWWWWW increased the spots I was seeing by about ten folds and believe it or not I was able to stay on my feet and still be there for my wife. The action that Super Doc took (the trespasser is what I later named the move) allowed my wife to stay out of the operating room for the emergency surgery that they were getting ready for and ceased her extraordinary bleeding that was taking place. (She lost +/-25% of her blood during this, most of it landing on Super Doc) Once everything that needed to be extracted from my wife was, the nurses and Super Doc started cleaning up. After everything was copacetic friends and family were able to come and meet Sadie Brielle at about 3:15AM on 8/4/07 and left around 4AM so my wife and I could get some much deserved sleep. The whole family (Sadie, Strider, my wife and I) came home from the hospital on 8/5/07 at around 6:30 PM. Life has never been more exciting!
I must thank everyone at the hospital, there were truly great throughout our entire stay and I hope every body who has a child can experience the kindness and sincerity that we felt while we were there.
