Note: I've been working on this post for several days weeks now. The time I dedicate to this blog is now dictated by a newborn, so you do the math.
Part 1: Daddy Forgot the Birth Plan
The story begins on the night of the 23rd. We had just gotten back from having dinner, and we were watching some T.V. before going to bed. My wife had been having "false" labor pains for several weeks and that night was no exception. For some reason that night she mentioned feeling something different. At this point we were already four days overdue, so I was ready for anything. She had a doctor's appointment scheduled for the 24th and we were ready to hear what the doctor was willing to do to speed up the process.
There was no need for that.
At around 4:30, I was woken up by my wife who was having a rather intense contraction. I was used to being woken up by my wife in the middle of the night, but this particular contraction felt different to her. It was long, painful, and different. I held her hand while it passed and I tried to go back to sleep only to be interrupted by another painful contraction. She was having them closer together, and that was when we knew it was time to go.
We got up and we started to get ready to go to the hospital. Our bags were packed and supposedly ready to go, but we still had to do several laps around the house making sure we had everything. My wife called her doctor who told her to come to the hospital sooner rather than later. While she got ready to go, I threw everything in the car.
In the midst of the rush, we realized that we didn't have our birth plan printed out. I ran to the printer, unpacked the computer, and I printed out a copy which I then set on the kitchen table. That was followed by more running around the house while we called people to let them know that it was time. I was running up and down the stairs making sure I had the camera, batteries and chargers for everything.
We somehow get everything into the car and we were on our way. By now it was a little after 5 in the morning. I was glad that there wasn't too much traffic. The contractions were coming closer together and they were becoming more painful. I tried my best to focus on getting to the hospital. The advantage of having to go to the hospital this early is the simple fact that there is no traffic. It was me and the open road. Oh, and my wife going into labor.
I didn't have a pre-planned route, but there are only two ways to get to the hospital of our choice. My chosen route had less stoplights and a four-lane highway. It is usually well patrolled by law enforcement, but I was well prepared to make my case for a police escort to the hospital.
We had no run-ins with the law, but our travels were hindered by a train. It wasn't a short train either. There was no way around the locomotive, so we had to wait patiently and watch it flow endlessly past us. I will always question the need to have railroad tracks crossing busy streets in any city.
My wife and I made it to the hospital and it was a rush to decide what we needed with us in the room, and what we could leave in the car, and where to park, and where to go first. We walked into the admitting area and walked up to the counter. My wife had pre-registered so we expected to be admitted instantly. We highly recommend this to anyone having a hospital birth; it can save you a lot of time and effort. The nice gentleman asks for my wife's name and then he says, "Why don't you have a seat. Mary (fake name) will be with you shortly."
We both thought the same thing. Seriously?
"Mary" took one look at my wife and asked her if she was in labor. My wife didn't really have to answer because you could see it in her face. At that moment "Mary" magically found her registration, so she hurried us down the hall to the elevator;you can't hurry a pregnant lady in labor.
The early morning hour helped in this instance as well because there was not a whole lot of hospital traffic. We got up to the maternity ward and there was another mad rush while, they helped my wife get ready, asked a bunch of questions, and I quickly made note of all the places I couldpass out sit down if I needed to.
For the uninitiated: Hollywood has it all wrong. Labor is nothing like it is in T.V. and in movies. Sometimes I think that no one in Hollywood has actually given birth before, but then I think that they have to make it seem dramatic for the sake of drama. My wife never once yelled at me or blamed me for anything. The whole day was really calm and quiet.
That is not to say that my wife was not in pain, because she was. Every contraction was more painful than the last, and there was little rest between them. In our birth plan, she had stated that she did want pain medication during labor. While we were still getting settled in the room, the nurse looked at us and asked us for said birth plan. I dutifully ran to my bag, dug around the bag and quickly realized that the birth plan was not actually in the bag. Panic! How could I have forgotten such an important part of the process? How could I be so careless? How would we know how we wanted our baby to be born?
These and other questions will be answered in Part II: Daddy Forgot the Phone Charger
P.S. Anaya is now four weeks old and growing everyday.
I didn't have a pre-planned route, but there are only two ways to get to the hospital of our choice. My chosen route had less stoplights and a four-lane highway. It is usually well patrolled by law enforcement, but I was well prepared to make my case for a police escort to the hospital.
We had no run-ins with the law, but our travels were hindered by a train. It wasn't a short train either. There was no way around the locomotive, so we had to wait patiently and watch it flow endlessly past us. I will always question the need to have railroad tracks crossing busy streets in any city.
My wife and I made it to the hospital and it was a rush to decide what we needed with us in the room, and what we could leave in the car, and where to park, and where to go first. We walked into the admitting area and walked up to the counter. My wife had pre-registered so we expected to be admitted instantly. We highly recommend this to anyone having a hospital birth; it can save you a lot of time and effort. The nice gentleman asks for my wife's name and then he says, "Why don't you have a seat. Mary (fake name) will be with you shortly."
We both thought the same thing. Seriously?
"Mary" took one look at my wife and asked her if she was in labor. My wife didn't really have to answer because you could see it in her face. At that moment "Mary" magically found her registration, so she hurried us down the hall to the elevator;you can't hurry a pregnant lady in labor.
The early morning hour helped in this instance as well because there was not a whole lot of hospital traffic. We got up to the maternity ward and there was another mad rush while, they helped my wife get ready, asked a bunch of questions, and I quickly made note of all the places I could
For the uninitiated: Hollywood has it all wrong. Labor is nothing like it is in T.V. and in movies. Sometimes I think that no one in Hollywood has actually given birth before, but then I think that they have to make it seem dramatic for the sake of drama. My wife never once yelled at me or blamed me for anything. The whole day was really calm and quiet.
That is not to say that my wife was not in pain, because she was. Every contraction was more painful than the last, and there was little rest between them. In our birth plan, she had stated that she did want pain medication during labor. While we were still getting settled in the room, the nurse looked at us and asked us for said birth plan. I dutifully ran to my bag, dug around the bag and quickly realized that the birth plan was not actually in the bag. Panic! How could I have forgotten such an important part of the process? How could I be so careless? How would we know how we wanted our baby to be born?
These and other questions will be answered in Part II: Daddy Forgot the Phone Charger
P.S. Anaya is now four weeks old and growing everyday.
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