The Weekend the Earth Stood Still

It's been 2 months and one day since I last posted anything here; all the while my intention was to post weekly about my life as a father of four boys or anything else that came up along the way. Well, life showed up in a big way in the form of a 7 lb. 8 oz. baby named Levi on, of all days, Super Bowl Sunday, Feb 7th. Since I haven't talked to you in a while, let me give you a bit of the back story.

My wife was scheduled to be admitted in Clovis Community on Friday the 5th with the intent of being induced. We show up at 5 pm and aren't given a room until 8 pm; gotta love the waiting room. When we get the room and she gets into that ubiquitous gown, a nurse comes to check her and tells us that she's at a 1. For those of you not in the know, a one means her cervix is dilated one centimeter and a 10 means she's ready to birth the child.

So, they put a suppository up in there to soften the cervix and help it move along. That first night was the last of the good nights for awhile I'm afraid. Besides being poked and prodded every 3-4 hours by the nurse, we slept fine; I even did on that little bench/couch thing that I'm sure was built as a deterrent for anyone to stay over night. Anyway, Saturday morning rolls around, a nurse takes the suppository out and checks her and gives us the great news that she went from a 1 to a 1 1/2. Now I know all about God's time and our time but come on, a half a centimeter in 12 hours; unfortunately this was but a small foreshadow of the events to come. Brenda was put on pitocin later that morning and that's when the fun began. The painful cramps didn't arrive until later in the afternoon but she did begin to show the first signs of her discomfort pretty much since the first trimester.

Now the hospital said they only allowed 2 people in the room at a time, but what they said and what they got were two different things. Her parents, my parents, and her sisters and brother-in-laws all made an appearance at one point during the labor process. What a blessing family is to have in a time like this; they kept me full of Starbucks and Mc Donald's and her sisters, Kathy and Stephanie, kept reminding Brenda of the joys of motherhood while the giant contractions were ripping her insides out. Oh happy day.

Saturday night finally came, albeit at a much slower pace than we thought. The nurse checked her again and at 8 pm she was now a, wait for it, a 5. Keep in mind that by this time, Brenda's had the epidural and pitocin drip going for about 8 hours; pitocin to move the cervix along and the epidural to relax her to let her body work. Well, you can forget about relaxing now, she was mad. She cursed Eve, she was mad at God, she was mad at me for letting her want to have a baby; if you were in the line of fire, you got hit. Her doctor offered a c-section, which is what he wanted to do on Friday, by the way; but she declined and said she wanted to go till the morning.

Well, a long painful night made made very short, morning came (again, finally), she was dilated to a 7 now (whoopty-doo), she threw in the towel and had a c-section at 8:30 am Sunday morning and Levi reared his bloody head (I have pictures to prove it) at 8:52 am. Let the fun begin, bring on the pain meds, the Super Bowl in the hospital, the bloated belly, the uncomfortable recliner to "sleep" in, the tar-y diapers, the forced walking, the gas, the lactation specialists, the pooping-yourself-when-you-think-it's-gas, the granny panties, the wonderful post-partum nurses, more pain meds, an air mattress, and the best words ever spoken since "I now pronounce you..."; "Everything looks good, you're free to go home." Yessss!

The longest 5 days of our lives up to that point ended Tuesday afternoon at 2 pm. The next chapter in our marriage was just beginning; we are the parents of a helpless, selfish little creature that we must raise to be a God-fearing young man. It's not an easy task before us but we will cherish the opportunity and, God willing, be successful.