After a day of "cramps", The Shadow Lady and I FINALLY made the decision to head in to Overlake to see what they could tell us.  We were pretty sure they would just send us home, smiling at the new parents-to-be for being so trigger-happy.  But, we figured they'd put us at ease, and if the cramps WERE something wrong, at least we'd be where we needed to be.

Just in case, we packed our 'last minute' things: laptops, tooth brushes, and the like... it'd be good practice, at least... we could then check, and see what we forgot, and do better next time, when it was "for real".

We got to Overlake, and described what she was feeling, and they put us in a room, and checked her out.

9cm.  Not only were the cramps REAL Labor, she was basically done.  All afternoon, she'd been going through "Hard Labor", and soldiered through them.  We almost were too late!

They immediately set her up on the baby monitor.  Things seemed fine, but they needed to slow things down, because he was still "high", and she needed to take some meds before the big moment, which now seemed eminent.

The Anesthesiologist showed up, and put in an epi, which really made things a lot better for her.

Our doctor was on vacation, so a doctor, Dr Nudelman, from his office stood in, coming in from time to time to check on the progress.

The nurse, Sheryl, had went to our church for a long time... small world, eh?

I was asked to sign release forms for a Hepatitis B shot, and a shot for Vitamin K... it was AWESOME to write "Father" on the 'relationship' line... it really had a HUGE impact: this was VERY real!

 

 
Around 3:30, we started the infamous "pushing" to try to help things along, and "have the baby", as Sheryl put it. 

That went on for about an hour and a half.  The poor little guy was "Posterior", meaning that although he was head down, he was "face up", and couldn't fit through the pelvis.  Dr Nudelman tried to turn him, but couldn't.

The combination of contractions and pushing eventually wore him out, and his heartbeat started to fall off... we decided that in order to keep everyone safe, we'd do an emergency C-Section.

I quickly donned my snazzy outfit, and we went over to the operating room.

 
The Shadow Lady was a real trooper... she was in great spirits, and we were both excited that the time had finally come: we were officially going to be parents.

Less than 15 minutes after we made the decision to do the C-Section, Little Jerry was on the birthing station, wondering what the heck had just happened!

He was awesome!  A beautiful BIG baby - 9 pounds, 21.5 inches - with a VERY annoyed look on his face, but not crying, just curiously looking around.

His head was coned off to one side, and he had a big bruise on his forehead... he was stuck in there pretty good!

 
Aside from the time when Pastor Greg said "I now pronounce you husband and wife" to me and my beautiful wife, this is the happiest moment I've ever had.

He's so amazingly perfect... but then, I'm biased a little, I'm sure!

I waited until he was 5 hours old... then took a picture of him... here it is, next to me, when I was 5 hours old...

In the Afternoon, The Shadow Lady's family came to visit the newest addition to the family...  

It was a very happy time for the new Grampa...  

 
... and Grandma!

 

Towards the end of the day, We were all tuckered out...

Its a day that neither one of us will ever forget, to be sure!

< Back to Currently