On Friday September 16th at 6:25 a.m. Chelsa and I had a son. This is his story.
Early Thursday morning (early for me anyway) Chelsa's water broke. This was cause for some concern, as the due date we had for Max's birth was more than a month away. Chelsa and I drove to the hospital. Upon arrival, the doctor and nurses decided that it was "pretty unlikely" that Max would be born in the next seventy two hours, but that Chelsa would have to stay for at least a few days for observation. To Chelsa and I, the prospect of a potential week long hospital stay was pretty lame, but we decided to make the best of it. Chelsa reported what she described as "mild cramping", but otherwise she was as comfortable as a woman in a one-sided paper gown could be.
Throughout the day, Chelsa and I watched some movies, we called some people, and we waited. Chelsa was continuing to experience “mild cramping”, but did not think she was having contractions. (I should say at this point that Chelsa is a bit on the stoic side. This will come into play later in the story.) Around 4:00pm or so, our doctor went home, still giving us a “less than fifty percent chance” of delivering in the next seventy-two hours. By six-thirty, Chelsa was describing her cramps becoming "more annoying". The nurse ascribed this to the baby’s head pressing on the cervix without the water cushioning it, and that she should just try to get some rest.
By 3:00am, it became clear to Chelsa and I that her ‘cramps’ were becoming suspiciously stronger and more regular. Chelsa got no sleep. I managed to sleep for about an hour in a chair. At 5:00am, I went on a mission to demand drugs for Chelsa. It is my belief that this started a bit of a tiff between the nurses on staff and the doctor. The nurses returned and said that in order to give Chelsa any pain medication, they would need to do an exam on Chelsa. They had not examined her until this point, because with no amniotic fluid, Chelsa and the baby were more vulnerable to infection. If Chelsa was in labor, this would be fine. If Chelsa was not in labor, then the doctor would be needlessly exposing the baby to infection. It was pretty clear to me that Chelsa was in labor at this point, but the nurses were less certain.
Finally at about 5:30, the nurse examined Chelsa. It took about two seconds for her to say “Well, not only are you in labor, but you’re ready to have a baby right now”. The next 20min was a mad dash to get the Doctor to the hospital. At about 6:00am the doctor showed up in jeans and a polo shirt and said “okay, let’s deliver this baby”. And twenty minutes later, without medication, without profanity or even an unkind word to anyone, Chelsa gave birth to Max. And that minute, 6:25 am on the morning of September 16, 2005, is the best minute of my life.
Oh and the stuff I wrote a couple weeks ago about it being gross, well I just didn’t know. When it’s your baby, it’s not gross at all.
As of this writing, Max is a day and a half old. He weighs five pounds and thirteen ounces. While Chelsa was up and walking around about an hour after giving birth, Max requires a little more time. After holding and playing with Max for a few hours, we had to let the doctors take Max to a larger hospital in Sacramento for roughly one week of observation and growth to make sure he is ready for us. Max is about five weeks early, and while he looks like a baby, he is still a tiny bit premature. Letting them keep Max in Sacramento was one of the most painful things I have ever had to do. It doesn’t feel good to come home from the hospital without my baby. But hopefully by next week he will be with Chelsa and I. I have included some pictures in this posting with more to come. I will post as many items and updates as time allows. Chelsa is staying with him during the day and I am visiting him at night.
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