It was a Saturday. The day started off nicely, with some play and napping with Quinn, both of which are amazing events, especially in the same day.
That evening Kim, Quinn and I went to my co worker Tonya’s house and had some awesome mexican food with some good people. Tonya’s husband Terrence had some awesome steak flown up from southern California or something and it was worth whatever they paid. Especially because THEY paid.
Aside from the food Tonya and Terrence have a cat and dog, both of which were far more tolerant of Quinn’s advances than is in their best interest which made our son a happy fella.
So the evening was filled with good food, good animals, good people and a happy son. (sorry I ruined the good thing)
We left the party partly in anticipation of a Quinn meltdown as bedtime was fast approaching, but also because Ryan and Megan were coming over to the house. We put Quinn to bed, and shortly after Ryan and Megan arrived, and kindly brought over some goodies.
The night was filled with some delicious treats and fun games. Ryan taught us a game he played with his co workers during lunch breaks called ‘deuces’. When I asked Kim what game we played, she thought it was something called ‘labor’, which I’m fairly certain is insane, and she recalls everything about that day/night having something to do with labor. Anywho, it was a fun game.
Megan had also brought Kim some ‘natural’ labor inducing teas, and at this point in the pregnancy she did just about anything to speed along things so I think she went through a whole pot of tea by herself.
Fun was had, bladders were filled and Ryan and Megan left shortly after 11. As far as I recall, Kim made no mention of anything ‘happening’ so we headed up to bed. I don’t believe I had fallen asleep yet, but somewhere near 12:30 Kim asked me to open up our contraction tracker app on my phone. She’d been feeling some decently strong contractions and wanted to see how far apart they were.I thought this was a bit silly because as far as I knew, no babies were ever born while I was sleeping, or while I should have been sleeping. I urged her to just try and sleep through it, but she wanted to time some out and we did. Sure enough, they were a bit regular and continued to grow in strength. The concept of a good night sleep was quickly fading at this point and my brain was attempting to reset into baby mode. Kim alerted her brother that stuff might be happening and to be on alert. I looked at our ‘what to do if you are going into labor’ sheet, and it said to call the hospital, so I did. We were then put through to the midwife, who suggested Kim soak in the tub to see if that helped the pain, or if the contractions started to slow down. I’m pretty sure that by the time the bath was full, Kim had gone from, it kind of hurts phase, into HOLY CRAP, OUCH OUCH OUCH *MOAN *MOAN freak out your husband phase of labor. It was evident that the tub plan was a bust, so we called Ryan and Megan to come back so someone could watch Quinn for us.
In hindsight, the 30 minutes or so it took Ryan and Megan to get back to the house was the perfect amount of time for me to make sure the house was ready for them, that our bags were ready to go, to call Kim’s parents alerting them of the impending baby with plenty of time left for me to stand around helpless while Kim transitioned into full on labor in our living room. I’ve heard that some women enjoy a backrub or something but I’m pretty sure Kim didn’t want me touching her at all, which I was kind of ok with. Women in full on labor are somewhat frightening, so I think keeping some distance is probably for the best.
Ryan and Megan finally showed up and we were somehow able to get Kim out into the car. I think we were able to get about 10 steps at a time before we’d have to stop as a contraction was happening. Eventually we were in and buckled (I think Kim buckled? Who knows at this point) and I sped off toward 520. The trip from Redmond to Bellevue isn’t normally all that long, but when you think a baby might emerge on the way, I wouldn’t have minded living at the hospital. Kim was really struggling at this point and I definitely said something along the lines of “Don’t have the baby yet!” I’m glad she listened.
We finally arrived at the hospital and I was relieved somewhat, until I realized I had no idea where we were supposed to go. You see, second babies are not as big a deal as first babies, so we didn’t really put a lot of effort into knowing much about the hospital part of the process. I got Kim out of the car, and she told me to leave the bags, but I thought it would be nice to have everything so I loaded the 4 or so bags, pillows, blankets, laptop and whatever else we thought we’d need to wait for the baby to show up. HA! We made it through the parking lot and into the hospital and sure enough, I parked on the opposite end of the hospital where we were supposed to be. When I walked up to the first desk and asked where to go, they gave me a nice wide eyed reply and immediately called someone down to assist us. A page or whatever you call people that wheel other people around a hospital came and took us on what felt like the complete tour of the hospital. It was actually some kind of short cut, but nothing felt short about this process...yet. We finally made it to the birthing floor and I started feeling a tiny bit of relief. There would be no car births that morning. Kira would be born in a hospital, thus saving the car’s upholstery. Huzzah!
They put Kim in a ‘triage’ room and a nurse came in to see what the situation was while I dropped the pile of stuff we had brought in with us on the floor. I think Kim had asked everyone she saw, nurses, receptionists, janitors if she could have an epidural yet, and finally the person that could grant her one and only wish from the past hour was there and ready to make a call. The nurse checked Kim out, and shook her head ever so slightly. It was just enough to be both confusing and terrifying. Kim asked again if she could get some medical relief, to which the lady replied, “You’re going to have a baby! You’re going to have a baby!”
That’s when things got even ‘blurrier’ for me. We quickly moved into the room next door, which meant quickly grabbing all our stuff again while trying to stay out of the way. I believe 5 or so nurses and the midwife descended upon us. They set Kim up in a birthing bed and started doing whatever it is they do to prepare for the baby that was ready to join the party. While that was happening, I stood there with our stuff that definitely had nowhere to go with that many people in the room. A nurse told me shove it in some cupboard and then started giving me things to sign and asking me questions I had no idea how to answer at that point. I think I signed my name (or made illegible scribbles on a few lines) on 2 or 3 pages while ignoring whatever the nurse was explaining to me each page meant. I couldn’t have cared less and would have probably joined the army if the right page was shoved in my face at that point. I was eventually able to go to Kimberly and be as involved as any Dad really is in a birth. Well, that’s not entirely true. With Quinn, I took a leg. I don’t think I had that much responsibility this time. A few pushes, moans, and tears later, our precious Kira was born. We later found out that only 14 minutes had passed from the time we hit the floor to the time Kira popped out. Not a bad way to spend 14 minutes I think. Not that I’m eager to repeat that drama.
The nurses gave Kira to Kimberly, and they both cried, and I smiled and kept telling Kim how amazing she did, because she was amazing. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t also recall Kim’s childlike complaints about the nurses rubbing her belly to loosen her placenta post birth. “ I don’t like that”. “You’re hurting me!” could be heard coming from that birthing suite. But really, who could blame her. She was just being honest.
I called Kim’s parents who were on their way and they got to hear Kira in the background crying and Darlene asked me questions I didn’t really know all the answers to, but they knew they had a healthy, beautiful new granddaughter and that was enough. I texted my family as I didn’t want to wake anyone up, but knew I’d be in trouble if I didn’t tell them when it happened. I took a few blurry pictures and kind of just stood there in awe of what happened.
I eventually got to hold my baby girl, and it was amazing as anyone who’s held their newborn child can tell you. Our family, and my heart grew that morning, and has been growing ever since. It’s a beautiful thing.
I love you Kira. Thank you for joining our family, and for not trying to come out in our car. I owe you one.
Beautifully written! You made me laugh out loud and tear up. So touching! :)
ReplyDelete