The Birth of Thomas John - A Daddy's Perspective

My first "Honey-Do" item on my list as a father - update blog. In the last couple of weeks, among many other things, the topic of "when will he be born" has been a hot topic. Then, on Tuesday, we find out when...Friday morning, the doctor says. In my mind, I say, Okay, let's get prepared for Friday. First, I cancelled my round of golf on Thursday with a prospective member - don't bust my chops, it is part of my job :) Then I begin to get things in order at work; tell co-workers the plan, rush through some items on my to do list, as a nice end to the day, putt and chip on the practice green for a few minutes, pick up a pizza at the Club for Sue and I, and return home. At this point, I figured, I will pack my bag for Friday on Thursday; after all, it was scheduled for Friday, right?

Then, after dinner, Sue is on the computer (I think) and getting ready for bed. Being the caring guy that I am, I prepared the most comfortable arrangement of pillows for Sue that I could imagine - a nice incline of about 45 degrees to promote a good night’s sleep for her. Then I proceed to the couch for a little R&R and some TV. This next 20 minutes is a little bit of a blur...somewhere during this time Sue's "contraction feeling events" began getting more intense, she yells down to me and I don't hear her for a few minutes, the doctor was called, and we are told to proceed to the hospital. HUH?? It was supposed to be Friday - I didn't have my bag packed (I know, typical guy waiting till the last minute...but it was supposed to be Friday) so I scramble to get some things I might need, and grabbed everything Sue had already prepared (typical female) - her bag, baby's bag, etc. Then, in the heat of the moment, Sue told me to grab a garbage bag and towels, just in case. Unfortunately, this request registered for only a split second, and I forgot. Thank goodness we didn't need them or this story would have a whole other paragraph.

It's now about 10:15 pm Wednesday night- I think. After "safely" speeding to the hospital and going through two red lights (don't worry, I looked both ways first), we made it to the hospital. Again, the next few mintues were a blur. We end up in a, for lack of a better term, pre-admission room where some tests were ran - these were the tests we were scheduled to have done Thursday morning at 9:30am. We didn't like the nurse initially since she sort of scolded us for not taking baby classes - like any class could prepare us for this (we wound up being buddies later - she is from Indiana).

So as you saw above, I got dressed in scrubs and was ready for action. It seemed to take forever until we were wheeled upstairs to begin. Then, I was placed in a room as they preped Sue for the C. I was told that it would be 10-15 mintues before it began so I went to get a drink - they had a "pantry" where there was ginger ale in half cans and water. I went through the first one quickly so I went to get another when all of a sudden Dr. Passes busted my chops for walking away at the beginning of the procedure - he even told Sue. Good one Dr. I then sit down next to Sue's head holding her hand as it started. Thank God for the blue screen separating what me from what was going on. I started at about 1am. then at 1:27 I hear a nurse say, stand up and take a picture of your baby boy. Already having heard of what can be seen at this time, I merely raised the camera up so it could see over the curtain and snapped a couple of shots. In that small screen of the camera, I think I saw what I didn't want to, but I haven't looked at those pictures again - whew!! I then was able to pick him up and bring him to see mommy. It was a magical few minutes while we bonded with him. We were officially parents!!!!

The second picture is Thomas John a few minutes after being born...I think his gesture was either foreshadowing of his terrible two's or his immediate reaction to being taken from a comfortable, warm environment that was his mommy. I hope it was the latter.

It was a long night. I knew how tired I was so I couldn't even begin to understand how tired Sue was. She was a Champ through the whole event. I would have been crying like, well, a baby. But she was strong, just the way a mommy needs to be. This picture of her and Thomas was taken Friday, I think. It has been hard to keep track of what day it is since Wednesday and Thursday seem to have become one day.

There are so many feelings running through me, excitment, anxiety, love... Every time I see him, I feel something new.

Although there are so many other things to say, I have to get going to the hospital. Look soon for Sue to give her recap and thoughts on this wonderful experience. I know sign out as, Daddy.

P.S. I think I figured out the video of Tux, so here it is.