Mountain Clams

I can't believe I'm saying this

I can't believe that at 39 years old I'm saying this: "I am a grandfather." At 4:01 this morning, my daughter gave birth to her son, Eugene Alexander. He weighed in at 8 pounds 2 ounces. Mom and baby are both doing well. Eugene arrived three days before his due date. 1/24/08 - a birth date that any computer geek would be proud of.

It was the day before yesterday when Cady told me her story about how she thought she lost all bladder control. We were just going to the hospital to have her checked out and make sure things were going okay still. We each put some clothes together "just in case," packed stuff into the truck and at 10 PM drove to Rose Medical Center. They checked her in, and she went straight up to labor and delivery where they told us her water had broken. She estimates it happened at 4 PM while she was buying books for her classes.

I'm honestly too tired to remember all the details between then and now. I know that they used pitosin (no idea how to spell that) to induce labor. Her early contractions were easy and she was being lulled into a false sense of security over how difficult it would be. Her later contractions were intense, clustered in groups of as many as six spikes, and irregular - not ideal for first-time labor. Not ideal for any labor, I imagine. She felt really defeated when she asked for the epidural, having wanted to do a drug-free delivery, but that was ultimately a good decision for her. Once she was fully dilated and effaced, the doctor found that the baby's head just wouldn't fit, and a c-section was ordered.

She had a great support staff of friends/family: Lori, Ray, Dan, David, Jennifer. Oh, and me. Lori, Ray and I were her front-line for most of it, holding her hands, getting her to breathe, getting her through the contractions, shifting her from side to side, feeding her ice, massaging her, etc. Lori ended up going with her to the c-section while the rest of us waited by the nursery. Not long later, the nurse went by with the baby asking for the "grandfather." I don't know what kind of mental block I had, but the nurse disappeared into the nursery with him before I really reacted. I went to the window to watch him get cleaned up, measured, and all that jazz. Then I was brought in and got a closer look at him while the nurse poked his heel for the blood test (he didn't cry). I moved him to the wheeled bed and brought him down to see Cady.

Lots of details are missing, like the hour and something I spent picking up Dan at the airport, getting Rick from school to visit his sister, ... much more, I'm sure. Maybe someone will fill me in?

I'm home now to get some sleep (which I'm obviously not doing at the moment), and will visit again tomorrow. She should be coming home on Sunday or Monday.

Labels: life

posted by Brett @ 12:59 AM