Birth Story Part VI....sleeping at the hospital is a lie!

The first night....well, we didn't sleep that much. I had fed Reese around 8pm and working on a 3-4 hour schedule means chow starts at 12am. The night nurse tells us that she needs to test Reese's blood glucose so she'll come in and stick my daughter with a needle....tick her off real good and then we'll feed her.

So like clock work, the nurse comes by at 12am. Kim and I had just almost dozed off. Reese didn't mind the stick to the foot but now we have to feed her and put her back down. So I do that....I try to burp and then we lay her back down within the span of 15 minutes. Man, this ain't so hard...our baby is the world's best baby so this is a walk in the park. Right...

One fair burp doesn't cut it. Even two fair burps doesn't clear you for the the evening. Two GOOD burps might get you off the hook for an hour or two but Reese doesn't give two good burps even now at three weeks old. She's ticked....she fusses....she drifts back to sleep. The nurse comes to check Kim an hour later....huh? Why didn't they do that when they were checking on Reese? Eh well, I roll over, next thing you know the nurse is back pricking Reese's foot again. It must be time to eat, we feed, try to burp, change a diaper and lay back down. Maybe this will be the window that we'll start sleeping. Um, no. The nurse comes back to check on Kim and to change out the ice back between Kim's legs....really? Right now? alright.....

I roll over for what seemed like one or two blinks, nurse comes back in to do something besides a glucose test for Reese. She wakes her up, Reese fusses, Kim and I are awake now, the nurse leaves. You gotta be kidding me right?! We're dog tired but we're wide awake because no one will leave us alone! I was afraid that if I turned my rear toward the door, someone might come in and check me out. It was unbelievable!

Now...I have to address those first diapers. Holy smokes that stuff is nasty. I firmly believe that you could take the first several diapers from every new born baby in the world and either re-tar every road or at the very least patch every roof. I swear Reese would wallow in her tar laden diapers as a cruel joke to her new mom and dad and it seems that hospital wipes really suck at tar removal or maybe it doesn't matter what tool you use. Suffice it to say that diaper changes were starting to slow down.

Saturday morning arrives for most and I'm sure that Grandparents and other family and friends were just chomping at the bit to visit. Our Saturday morning started far earlier but we were ready to welcome anyone that would stop in with a sleep deprived smile and an equally sleepy Reese. One thing that made life a little easier was an awesome day nurse. Robin was another short nurse but she was perfect...no short nurse syndrome like Nurse Hatchet. Robin would come in and literally shout. REEEEEEESSSSSEEE! You need to wake up baby!!! REEEEEEESSSSSEEEEEEEE!!!!! She would perform whatever needed to be done and was always perfect with our new baby.

Memory serves that the shouting did wake Reese up but more to the point, it scared the caca out of Kim and I. Kim's mom brought snacks for us, my parents came, Lance and Celeste came, I believe some of Kim's aunts came.....my memory is leaving so I'm tying to finish the birth story saga....The day trodded along and our final visitors were my Aunt Judith and Robbie. I had ordered Domino's pizza, we chowed down and I got ready for some serious shut eye. Ohhhhhh Praise Jesus!! Sleep, precious sleep.

Around 9pm Reese decided that she was angry with something and felt it necessary to tell us about it. We'd hold her....she'd zip it...we'd lay her down....she would scream. It went just like this for hours. Up, down, scream, up, down, scream. Midnight came....still screaming. 1am, 2am, now 3am....scream, scream, scream. She wasn't having one of those uncontrollable lip screams but she was ticked about life for sure. Around 3:30am I decided that we needed some more ice. So I shuffle down the hall and then the most devilish and evil thing happened to me.....I heard other kids wailing in the other rooms down the hall. The first one was two doors down. This kid was absolutely losing his mind screaming. The next door, screaming. The next....the same thing. All of them were absolutely off the charts compared to Reese. I smiled. It warmed my heart. I almost laughed with glee. Not at the fact that other babies were angry and crying. But that everybody down that hallway was awake just like me and their hands were just as full as mine.

Reese finally collapsed around 4am....and I sleep for the first time in what seemed like days. I have no idea what Kim did, I have no recollection of anything from around 4am to 7am, I was simply exhausted.

Sunday came....visitors came....and we prepped to leave. It was comforting to be at the hospital but it wasn't comfortABLE for anyone. I was a little scared and emotionally overwhelmed that morning. Kim actually had to keep my head on straight a couple of times. Of all the memories made during that three day stretch, I'll always remember Kim and I hugging that morning. It had been months since I hugged my wife with a tight "bear hug". She hobbled along and that broke my heart but I knew that she was going to be fine in the end.

Reese is three weeks and almost 2 days now. She's a blessing and a gift and we love her more than anything. There are things/events in life that are burned into my memory....my wedding day, our trips to Hawaii, the 1st Apple festival that we went to...and so many, many more. But this story. Well, I just had to write it down so we could remember every little detail. That's sort of the end of the Birth Story posts but it's only the beginning of our story with Reese.

One day I hope to let her read and understand what happened on 3/27/09 to her Mommy and Daddy. There will be many more "Stories" to tell during our lifetime with Reese but she has been one of the highlights of our story as husband and wife. We love you sweetie!

Birth Story Part V....

Little Reese is in my arms....Kim is blitzed from pain meds and birthing trauma and is about one bad smell from throwing up. She was so incredibly nauseous.

Our family starts to come back in and whether Kim and I know what to do or not...we're parents now. Everyone checks on Kim, they awe at Reese and the photo session begins. As a new Dad, and for the first time in my married life....I'm torn.

My wife is lying beside me probably in as bad of condition as I have ever seen her. She is in pain, she is weak, and she is pale. In my arms is Reese....needing just as much attention as her mother. Who do I tend to first? Kim has been my life for 17 years...I've just met Reese but I love her as much as the 17 year head start that Kim has earned. My two girls needing more attention than I know how to give.

Prioritization kicks in and Reese needs to eat so I focus on Reese first.

Disclaimer time.....Kim and I have talked about the virtues of breast feeding and we know that Momma's milk is better than any other milk, formula, etc.... But we chose to bottle feed. We have reasons for the decision but ANYTIME this subject comes up, people chirp about the decision either way. So don't stress when I tell you that we went straight to formula. We know....we know.

The nurse hands me this little pre-made bottle of formula and tells me to feed Reese. So I shake it up VIOLENTLY!! It says to do so right on the bottle. Put on the nipple and put the bottle to Reese's lips. She latches on and starts killing this 2oz. bottle of formula. Around this time our new nurse Dolly tells me to feed her slowly....only give her half of the bottle at first. I look down and Reesie-Pie has already killed this bottle. Now....it's time to burp.

Flash back to me shaking the bottle violently....things that people don't tell you as a new parent is not to shake bottles. It introduces air into the formula. Read previous posts...air in the baby is bad. Flash forward to burping the baby, I throw her up on my shoulder to burp and Reese's neck isn't quite ready for that...I sort of freeze and then don't know what to do. Dolly then shows me the "choke your baby to burp her" hold. What do you know...It works! Reese belches like a trucker and so everything is ok right? Eh...you should probably burp new babies a little more. We'll pay for this later.

An hour or so passes and Dolly advises everyone that this long day needs to come to an end. Kim is going to be moved to a recovery room and we're going to spend our first night with Reese. The family shuffles out...hugs and kisses are handed out and everyone is so very excited that this day has come but everyone is equally tired and ready to get into some comfortable clothes and seating arrangements.....The delivery room was nice but it wasn't the most comfortable place in the world for any of us so whether anyone wants to admit it or not, we're all probably ready for a little R&R.

Dolly carts in this little rolling table for me to put all our bags on and pretty soon we're going to head up to the fourth floor. Just prior to this, Kim begins to get a little color back in her face and so it seemed like a fine time to inquire about what kind of pain Kim was feeling and what the nurses where going to do about it. Dolly offers some stout pain killer but Kim hadn't eaten a thing. So, Dolly treated her to a nice gourmet dinner of saltine crackers and graham crackers so the Percocet can take effect.

It was only now that Kim finally got to hold Reese and inspect this little creation. Kim was a little broken up because she hadn't been able to tend to Reese but it just wasn't possible any sooner that this. She just stared at our little girl.....tears rolled slowly and a smile covered her face. It has to be an odd moment to meet the little one that has been growing inside of you for so long. The one that kicked and jabbed from the inside, now sits outside all swaddled and sleeping. The one that you prayed would be ok is finally in your arms and she's fine. What a powerful moment in time...I'll never forget that.

"Less go mama." Dolly says. (she's hispanic) Kim eases into a wheel chair big enough to hold me three times. Kim must carry Reese and "papa" (as Dolly called me) carried everything else. We go up an down the hall to Room 430. The room is half the size of the delivery room but we don't care...it's time to sleep. It's almost 10pm and little did we know but Reese is experiencing the 24 recovery phase. See, Reese is just as tired as we are so she's sleepy and could care less about what the nurses are doing to her....but after that first 24 hours is over, she'll be wide awake and ready to fuss with us for about 7 hours straight....YEAH!!!

Part VI.....Sleeping at the hospital is a lie.

Birth Story Part IV.....

Nurse Hatchet...or Wratchet.....take your choice, was a middle aged woman in a purple nursey looking outfit. She was short with short hair and she probably had a little case of short woman syndrome but she meant business. It didn't appear that she made her money being nice and sweet and all cuddly....she told the family to scat and I feared that I was going to be asked to leave as well.

This was the nurse that sort of looked at Kim like she had four ears when Kim asked for more pain killer in the epidural drip. The thing was practically empty and Hatchet wanted to debate as to whether Kim was really in pain with that stupid little one to ten chart with smiley faces on it. One being just a walk in the park and ten being the worst pain you've ever felt in your life....what tripped me out was that the little smiley face man wasn't wailing in pain right under 10. He has a few tears and a troubled brow but that's about it....not what you'd expect from a near death #10 experience. But I digress....

Our sweet, fun-loving, and super nice nurse Tiffany was busy down the hall delivering the "rude mother's" baby. Tiffany bragged on how good Kim was doing and I guess more to the point that we didn't try to tell her how to do her job but rather asked questions because we're a bunch of rookies at this....Yeah...she was tied up so Hatchet was it and a trainee who was heading back to school on Monday. I guess they run some trainee periods so that nurse wanna-be's get to see the real world before they're thrown into the mix. Hatchet was over there showing the trainee what to do and how to do and so on...little did Kim or I know or understand Hatchet was just showing her stuff....not prepping her on her role in this delivery. Small shivers pulsed through our bodies at the sight of a trainee handling our daughter in an emergency situation.

Oh yeah...the emergency situation...When the nurse broke Kim's water, we found that meconium was in the fluid and there was a high likelihood that Reese could have ingested some of this "poop". The idea is that the nurse would make a determination at the time of delivery and keep Reese from crying so that she didn't immediately suck down some poop into her lungs. They called in a respiratory therapist/specialist to have right there to suck out her lungs and nose and all would be well.

So...Beth (midwife) shows up, she coaches us through some pushing. Three counts of 10, deep breaths in between, push until was say stop...all of this coincides with the contractions. Dad! they all yell...Grab Kim's leg and push it toward her chest. Nan....hold her head up so she can really breath and get good pushes....Rookie nurse...hold the other leg. Hatchet....well, she actually turned into a nice lady during this stretch. Tiffany....she made it! She came to count and relieve Nan from hold Kim's head up. We all had a job. Daddy! They yelled...come look at this! You can see her head!

I had been pretty adamant that looking at this was going to challenge me a little. I didn't know if I could handle that whole image of Reese and my wife's privates all mingled into one view. The first time, I sheepishly looked and all I could see was this little white/yellow spot in "there" and they told me that was Reese's head. It wasn't all that bad....I could handle that. Whew! Done looking! Nuh uh...DAD!! Look at this! You can see her hair!! So I peeked again....sure enough, I could see Reese's hair. DAAAAD!!! Looky here! So finally looking became OK with me. It wasn't easy at first but I was sort of able to disassociate from Kim's body to more of Reese's body. It was strange but amazing at the same time. I was glad that I looked in the end....anyway I stayed in my position of leg holder and took tasteful pics when Kim didn't need me.


We had fun in there. Beth was a cut up, Tiffany and I found that her husband and I play on the same Flag football league, Nurse Hatchet wanted to know all about it because her son wants to play flag football too and what do you know, almost two hours went by of pushing, counting to 10 and breathing. At one point, the banished family members sent poor Celeste back to make sure all was well. I guess two hours seems like an eternity when you're not counting, pushing, and talking about flag football!

Finally Reese was slipping beneath the pubic bone and she was essentially "crowned". This portion of her head looked so small. We were convinced that this was going to be a little 7-ish or 8-ish pound baby...her little head was just sitting right there. Kim pushed a couple more times and Hatchet told Kim to cough a little....that would do it. So Kim coughed. But not like a good cough, like a cough when you're afraid something is about to pop out of you. Heehh. Kim sounded out this pitiful whimper of a cough. Nothing...they all said no, no....Cough like you're going to clear your throat. And so she did.

Reese was facing down toward the floor and then Kim's cough turned her head from right to left sideways....her body followed and Reese was born at 7:15pm. Beth grabbed her and cut her cord long so as to allow quick work on her by the respiratory therapist but Reese took a deep breath and Beth went into serious doctor mode getting Reese over to be cleaned out. I walked over to check on her but come back quickly to be with Kim. I believe that sideways turn caused Kim to tear. She was bleeding badly and Beth was quick to call for Dr. Windham. Apparantly he can sew up a balloon with out busting it so she called for his steady hand. I went back to check on Reese.....

I looked at her in amazement. 10 fingers...10 toes....the doctors all commented on her color, they cleaned her out pretty good from anything that might have been ingested, they patted her back to loosen up any gunk in her lungs...and she just calmed down after the heating element came on.

I started welling up with tears. Our little girl was ok....she didn't have a mark on her. She was just perfect. Back and forth I checked on Kim and then Reese. Kim then Reese...Kim was toasted. Completely exhausted and now shaking uncontrollably from the medications and the trauma of what her body had just done...She was physically spent but our little Reese was finally here.


One of the nurses put Reese on the scale and we all sort of did a double take....9lb 9.6 oz. (they round up) 9lb 10 oz. Dear Father....Kim had a nine pound baby?!? What the?

I was satisfied that Reese was in good hands and was going to be ok so I started staying with Kim for a while. She was nauseous, cold, shaking, tired, and just plain exhausted. In every way, she was a patient and recovering from trauma. I was so worried about her. We were told that everything was fine but I still worried about her. It broke my heart to see her in pain and the shaking was more than I could bear....I started welling up again for her. I look up...and the family is coming in...and the nurse is handing me our baby girl.........

PART V....the recovery room and sleepless nights in the hospital...

Birth Story Part III.....

So....I come back with some luggage from the parking deck and Kim explains that the nurse just broke her water.

Huh? They broke your water.....how? With what?

Kim and Celeste sort of kept mum on that whole process and I didn't ask questions. Needless to say, things were speeding up now and contractions were getting stronger. Pitocin (spelling??) apparently makes contractions much stronger and with broken water and an IV full of Pitocin, Kim was getting incredibly uncomfortable at this point.

The parents showed up pretty soon afterwards so we had a full room of patiently waiting Grandparents and a dead tired Kimmy and Adam. I was dosing off periodically and Kim was getting ready to call for some pain killers. Our nurse, Tiffany, advised that it might be better to start off with a dose of pre-pain killers....Phenergen and something else. That little cocktail made Kim INCREDIBLY sleepy and literally knocked her out of commission for more than an hour or so. I urged the parents to go get some chow and Kimmy and I would hold down the fort....meaning, we were going to sleep.

One thing no one tells you about the hospital is that you will not sleep. No matter how tired you are...no matter how wiped out you feel....someone will come by to check you out, poke around on you, or just play a mean joke to wake you up. Yeah, that happened at lunch time. We wanted to sleep so badly but contractions and nurses squashed any plans that we had about some shut eye.

Soon after lunch....Kim had had enough. The contractions were getting closer and stronger so the call went up for the anesthesiologist to dull the pain. The nurse told us to plan for about a 45 minute wait but within 10 minutes this happy, smiling, delightfully rich, pain reliever stopped in. I don't recall his name but he was smiling from ear to ear and had his bag of tricks ready to kill some contraction pain. They raised Kim's bed...sat me in front of her (Thank the Lord) and they asked me to hang on to her arms while she bent over to take this monster shot.

The entire time, Dr. Happy talked to Kim about the company she works for. He just found it so interesting that she worked for what we'll call XYZ Company: Happy: So you work for "XYZ company"....you're about to feel a cold shot. Kim: mmmhmmm. Happy: Yeah I see alot of "XYZ" patients here but I don't worry about billing or any of that, I just do the work and the office bills out and collects. Kim: mmmhmmm. Happy: Your leg should jump a little now....Taste any metal in your mouth or numbness in your lips? Kim: nuh uh. Happy: It's just so funny that you work for XYZ. Yada yada yada blah blah blah....... Kim: Please just zip it and give me the dang sh.....o.......tuh.

All of the sudden...the pain is gone. Amazing. What was killing her five minutes ago is completely numb. Her legs weigh 500 lbs. and she is on easy street....so to speak. The hours rolled by that afternoon and Kim drifted in and out of sleep. The pain of contractions now gone, we waited patiently for the word to push.

Around 5pm a nurse unfamiliar to us dropped in and proclaimed "Well....It's time to have a baby!" She cleared the delivery room of anyone that wasn't staying and in a few short minutes....we were about to meet our little Reese. Pretty much, it was on!

Part IV...the delivery next!

Birth Story Part II.....

We had the car packed up for the biggest life changing event since our wedding and were on our way to Kennestone Hospital. I probably drove a little faster than I needed to since the roads were empty at 4:45am. Kim and I spoke to one another but I couldn't tell you what we said at this point...my mind was racing and I know Kim's was too.

We pulled into the hospital atrium, I grabbed the camera bag and helped Kim out of the car. I few minutes later we were on the third floor of the Purple tower talking to a nurse about what Kim had been experiencing this evening. Remember...two hours of sleep for each of us at 5am. the nurse checks Kim out and says that she hasn't dilated past the first centimeter yet. And so what does that mean? Essentially we're not ready yet....we could go back home. The on-call Midwife relayed directions to walk for an hour around the halls of the third floor and we'll check you again at 6:35am. Walk? What the? Where to? For an hour? Woman....we've been up for nearly 24 hours save those two precious hours of sleep late Thursday night and you want us to walk. Oh....ok.

So we walk. The halls are shaped almost like a big "C". You shouldn't go beyond a certain point so we turn around and shuffle back down from where we've come from. All along the hallways are these little desks where RN's and Midwives and whoever else pays attention to you, pays attention to you. You soon find out that there are women in these rooms giving birth at 5-something in the morning. One room held a group of people in there counting to 10 very loudly and some periodic groaning....was this what was in store for us? Kim would stall out every now and again with severe pains - contractions - that would literally stop her and then slowly release its grip. We seemed to get stopped in this same little hallway and then we would ease out of there and shuffle some more. We stopped walking down one hall because this nurse had on some awful smelling perfume and Kim's sense of smell has been on Defcon-5 since Las Vegas when we found out we were expecting little Reese.

At 6:35am, PROMPTLY, we shuffled back into the nurse station for a new examination. The small framed nurse checks Kim out and declares.....You've dilated to 2cm! You're a keeper! So I call the parents to give them the news....we're staying to have a baby today!

After an IV is inserted and some other formalities take place....we go to Room 11 on the same floor. The delivery rooms are HUGE. It's like a suite! Kim has this macked out bed, I have this nice little cot....I don't need much as I'm not the one working here....and next thing you know, we've got Aunt Celeste with us!

Celeste showed first...she came ready for the duration and just happy to be able to experience the process. I think it will probably help to know what to expect for their own one day...Anyway, once she showed I decided to run get our bags since I had only recently parked the truck in the parking garage. While I did this....Beth, our Midwife, stopped in to break Kim's water. I think Celeste was ready to leave now....

Part III....to be continued.

Birth story Part I.....

Reese is one week old today! I know its only one week but what an amazing week it has been and for our sakes and those that care to read our blog, we wanted to document Reese's birth story. I'll break things up so it isn't like reading a novel so....enjoy.

Thursday, March 26th
The due date has arrived! After months of wishing, waiting, and worrying Kim's due date had arrived. I went to work and faced the questions and commentary about Kim and whether we had a baby or not...Kim worked from home and tried to tie up loose ends from her work-a-holic ways.

We know folks that work with Kim read our blog so this isn't a suck up post, but I think Kim kills it when she works. I couldn't work with her...it would strain our relationship beyond words. I would LOVE to own a business or have something that I could work adjusted hours or something like that - and I could stand that with Kim. But if I had to sit in here and work with her on a regular basis, I'd jump off the deck. She's much too focused and rigid with her stuff and I'm a little more laissez-faire. Anyway, back to the story....

I called periodically to check on her and nothing was really happening that day. We had made an appointment earlier in the week for Monday, March 30th just in case nothing took place over the weekend....we were beginning to think that we were going to be heading to that Monday appointment because nothing was really happening. So I came home from work, we ate dinner, we did our normal middle of the week routine, and we crashed out on the couch. Thursday night TV was basically interrupted by NCAA Basketball and I sat there in my chair watching my yearly dose of college basketball. Kim was narked out on the couch and I was pushed back in the easy chair ready for sleepy-town to call my name.

Two whole hours of sleep....in my easy chair and Kim wakes me up to go up stairs. We do this alot. Both of us fall asleep in the living room and then we'll finally wake up with the TV blaring some midnight infomercial and stumble upstairs to really get in the bed. This time Kim wakes me up with two things....she's been feeling something that hurts...and come look at this (I'll save the details of where and what) I note the pain and look at the evidence that something is indeed taking place in Kim's body. We discuss it, ponder what it means, and finally decide that SLEEP is the answer. Not that there was ever a question of what to do, but we were dead tired.

Less than thirty minutes later Kim whispers....I think these are contractions.....they keep coming at regular intervals....7 minutes apart. Fear gripped me...it's here. I tried to push it to the back of my mind and get a few more minutes of sleep but I was curious as well....what does it feel like? When do we call the doctor? Has your water broke? Kim: They hurt, I dunno, and I dunno.

Time flys when you're timing contractions that are seven minutes apart. Two hours melted and finally I convince her to call the on-call doctor. They tell her once the contractions reach 5-6 minutes apart, gather your stuff and come on. I mean to tell you within the hour the contractions had sped up. I call the folks...both somewhat groggy but expectant of this phone call and start loading the truck with our bags. Kim: Do you have the camera....Me: yes. K: My bag...is it in the car? Me: yep. K: Pillows? Me: I think so...hurry up let's go....but be careful coming down the steps. K: I'm scared...... Me:..............me too. It'll be ok baby. Let's just get to the hospital.

Part II - to be continued.....