With the anticipation of a new baby coming, things have been hectic around our house as of late. Allison's due date was March 4th. It being her first baby, a lot of folks assumed that it would probably come later than March 4th. I was one of those people; mainly thinking that because Allison and myself were 10 month babies. Little did we know that this would not be the case at all!
Monday, March 1st, was a normal day for both of us. We worked and came home. Allison had been harassing me in the prior weeks to get the car seat installed into the truck for when we bring the baby home. I laughed and said I had plenty of time. Me being the model husband, I wanted to see how long I could go before she threw a fit because I hadn't done what she asked me to. But I figured, on this Monday evening, I'd better go ahead and do it. Little Samantha Ruth, peeking through the port hole of her little ship (Allison's Belly Button) must have seen her soon-to-be mother and father trying to figure out how to get that seat secured. I'll bet she even heard her poor, old daddy cursing under this breath because he didn't know if it was installed right! Luckily, Mama found the instructions and we were able to get the seat installed. I came back into the house and went upstairs to weep over the checkbook awhile (it had been awhile since I did any "book work" and I figured I'd better get 'er done. After all, sometime next week, perhaps, Samantha might be born. It probably won't be this week, I kept telling myself. Allison and I ordered some new furniture for the living room for all of the baby visitors to sit upon when they come and they were to be delivered; some on Tuesday March 2 and Wednesday March 3. I moved our old furniture out of the way (into the dining room) and thought to myself "I hope the baby isn't born in the next few days because this house is turned upside down!" The old living room furniture in the dining room with a big empty spot in the living room; things scattered all over the house; and the worst: the guest bedroom looked like the bowels of Baby's R Us exploded into it. We haven't found homes for all of the nice things our friends and family have given to Samantha! In my mind, I was "scheduling" what I needed to get done before this baby comes maybe some time next week.....
Allison and I went to bed as normal. Allison seemed to drift off to sleep and start her rhythmic snoring very soon. Lucy was in the floor snoring away also. I just couldn't get to sleep. Thinking about all of the things that were going to change in our lives has been a big pastime for me lately. The realization of becoming a father has weighed heavily upon my normally jovial demeanor. About midnight, I drifted off to sleep.
About 3 AM (Tuesday, March 2), I was awakened by Allison who was obviously concerned about something. She was telling me something, but she was like a little bumble bee, back in forth into the bathroom and coming back into the bedroom. Lucy was intently trying to lick my face and hands if in trying to say "She WOKE me up, so you wake up too." It takes me a few minutes to wake up, even in the worst catastrophes... It finally hit me that Allison was saying something about water breaking! WATER BREAKING???!!!!????? I jumped out of bed and nearly rode on Lucy's back into the bathroom to see what was going on. Allison's laptop was on her makeup table. In my clouded vision I saw a Google search that asked "did I pee myself or did my water break?" I instantly started fasting and praying. This couldn't be happening; it wasn't time! The due date was March 4th and I had already figured out that it would be later than that. I couldn't be wrong could I? My predictions are always right! But there sat the mother to be on the "terlet," asking me what we should do. She asked for the cordless phone so she could call her baby doctor. I brought it to her and then ran to the other phone in our bedroom. It was TIME to make the calls to the GRANDPARANTS. In recent months, I had installed a telephone system between our house and Harry and Kay's house. We can call room to room, page over the speakers and even transfer calls amongst ourselves if we wish. When you dial an "in-house" phone, you instantly can talk to the people in the room you dialed and they don't have to do a thing to hear you (you can't hear what's going on in that room unless they pick up and talk to you though). I mashed the button for Harry and Kay's bedroom and hollered for Miss Kay. I got no response. I hollered louder. Nothing. I even announced that Allison's water had broken. I figured that would bring Miss Kay out of the deepest stupor. But nothing would rouse either one of them up. I finally had to force the phone to ring so they would wake up. Once I got her attention and told her what was going on she woke up! I called and woke up my Mama and Daddy to tell them what was happening. I'm sure this started a flurry of activity 250 miles away from the expectant mother!
Allison and I were buzzing around. "Get Samantha's bag" Allison shouted. "Get our bag and pillows." Lucy looked confused. I saw her staring at Allison's clock radio with the numbers 3:25 blaring out into the room. I wonder if she was thinking "We don't normally get up this early!" Harry came stumbling in and asked if we needed help loading anything. "What about the car seat?" I got to lean back on the counter for one of those "manly times" and explained how "it wasn't that hard to install." Allison busted up our meeting, reminding us that we had to get to the hospital. "Is Mama in the truck?" asked Allison. "No, she is still getting ready," said Harry. We all agreed that she'd better get a move on. Harry told us he'd go home and gather Miss Kay up and they'd see us at the hospital. Allison and I loaded up in the truck and headed towards Jackson; hazard lamps flashing and hitting top speeds of 90 mph on the 4 lane. I was very much coherent by the time we got in the truck. I was thinking "our teacher at Baby Birthing Class said that 80% of the time the mother's water has to be broken by the doctor." I wondered if the water had already broken, did that mean the baby was to be born very soon? My foot got heavier and heavier the more I thought and the more I looked over at Allison. Around Humboldt we passed a policeman in the median. He never even woke up when we blew past him. Harry called about that time. "Are ya'll right behind us?" asked Allison. Harry said they hadn't left yet. I realized I lost a bet at that time. Miss Kay takes a LONG time to get ready to go anywhere. I always figured she would jump right out of bed and into the car when it came time to go saying "to heck with my hair and makeup." This wasn't the case. But Harry must have put the pedal to the metal because they weren't much later in getting to the hospital than Allison and I was! We sped up to the canopy in front of the hospital at 4:15 AM. My manly instincts kicked in again and I had to reflect about what good time we made. Allison wasn't interested in the road report. She told me to go park and she would go inside to the admissions desk. As I was going back to the truck, a lady in another car sped up under the canopy and asked "Reckon I could park here for 30 minutes?" I told her that I didn't have no idea and I was about to be a Daddy.
They settled Allison into birthing room 5. Harry, Kay and sleepy Aunt Carole came in around 4:45. We all visited for a few minutes until the nurses banished 2 of them to the waiting room. The rule is only 2 people may be with the mother in the birthing room. I might also add that there are two locked doors that a person has to go through to get to the birthing department of the hospital. They checked Allison and she was only dilated to 1 cm. They told us it would be awhile. "Maybe around 7 tonight" guessed one nurse. I thought "nah, this baby will come fast." Dang; when my predictions miss, they really miss bad...
Mama and Daddy, Travis and Kael arrived around 8 AM. They didn't waste any time in making the journey from Silver Point to Jackson. When I got word that they had arrived, Aunt Carole and I were visiting with Allison in the birthing room. I went up to the waiting room to greet them and was going to bring Mama back with me to visit with Allison thinking Aunt Carole could go back out to the waiting room. They have a "bouncer" for the baby department to keep more than 2 people from being with the mother. The bouncer stopped me and Mama on the way back to the birthing room and asked us where we were going. I told her room 5, not even stopping to look at her. She asked how many were back there and I told her Aunt Carole was back there and she was going to come out so Mama could visit. The bouncer then turned ugly. "No you're not", she said. "Only 2 may be back there." I, with only 3 hours of sleep under my belt, told her that one person would come out and that I was the father, stopping short of telling her I was paying the bill for this visit. She wasn't affected. She made me leave Mama in the hall with her while I flushed Aunt Carole out. I came back out for Mama and the bouncer was still there. I politely suppressed the urge to give her a "Heil Hitler" salute (or California Howdy) and took Mama back to the birthing room. I later realized that she has a tough job and I should have been nicer to her. But hey, I can't be nice to EVERYONE ALL of the time!
We spent the day waiting on the baby to be born. Morning turned into afternoon and then into evening. The shift changed at 7 PM and I wondered if the baby would come soon or not. Miss Kay and I ultimately ended up as the 2 people in the birthing room with Allison. Miss Kay kept a vigil on the monitor that was graphing Allison's contractions. I told someone she was watching that thing like an episode of Howdy Doody. She wasn't amused. Somewhere around 2 PM, the pain starting to get to Allison. Her doctor had said she could have the epidural anytime she was ready. Allison, who is very tough and quite a trooper, waited as long as she could. Around 2:30, the aniestiziologist came in to do this procedure. They sent Miss Kay and me out for this procedure. When we got back, Allison was still in pain. They had stuck her twice trying to get the needle in her and she kept complaining that the only thing numb was her left thigh. We gave it a little while to see if the medicine would work. It didn't. Allison's pain was getting worse and worse. I know this because she told us. Loudly at times and with colorful language that would make a preacher blush (but not his wife). Finally, I mashed the nurse button and when they came on the speaker. I told them to send that anesthesiologist back in there. He came back and re-installed her epidural. It worked this time (thank goodness). Allison was much easier and wasn't in pain anymore. It was a helpless feeling to see her in all of that pain and know there wasn't anything to be done to help. It made me angry that the medicine wasn't helping the first time. I pondered going and finding the bouncer and shoving her and the anesthesiologist down the elevator shaft. Some of our clan in the waiting room was thinking the same thing I found out later. I knew things were hurting bad when she wouldn't even smile at any of the timeless jokes I told her that normally make her laugh. We were all thankful when that epidural took effect. Throughout the entire day they checked Allison's progress and it was painfully slow. The same folks that seemed to know all the facts about first babies had said that it takes a long time for it to be born. They were right about that!
Around 11:30 they checked Allison and decided she had dilated to 10 cm. It was time to push. I sent word to the Waiting Room. Miss Kay was on one side of the bed and I was on the other. Allison was in the stirrups. Allison started pushing. It was amazing to see a person who had suffered through so much push that hard. Few have the endurance that Allison does. But then again, she was ready to see our little baby more than any of the rest of us. We pushed until around 2:30 AM (We're into March 3rd now). "What happened to 7 PM?" I asked myself. We were upon 24 hours of labor! The doctor came in and told us that Allison had done all she could do. She just couldn't push that baby out because the baby just couldn't squeeze through Allison's pelvic bone. It was so shocking to me to hear that Allison was about to be operated on. It never crossed my mind that she would have to have a "C Section." I went to the waiting room to alert the family of what was about to transpire. I could have sent Miss Kay but I saw the look on her face when the doctor told us she had to operate to get the baby out. It was one of the worst things I've ever had to tell a group of people, and it shook them up; I could tell by the look on their faces. It shook me up too. The tears were burning my eyes by the time I got back to the baby birthing room and got the surgical garb they wanted me to wear for Allison's surgery. There could only be one person with her during the procedure. They led me to the surgery room and there was Allison. A sheet was draped right below her neck that limited my view from the rest of her body. I was thankful for that. After 24 hours of being awake, plus the sleep I lost the night before, I was in no shape to witness surgery on my wife. I held her hand as she drifted in and out of sleep. Several people were working on Allison behind the sheet. I could hear their conversation, light-hearted and casual. One of the nurses asked where my camera was (her name is Gina and she took VERY good care of us through the entire ordeal). It never occurred to me that I would need the camera right then. Gina went out and got the camera from the family and took pictures of the baby when she was born (something that we are grateful for because I wasn't in good enough shape to tie my shoes, little on take pictures). This surgery was nothing new to the team of doctors and nurses. For me, I was in the biggest shock I had ever been in before in my whole life. I was scared and I knew I had to be strong for Allison. I didn't want her to see my tears. I had on a surgical mask so I don't think anyone noticed them. All of a sudden, Allison and I heard a baby cry. We knew it was Samantha and both smiled at each other. They called me to come look at our new baby. My eyes filled up again when I saw her for the first time. I never imagined that she would look like me. I always pictured her as looking just like Allison did when she was a baby. I find it amazing that the most shocking moment of my whole life was replaced within an hour. The shock of seeing Samantha Ruth for the first time took my breath away. I watched them cleaning her up and weighing her. They wrapped her up and let me hold her. They sent me back to Allison so she could see her. Tragedy could have struck at that moment, but by God's grace it didn't. When I turned around to take the baby to Allison, I found that I was right in the middle of the surgery. There were medical things taking place that could have made me pass out instantly! Luckily, I just turned my head and took Samantha Ruth to meet her Mama for the first time. I have never seen Allison so moved before. She had the same feelings as me (only I don't think Allison was crying like I was!). They sent me and Samantha to the recovery room to wait on Allison to be finished with surgery. Allison was brought in there before too long and was able to hold the baby for the first time. I have never been so proud in my life as the moments that passed from the time I saw Samantha Ruth for the first time to the moment I got to put Samantha into Allison's arms. I don't get mushy too much, but all of this really got to me. I felt like I was on a Lifetime movie. The family then got to pile in and see and hold Samantha. Everyone was excited (still are). They took the baby to the nursery and let Allison and I sleep awhile in our permanent hospital room. After we woke up around 10 AM, they brought Samantha in to us and we got to hold her again. The same sense of amazement still comes over me when I hold her. We have had lots of visitors and most are agreeing that Samantha Ruth resembles me in a lot of ways. I am inclined to agree.
It turns out that Samantha Ruth was born with what I am calling "The Power of Three." She was born on 3/3/10 at 3:33 am. We are in room 303 on the 3rd floor of the hospital. Also, it took three sticks of the needle to get the epidural in right. Amazing stuff!
I've heard from countless fathers that the moment they see their first child for the first time, they fall into a kind of love that they have never experienced before. I agree wholeheartedly. I'm very excited to have been able to experience what has happened in the past few days!
Monday, March 1st, was a normal day for both of us. We worked and came home. Allison had been harassing me in the prior weeks to get the car seat installed into the truck for when we bring the baby home. I laughed and said I had plenty of time. Me being the model husband, I wanted to see how long I could go before she threw a fit because I hadn't done what she asked me to. But I figured, on this Monday evening, I'd better go ahead and do it. Little Samantha Ruth, peeking through the port hole of her little ship (Allison's Belly Button) must have seen her soon-to-be mother and father trying to figure out how to get that seat secured. I'll bet she even heard her poor, old daddy cursing under this breath because he didn't know if it was installed right! Luckily, Mama found the instructions and we were able to get the seat installed. I came back into the house and went upstairs to weep over the checkbook awhile (it had been awhile since I did any "book work" and I figured I'd better get 'er done. After all, sometime next week, perhaps, Samantha might be born. It probably won't be this week, I kept telling myself. Allison and I ordered some new furniture for the living room for all of the baby visitors to sit upon when they come and they were to be delivered; some on Tuesday March 2 and Wednesday March 3. I moved our old furniture out of the way (into the dining room) and thought to myself "I hope the baby isn't born in the next few days because this house is turned upside down!" The old living room furniture in the dining room with a big empty spot in the living room; things scattered all over the house; and the worst: the guest bedroom looked like the bowels of Baby's R Us exploded into it. We haven't found homes for all of the nice things our friends and family have given to Samantha! In my mind, I was "scheduling" what I needed to get done before this baby comes maybe some time next week.....
Allison and I went to bed as normal. Allison seemed to drift off to sleep and start her rhythmic snoring very soon. Lucy was in the floor snoring away also. I just couldn't get to sleep. Thinking about all of the things that were going to change in our lives has been a big pastime for me lately. The realization of becoming a father has weighed heavily upon my normally jovial demeanor. About midnight, I drifted off to sleep.
About 3 AM (Tuesday, March 2), I was awakened by Allison who was obviously concerned about something. She was telling me something, but she was like a little bumble bee, back in forth into the bathroom and coming back into the bedroom. Lucy was intently trying to lick my face and hands if in trying to say "She WOKE me up, so you wake up too." It takes me a few minutes to wake up, even in the worst catastrophes... It finally hit me that Allison was saying something about water breaking! WATER BREAKING???!!!!????? I jumped out of bed and nearly rode on Lucy's back into the bathroom to see what was going on. Allison's laptop was on her makeup table. In my clouded vision I saw a Google search that asked "did I pee myself or did my water break?" I instantly started fasting and praying. This couldn't be happening; it wasn't time! The due date was March 4th and I had already figured out that it would be later than that. I couldn't be wrong could I? My predictions are always right! But there sat the mother to be on the "terlet," asking me what we should do. She asked for the cordless phone so she could call her baby doctor. I brought it to her and then ran to the other phone in our bedroom. It was TIME to make the calls to the GRANDPARANTS. In recent months, I had installed a telephone system between our house and Harry and Kay's house. We can call room to room, page over the speakers and even transfer calls amongst ourselves if we wish. When you dial an "in-house" phone, you instantly can talk to the people in the room you dialed and they don't have to do a thing to hear you (you can't hear what's going on in that room unless they pick up and talk to you though). I mashed the button for Harry and Kay's bedroom and hollered for Miss Kay. I got no response. I hollered louder. Nothing. I even announced that Allison's water had broken. I figured that would bring Miss Kay out of the deepest stupor. But nothing would rouse either one of them up. I finally had to force the phone to ring so they would wake up. Once I got her attention and told her what was going on she woke up! I called and woke up my Mama and Daddy to tell them what was happening. I'm sure this started a flurry of activity 250 miles away from the expectant mother!
Allison and I were buzzing around. "Get Samantha's bag" Allison shouted. "Get our bag and pillows." Lucy looked confused. I saw her staring at Allison's clock radio with the numbers 3:25 blaring out into the room. I wonder if she was thinking "We don't normally get up this early!" Harry came stumbling in and asked if we needed help loading anything. "What about the car seat?" I got to lean back on the counter for one of those "manly times" and explained how "it wasn't that hard to install." Allison busted up our meeting, reminding us that we had to get to the hospital. "Is Mama in the truck?" asked Allison. "No, she is still getting ready," said Harry. We all agreed that she'd better get a move on. Harry told us he'd go home and gather Miss Kay up and they'd see us at the hospital. Allison and I loaded up in the truck and headed towards Jackson; hazard lamps flashing and hitting top speeds of 90 mph on the 4 lane. I was very much coherent by the time we got in the truck. I was thinking "our teacher at Baby Birthing Class said that 80% of the time the mother's water has to be broken by the doctor." I wondered if the water had already broken, did that mean the baby was to be born very soon? My foot got heavier and heavier the more I thought and the more I looked over at Allison. Around Humboldt we passed a policeman in the median. He never even woke up when we blew past him. Harry called about that time. "Are ya'll right behind us?" asked Allison. Harry said they hadn't left yet. I realized I lost a bet at that time. Miss Kay takes a LONG time to get ready to go anywhere. I always figured she would jump right out of bed and into the car when it came time to go saying "to heck with my hair and makeup." This wasn't the case. But Harry must have put the pedal to the metal because they weren't much later in getting to the hospital than Allison and I was! We sped up to the canopy in front of the hospital at 4:15 AM. My manly instincts kicked in again and I had to reflect about what good time we made. Allison wasn't interested in the road report. She told me to go park and she would go inside to the admissions desk. As I was going back to the truck, a lady in another car sped up under the canopy and asked "Reckon I could park here for 30 minutes?" I told her that I didn't have no idea and I was about to be a Daddy.
They settled Allison into birthing room 5. Harry, Kay and sleepy Aunt Carole came in around 4:45. We all visited for a few minutes until the nurses banished 2 of them to the waiting room. The rule is only 2 people may be with the mother in the birthing room. I might also add that there are two locked doors that a person has to go through to get to the birthing department of the hospital. They checked Allison and she was only dilated to 1 cm. They told us it would be awhile. "Maybe around 7 tonight" guessed one nurse. I thought "nah, this baby will come fast." Dang; when my predictions miss, they really miss bad...
Mama and Daddy, Travis and Kael arrived around 8 AM. They didn't waste any time in making the journey from Silver Point to Jackson. When I got word that they had arrived, Aunt Carole and I were visiting with Allison in the birthing room. I went up to the waiting room to greet them and was going to bring Mama back with me to visit with Allison thinking Aunt Carole could go back out to the waiting room. They have a "bouncer" for the baby department to keep more than 2 people from being with the mother. The bouncer stopped me and Mama on the way back to the birthing room and asked us where we were going. I told her room 5, not even stopping to look at her. She asked how many were back there and I told her Aunt Carole was back there and she was going to come out so Mama could visit. The bouncer then turned ugly. "No you're not", she said. "Only 2 may be back there." I, with only 3 hours of sleep under my belt, told her that one person would come out and that I was the father, stopping short of telling her I was paying the bill for this visit. She wasn't affected. She made me leave Mama in the hall with her while I flushed Aunt Carole out. I came back out for Mama and the bouncer was still there. I politely suppressed the urge to give her a "Heil Hitler" salute (or California Howdy) and took Mama back to the birthing room. I later realized that she has a tough job and I should have been nicer to her. But hey, I can't be nice to EVERYONE ALL of the time!
We spent the day waiting on the baby to be born. Morning turned into afternoon and then into evening. The shift changed at 7 PM and I wondered if the baby would come soon or not. Miss Kay and I ultimately ended up as the 2 people in the birthing room with Allison. Miss Kay kept a vigil on the monitor that was graphing Allison's contractions. I told someone she was watching that thing like an episode of Howdy Doody. She wasn't amused. Somewhere around 2 PM, the pain starting to get to Allison. Her doctor had said she could have the epidural anytime she was ready. Allison, who is very tough and quite a trooper, waited as long as she could. Around 2:30, the aniestiziologist came in to do this procedure. They sent Miss Kay and me out for this procedure. When we got back, Allison was still in pain. They had stuck her twice trying to get the needle in her and she kept complaining that the only thing numb was her left thigh. We gave it a little while to see if the medicine would work. It didn't. Allison's pain was getting worse and worse. I know this because she told us. Loudly at times and with colorful language that would make a preacher blush (but not his wife). Finally, I mashed the nurse button and when they came on the speaker. I told them to send that anesthesiologist back in there. He came back and re-installed her epidural. It worked this time (thank goodness). Allison was much easier and wasn't in pain anymore. It was a helpless feeling to see her in all of that pain and know there wasn't anything to be done to help. It made me angry that the medicine wasn't helping the first time. I pondered going and finding the bouncer and shoving her and the anesthesiologist down the elevator shaft. Some of our clan in the waiting room was thinking the same thing I found out later. I knew things were hurting bad when she wouldn't even smile at any of the timeless jokes I told her that normally make her laugh. We were all thankful when that epidural took effect. Throughout the entire day they checked Allison's progress and it was painfully slow. The same folks that seemed to know all the facts about first babies had said that it takes a long time for it to be born. They were right about that!
Around 11:30 they checked Allison and decided she had dilated to 10 cm. It was time to push. I sent word to the Waiting Room. Miss Kay was on one side of the bed and I was on the other. Allison was in the stirrups. Allison started pushing. It was amazing to see a person who had suffered through so much push that hard. Few have the endurance that Allison does. But then again, she was ready to see our little baby more than any of the rest of us. We pushed until around 2:30 AM (We're into March 3rd now). "What happened to 7 PM?" I asked myself. We were upon 24 hours of labor! The doctor came in and told us that Allison had done all she could do. She just couldn't push that baby out because the baby just couldn't squeeze through Allison's pelvic bone. It was so shocking to me to hear that Allison was about to be operated on. It never crossed my mind that she would have to have a "C Section." I went to the waiting room to alert the family of what was about to transpire. I could have sent Miss Kay but I saw the look on her face when the doctor told us she had to operate to get the baby out. It was one of the worst things I've ever had to tell a group of people, and it shook them up; I could tell by the look on their faces. It shook me up too. The tears were burning my eyes by the time I got back to the baby birthing room and got the surgical garb they wanted me to wear for Allison's surgery. There could only be one person with her during the procedure. They led me to the surgery room and there was Allison. A sheet was draped right below her neck that limited my view from the rest of her body. I was thankful for that. After 24 hours of being awake, plus the sleep I lost the night before, I was in no shape to witness surgery on my wife. I held her hand as she drifted in and out of sleep. Several people were working on Allison behind the sheet. I could hear their conversation, light-hearted and casual. One of the nurses asked where my camera was (her name is Gina and she took VERY good care of us through the entire ordeal). It never occurred to me that I would need the camera right then. Gina went out and got the camera from the family and took pictures of the baby when she was born (something that we are grateful for because I wasn't in good enough shape to tie my shoes, little on take pictures). This surgery was nothing new to the team of doctors and nurses. For me, I was in the biggest shock I had ever been in before in my whole life. I was scared and I knew I had to be strong for Allison. I didn't want her to see my tears. I had on a surgical mask so I don't think anyone noticed them. All of a sudden, Allison and I heard a baby cry. We knew it was Samantha and both smiled at each other. They called me to come look at our new baby. My eyes filled up again when I saw her for the first time. I never imagined that she would look like me. I always pictured her as looking just like Allison did when she was a baby. I find it amazing that the most shocking moment of my whole life was replaced within an hour. The shock of seeing Samantha Ruth for the first time took my breath away. I watched them cleaning her up and weighing her. They wrapped her up and let me hold her. They sent me back to Allison so she could see her. Tragedy could have struck at that moment, but by God's grace it didn't. When I turned around to take the baby to Allison, I found that I was right in the middle of the surgery. There were medical things taking place that could have made me pass out instantly! Luckily, I just turned my head and took Samantha Ruth to meet her Mama for the first time. I have never seen Allison so moved before. She had the same feelings as me (only I don't think Allison was crying like I was!). They sent me and Samantha to the recovery room to wait on Allison to be finished with surgery. Allison was brought in there before too long and was able to hold the baby for the first time. I have never been so proud in my life as the moments that passed from the time I saw Samantha Ruth for the first time to the moment I got to put Samantha into Allison's arms. I don't get mushy too much, but all of this really got to me. I felt like I was on a Lifetime movie. The family then got to pile in and see and hold Samantha. Everyone was excited (still are). They took the baby to the nursery and let Allison and I sleep awhile in our permanent hospital room. After we woke up around 10 AM, they brought Samantha in to us and we got to hold her again. The same sense of amazement still comes over me when I hold her. We have had lots of visitors and most are agreeing that Samantha Ruth resembles me in a lot of ways. I am inclined to agree.
It turns out that Samantha Ruth was born with what I am calling "The Power of Three." She was born on 3/3/10 at 3:33 am. We are in room 303 on the 3rd floor of the hospital. Also, it took three sticks of the needle to get the epidural in right. Amazing stuff!
I've heard from countless fathers that the moment they see their first child for the first time, they fall into a kind of love that they have never experienced before. I agree wholeheartedly. I'm very excited to have been able to experience what has happened in the past few days!
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