Thinking back, only getting 4 hours of sleep at that point wasn't such a wise decision. We were nearly a week "late" by the doctor's estimates, so we knew it could be any day. It was a restless night, not unlike many nights late in pregnancy. I awoke just before 6am and Kristen was having another contraction and these were stronger than what she'd had the past few days. I sent a quick email to Amy, our assistant coach, giving her a heads up -- "Today might be the day." It was too early to know for sure; it's common to have "false starts," especially with the first child when the parents aren't sure exactly what to expect. 7:30am rolled around and things had continued to progress, so email #2 went out to Amy. I decided now would be a good time to pack the bags. I know, a week late and we still hadn't packed -- but we did have almost everything sitting out ready to be put into bags

Kristen was having a difficult time with the contractions, so around 8:00am we decided to give the shower a try to see if that would help her relax. I Macgyvered a temporary chair using two 5gal buckets (one inside the other for added height and strength), and we put a couple towels over them to make for a soft place to sit or lean upon. Kristen liked to lean on the buckets and let Burrito (in utero name) hang down while the warm water pounded on her back. I finished packing and prepping the car with protective plastic & towels while trying to time the contractions based on the noises coming from the shower. Amy arrived soon after and quickly learned what she had gotten herself into. Kristen's contractions were all over the map. Some were only 2 minutes apart and lasted 30 seconds, others were 10 minutes apart and lasted 3 minutes. This did not match up with anything we were expecting! We knew not to go to the hospital too soon, but having no idea where we were at, I decided to call Labor & Delivery and see what they thought.

Thinking back: Duh. They said to come on in (of course they did). Our hospital has L&D triage rooms, and according to the tour, they would check you out and if you weren't ready, they'd send you home. So of course the only safe thing for someone over the phone to say is to come in and we'll check things out and send you on home if you need to wait. So we loaded Kristen into the car and Amy followed us to the hospital. We arrived at 11am, and while walking in, Kristen's water broke. I felt a bit of relief; I really didn't want the nurses to send us back home since it was a half hour away! The triage nurses weren't exactly sure what to make of Kristen. They thought she was ready to push based on how she sounded so after a quick check they moved us on to the L&D room.

After about 30 minutes in the first L&D room, Kristen's midwife Cheryl arrived. She had been seeing Cheryl for all her prenatal care and luckily for us, her shift started right after we arrived! Soon afterward, she did the initial check to see how far along we were (5cm). Under the guise of getting us a bigger room, they decided to move us to the end of the hallway as far away from the nurses station to room #1: the "isolation room." That room had double doors for entry so one set could always be closed. It was a much larger room, which was a nice bonus for those of us who had to be in the room anyway.

Labor continued from then until about 4pm. We tried lots of positions, relaxation techniques, and the shower, but no matter what we tried, it was excruciatingly painful. Cheryl checked and told us we hadn't made any progress since the initial check (still at 5cm). Kristen kicked everyone out of the room and we talked about what our options were going forward, because we clearly didn't want to continue on the path we were on, but we also knew that we wanted to avoid things that increased the chances for a Cesarean section or episiotomy. When we allowed them back in, Cheryl suggested Nubain & Phenergen administered through the IV Kristen already had in place for penicillin. The drugs were supposed to "take the edge off," which is how Kristen would describe it. I would say it was a night and day difference, from a screaming-in-pain wife to someone who looks like they just woke up in the morning. The medication lasted about 3 hours (they said it would only last 1 hour). Amy went out for dinner during that time, and brought me back a sandwich that I ate on the opposite side of the room because Kristen couldn't stand the smell of it! Thankfully, Amy had Altoids on hand, so I could freshen my breath quickly after eating.

At around 9pm, Kristen had the urge to push, so we started some pushing. But Cheryl had us stop after determining that we weren't really quite ready to push yet, so we did intermittent pushing until around 11pm. The charge nurse on duty, Kara, came in and was standing beside me when it happened: Kristen projectile vomited right in the middle of her shirt. I don't know how to describe Kara's reaction, somewhere between surprise disgust and restraint as she unsuccessfully attempted to get out of the way. Kara bit her tongue and then swiftly walked out of the room. Perhaps I should explain that Kristen's hormones were wiggity wack and she had been throwing up foulness with regularity all afternoon. It was a good 15 minutes later before Kara returned, and standing at the foot of the bed, she was helping coach Kristen with relaxation as if nothing had happened - although she did stay a bit further away from the danger zone. Kara sounded like a yoga instructor and, to my recollection, was the first person other than Cheryl and myself that Kristen was able to listen to effectively.

At 11pm, Cheryl gave us the all clear to start seriously pushing. We saw our first glimpse of Burrito's head at around 11:30pm. I slowly watched the minutes tick towards midnight, dashing my hopes of a birth on the 22nd. We tried two methods of pushing. One method had Kristen's legs up in the air while playing tug-of-war with Amy, each of them holding knots tied into a sturdy bed sheet where Kristen would pull herself up during the contraction and push. The other more classic method was Kristen hooking her arms around her legs as she attempted to curl up into a ball and push. With both of these methods, I helped hold her up in a nicely rounded position, and helped her relax back in between contractions. The pushing was very intense for the next hour and a half until his head started to make a serious reappearance. Cheryl gently guided the head as Kristen continued pushing. At one point, Cheryl quickly pulled the cord over Burrito's head so gracefully I didn't even notice. Soon after that, the rest of Burrito came out and was placed on Kristen's chest right at 1:30am.

I could tell then from the tone of her voice that it wasn't time to argue. I remember Cheryl saying "Okay, Dad" and "Cut the cord!" as she handed me scissors. (Our plan, which I knew Cheryl was aware of, had been to not cut the cord immediately, so I knew things were serious.) She acted quickly, putting two clamps on the umbilical cord and queuing me to do my thing. A second later, Adam was whisked away to the far corner of the room to the baby operating table which had been prepped a few hours before. A flood of nurses and doctors entered the room and began working on Adam. They gave him a bag and mask to help him breathe, and vacuum tubes going up the nose to clear out meconium. I stood 3 feet back looking over the shoulders of the doctors working on Adam. One nurse was calling out the time since birth every few minutes, and notifying everyone that the clock above the table was 1 minute behind birth-time. After about 5 minutes, I could tell the tension eased a bit; we later found out this was when his heart rate climbed over 100. At 10 minutes, Adam had had enough of the tubes going down his nose and mouth and started breathing on his own.

At one point during those scary ten minutes, I turned around just in time to see the placenta exit, and to see Amy and the L&D nurse working well with Kristen through her post-birth contractions. 30 minutes after birth, at 2:00am, they were ready to transport Adam to the NICU. They first brought Adam over to Kristen so she could see her son, while I put my shoes on to follow the nurses and Adam to the NICU. It was here that one of the nurses asked if he had a name, and I found my voice for long enough to say, "His name is Adam." They tried to start an IV for antibiotics, hydration, and draw some blood to run some tests. Adam's tiny little hands weren't cooperating, and they finally called the doctor in to attempt to get a line started through the umbilical. I walked back to the L&D room and filled in Amy & Kristen on the happenings from what I remembered. I returned to the NICU, but before they started the umbilical operation started, I left again to help move Kristen up to the recovery room; it was now 3:20am.

I've failed to really mention how clutch Amy's presence. She made it possible for me to be able to "be" with Kristen the whole time by taking care of anything and everything else -- from coaching the nurses and making sure they were on board with what we wanted, to emptying out trays filled with throw-up (that was not a small job), getting food for me, rummaging through our bags when we needed something, etc. I didn't have to direct or remind her; she was on the ball for the entire 18 hours from when she showed up at our house until she left the hospital. I can't imagine a better assistant coach.

The L&D nurse was very nice and helped us to get settled in the recovery room. Amy made her exit at that point, exhausted I'm sure. I made a quick round of phone calls, text messages and emails to the parental units to let them know that Adam had come out and that although it was a difficult start to his life, he was doing okay. At around 4:45am, I returned back to the NICU and was surprised to find an IV in his hand and the nurse was just finishing attaching all the other monitors to Adam's little body. We later learned that the IV in the umbilical didn't work out. They were able to get the IV in the hand, but had to prick his foot for the blood draw. I watched as the nurse rolled up blankets for bumpers and wrapped him up nice and tight. I felt myself falling asleep in the chair, so a little before 6am, I returned to the recovery room and fell asleep for a few hours. At 8am, the nurses started to make their rounds, and soon after that the neonatologist came in and filled us in on what happened with the IVs, and assured us that Adam was doing well. Sometime later that morning, Cheryl came by. She looked completely exhausted, but you couldn't tell from her voice. I don't remember all the things she said, but after discussing the medical things, she said a prayer for Adam and for us as parents. I don't remember any of her words now, but I do believe it was the most touching moment of prayer in my lifetime! Before she left, she commented something about my coaching performance being outstanding and Kristen's performance being several notches above anything she could withstand. I'm still unconvinced that I did anything abnormal, because all I did was stay with my wife and do whatever I could to help her. Kristen, on the other hand, was doing the work of the equivalent to running 2 marathons with a triathlon in between them, all without a break. At least we came home with more than a lousy T-shirt.