Nothing short of miraculous
London Journey Strickland, born April 8, 2010 at 1:14 p.m., 6 lbs., 5 oz., 19 inches long
For weeks now I have been talking about the new arrival of my little girl.
For those of you who are just starting to read this, this will be our first rodeo, so to speak.
Wednesday night, April 7 at midnight, my wife, mother-in-law and I began getting things ready to go to the hospital. We arrived at Russellville Hospital about 12:45 a.m. and began the prep work required for things we wanted to happen during the birthing process.
I had previously taken off work Wednesday so I could sleep all day because I knew I would be up all night long. WRONG!
My wife and I woke up at 10 a.m. Wednesday, uneasy with great anticipation. There is a saying in my family before we anticipate a big event or big trip the next day, “Can’t sleep! Too excited!”
And that is exactly how we felt Wednesday morning. Overall my wife and I stayed up around 36 straight hours through the entire process until finally crashing late Thursday night.
When we arrived at the hospital and Amy got hooked up to all the machines, the nurses had informed her that she was already in labor, which surprised me because she wasn’t feeling any pain. They told us they would wait until 5 a.m. to induce her and they needed Amy to get some rest so she would have enough energy later.
Well, while Amy tried to rest her eyes, I was wired and wide awake, so I turned the television in the room to the most boring channel I know — The Weather Channel — so that maybe I would doze off too, WRONG AGAIN!
I stayed awake until 5 a.m. rolled around, and they induced my wife. Once they began inducing her, the process began to pick up a bit.
Amy began to feel the contractions immediately, and they got rougher and rougher until the anesthesiologist came in to administer the epidural — Amy refers to it as God’s Holy Medicine.
Amy said she there was no way she could have done it without the drugs and that she has the highest respect for those who choose the “natural” route. Once the epidural was given, our doctor, Dr. Santiago, came in and broke her water. The process then sped up quickly.
At one point Amy went from three centimeters to nine centimeters dilated in a 30-minute time frame.
The pushing process came quick and Amy pushed for an hour and a half and I was there for every second. I figured I would pass out from the delivery room scene, but honestly it was right the opposite.
It was the most miraculous, beautiful, amazing experience I have ever been a part of and I hope every man who has the chance to witness it should definitely be a part of this process one day.
On Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 1:14 p.m. Amy and I became more than just husband and wife. We now have opened the chapter to parenthood in the book of life.
Too bad there isn’t any footnotes telling you how to be a good parent, but I believe both of us will be ok.
We will have to grit our teeth and do what every other new parent does and wing it.
My delivery room experience turned out to be a pretty pleasant experience, aside from watching my wife go through the worst pain she has ever felt in her entire life.
I want to pay a special thanks to Dr. Santiago, nurse Debra Bell and the entire Russellville Hospital Nursery/Labor and Delivery staff who made us feel comfortable and lending a helping hand in bringing our beautiful, amazing daughter into the world and into our hearts.
We will never forget your generosity and kindness during the most special time for our families.
There I’ve said my peace. Until next time, Later Dayz…
