The Day Tate Decided He Wanted To Be Born (4 weeks before we thought he should be!)

Peeing your pants is never fun. It makes little babies cry (I know this now). It gets elementary school kids sent home from school. It gets young adults sent to specialists. And it makes Melissa go to the doctor. On Monday, after a full night of curious bed wettage, Melissa and I went to the doctor's to check get some consultation on the curious leakage. The doctor took some samples and as he left the room he said that when he returned he would either be sending us to the hospital or back to our home. We anxiously looked at each other but we were both pretty sure we were in the clear. In fact we were not (technically I suppose we were since amniotic fluid is in fact clear). When the doctor returned, he told us that we had to go to the hospital immediately. We asked if our baby was going to be born soon and he said no. He thought we were asking us if she was literally in labor (which she was not). He informed us that her amniotic sac had ruptured and that her water had broken. We asked how long we would have to stay in the hospital and he said that the baby would be born tomorrow. We wouldn't be going home. I uttered some PG-13 words and then we were off to the hospital. It was surreal. We checked in to the hospital and the doctors started her on Pitocin (to induce labor). Over the next 24 hours the doctors tried to give her meds to dilate her cervix. Her contractions started to come regularly and became rather painful. She then invited her dear friend, Epidural, to enter the room. The anesthesiologist was a really nice guy and he took really good care of Mel. He even stayed in the room for an hour or so and shot the breeze with me. It was funny. A bunch of people came by to visit which was nice. The doctor came in to check on Mel around noon and said that she was only dilated at 1cm. They upped the amount of Pitocin but her cervix proved to be stubborn. At 5:30 or so, the doctor checked her again and her cervix was still at 1cm. He said that we could continue to try to induce pregnancy but it was unlikely that Mel's cervix would dilate enough. Also, take wasn't facing the right way. We then decided to go ahead with the C-section.

Baby Story to be continued...

Here are some of the pictures that Justin took of Tate last night...

1 Day Old.

Mel's a mom!
Tate and Mom's finger.
The whole family (minus Bauer).

I just took this one on my phone.

Many more to come!

Quite the Weekend, or, (Fatherhood almost came 8 weeks early)

As I previously stated, we had our leader's retreat at the Pine's Ranch this weekend. We left the Bay Area around 6:30 on Friday and arrived at the ranch around 8:30. The ride was pretty uneventful and quite pleasant until we arrived at their quaint little house. That is when things changed. Mel went to the bathroom when we got there (this fact, trough slightly intrusive, is integral to the story's plot). After she left the "facility" she thought that her water may have broken. This was the source of much calamity that would ensue throughout the duration of the evening. She told me what happened and I told her that she needed to go tell Becky (a girl around our age who happened to be a postpartum nurse at John Muir). Becky made a few phone calls to various nurses and doctors at John Muir who all highly recommended that we go to a hospital immediately. So that is what we did. We hopped back in to the car (about 10 minutes after arriving) and headed to John Muir. Ann and Becky came with us as well. We arrived at John Muir around 11 and they admitted Mel right away. Needless to say, a lot was going through my mind. Luckily Mel was really calm and was not in any pain. The baby is not due for another 8 weeks and neither of us were excited about having a baby the size of a Ken doll. My words, not hers. The nurse ran a series of tests on Melissa and determined that her water probably did not break. They monitored the baby's heartbeat and Mel's contractions and discovered that she was having small contractions every 5 minutes. The nurse gave her a drug to stop the contractions and informed us that we would be staying at the hospital another few hours. Becky decided that she would go work some overtime so she "scrubbed in" and Mark picked Ann up. We got home around 4 a.m. Mel was not put on bed rest, but was told to "take it easy." I ended up driving back to the ranch at 10am the next morning. It was hard leaving Mel but she was fine with it. She ended up staying the night at her parents' house. The retreat went really well. Tony took over some of my responsibilities when I was gone and we all had some good discussions when I got there. Rob and I took our cars 4-wheeling all over the property with some of the guys on Saturday. It was grand. It was a really strange weekend and I got a brief glimpse of what it might be like when the baby is born. I am excited and anxious for his arrival but I think I will need these next 8 weeks to prepare.

IT'S (gonna be) A BOY!!!

Yesterday Mel and I got to go to the doctor's to get the second ultrasound done. This was also the appointment where we got to find out the sex of the baby. It was really fun, exciting, overwhelming, and strange all at the same time. In the last ultrasound that we had done, the baby was roughly the size of a bean. A lot has changed since then. It was incredible watching the ultrasound screen as the baby moved, played with his feet, opened his mouth, swallowed. My heart was beating super fast.It was crazy to see that the baby now has arms, legs, kidneys, and yes, a weener! This was the most exciting of all revelations. When the technician said that we were having a little boy I started to cry a bit. I then realized that I am going to be a wreck when this guy is born. Our moms got to be in the room throughout the appointment and they were equally giddy. The doctor came in the room and said that the baby looks exactly as he would like it to look in this stage of development. He is 20 weeks along, 10 inches long, and 15 ounces. Pretty much a zucchini, except less green and much better looking. Melissa and I are both so happy and can't wait for this little guy to be here. It still feels weird to think it's a boy. We had quite the entourage at the appointment too. Both of our parents, our brothers, Mandie, Ashley, Amy and Charlie. It was a fun moment to share with them and it gave me a glimpse of the amount of people that will likely be at the hospital come November. It's gonna be fun!