The Best Day of Our Lives!

And just when I thought for that for sure we'd go into week 41 or late into week 40 at the least... POW!... I get woken up at 3:30 Sunday morning on September 25th with that proverbial Hollywood phrase we've all heard in the movies, "Honey, I think my water just broke!" Jei was standing in the shower as I calmly got up and went to go access the situation. She told me that she began to "leak" a little bit when she got back into bed from going to the bathroom that night, but then suddenly felt a good gush begin to come out so she ran into the shower and called me.  She wasn't feeling any contractions at the time, so I think we were both a little skeptical of what really just happened and especially about what to do next! After a little online research Jei finally called the on-call doctor at the hospital and given all the facts, he advised her to come on in.

Approximately 10 hours earlier, Momma Soch, Jei and I all went over to another couple's house that evening to have dinner and hang out. Ironically, on the drive over, and out of complete nowhere... Soch began to say how it would probably be in our best interest if all our pre-packed hospital bags, pillows, blankets, etc... were actually stored inside of the car somewhere, as opposed to sitting by the front door. She made a great point for obvious reasons... it would have done us little good if her water had broke and we weren't at home!

Since the 'Silver Screen' is pretty much all that I have to reference in this particular department, I've always wondered how exactly I would react to hearing the news that my wife's water just broke. Would I run around hysterically acting like an idiot, causing more stress and doing more harm than good like the soon-to-be fathers do in the movies? Well, I'm sure the fact that I had gotten only three and a half hours of sleep before Jei woke me up had a little something to do with it... but I pretty much acted like the exact opposite! I was in super slow motion, hardly awake, and kind of in disbelief that her water did in fact break. Needless to say, I was the last one out the door thinking to myself, "Man, this sure isn't how I pictured it happening!"

We got to the hospital, got signed in...

and then had to wait to be admitted onto the maternity floor.

After getting settled into our own personal labor room, and of course after Jei got hooked up with all sorts of fun monitoring equipment and IV's...

...we were left to play the waiting game all morning!

Jei was a little preoccupied with the nurse...

so I went ahead and filled out all the paperwork.

I kind of felt bad... considering I knew how hungry Jei was but also knew that she couldn't have anything to eat but some delicious ice-chips...

But Momma Soch & I were starving! So we got ourselves each a Grand Slam from Denny's and enjoyed a yummy breakfast in the room... despite a few nasty looks from you-know-who!!!

A good husband I was...

feeding my lovely wife some of those delicious ice-chips.

With no real contractions, no pain, and no signs of Allen Jess on his way... it was a long morning filled with lots of waiting!

But then a doctor finally showed up (7 hours later!), and after one look at Jei's enormous belly he did some investigating and found out that her sac hadn't completely ruptured yet! Of course once the flood waters had subsided... the contractions began, oh and the pain too!

The one thing I completely wasn't mentally prepared for was seeing the woman I love most in so much pain! So I tried my best to help make things better... but I found out there's a fine line between being helpful and being annoying!

2:43 in the afternoon and it was go time!

My son was about to be born and football was on the TV...

Doesn't get much better than that!

2:55 in the afternoon and one rather large and heavy baby boy was finally out and ready to take on the world!  

I certainly didn't expect to be in any way useful during the delivery... but much to my surprise, I actually was! Apparently there was a shortage of nurses, so while one nurse held Jei's right leg, I was tasked to hold her left leg, while the doctor worked his magic. Heck, I even got to cut the umbilical cord!

Again, it was really hard to see, hear, and feel Jei in so much pain... but once we both held the little guy in our arms, we both agreed it was totally worth it!!! And speaking of pain... due to a very inconsistent, blotchy, and crummy epidural, Jei now knows what a 10 feels like on the ole 1 to 10 pain scale!  

If there wasn't any proof that everything happens for a reason... September 25th sure as heck proved it in our eyes! First, due to Allen Jess being so big, if we hadn't have gone in to the hospital that morning (because Jei didn't feel any contractions) and would've waited any longer, there was no way she was going to have a regular birth. He was just too big!  

And secondly, even though we were really hoping that the timing was right that our doctor would be the one delivering our baby... we got so lucky with the on-call doctor who actually did end up delivering Allen! We were a little worried when we first got to the hospital and one of the nurses had mentioned that he was in a bad mood, but when he came into our labor room he was an absolute delight! And it wasn't that he was really nice and caring which he certainly was... but it was mainly how amazingly funny he was! He had a real dry sense of humor that totally had the three of us rolling, especially Soch & I, but even between contractions he had Jei cracking up! (Believe it or not, the guy actually moonlights as an amateur standup comedian when he's not delivering babies! Seriously!) 

39 weeks and 5 days sure didn't go by very fast... and neither did the morning of September 25th, but now that it's over and we have our healthy beautiful baby boy with us, it was well worth the wait! It's not easy trying to accurately describe the best day of your life... so I don't think I'll even try. All I know is that we feel extremely blessed and are overwhelmingly happy! God bless our child... Allen Jess Etheridge!