The date was December the 3rd and I was on my way home from work when I called Jenn to tell her I should be home shortly and see how she was feeling. The "big day" was quickly approaching (December 8th was her due date) and for the past few days I felt the next contraction was going to be the start of labor. She told me that she had been having fairly regular contractions that were between 3 and 5 mins apart but wasn't sure it was the sign that we needed to call or head to the hospital. When I got home we continued to time the contractions and sure enough, they were all cycling for about 60 seconds with less than a 5 minute break between. We decided to lie down.
Jenn's back was tight so I began rubbing it a bit with a tennis ball in attempt to reduce some of the pressure. As we lay there debating whether or not we should try to make it to her brother's wrestling match something happened. At 6:15 pm Jenn felt a puff of air from down below and had the urge to go potty. No, it wasn't a "number 2", her water had broken. Neither of us panicked. Outwardly at least! After calling her doctor and describing what happened and what it looked like we were advised to head to the hospital. Our little guy wasn't gonna wait till the wrestling was over! He was coming and there was nothing that was gonna stop him!
So as calmly as possible we got dressed, grabbed a few items that weren't previously packed and ready and started driving to Rose Medical Center. Keep in mind Denver was still in rush hour and Colfax was backed up as we were nearing downtown. I made a kinda risky decision to get off of the main route to the hospital and take one of the side streets which parallels Colfax. We got so lucky! Between when I got on to 14th ave heading east, to when we reached Colorado blvd to head south (about 5 miles), we only hit 1 red light! Pretty lucky.
We arrived at Rose at about 7 pm, got checked in, went up to the delivery room and 
waited... and waited. Guess I didn't need to take the alternate route! The nursing staff started IV's and helped Jenn through the contractions which were becoming much more intense. This was uncharted territory for the both of us and we didn't know what to expect so the words of encouragement and positive feed back that pured forth from the nurses went a long way in helping.
waited... and waited. Guess I didn't need to take the alternate route! The nursing staff started IV's and helped Jenn through the contractions which were becoming much more intense. This was uncharted territory for the both of us and we didn't know what to expect so the words of encouragement and positive feed back that pured forth from the nurses went a long way in helping.The pain was immense... so we opted for an epidural. I don't remember the exact time... I had a lot of other things on my mind at the moment... but I think it was around 11pm that the anesthesiologist stuck the line into Jenn's spine and started administering the regional anesthesia. It was about 1:30 am on December the 4th when Jenn felt an overwhelming desire to push. The nurse said go for it and coached us through the "deep breath... hold and push! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. You're doing SO great!! Deep breath... hold and push! 1, 2, 3..." While the epidural relived a lot of the pain there was still quite a bit of pain and pressure. But it wasn't long (maybe an hour) when the nurse said, "I can see his head!" It was time to get the Doctor in the room to get him outta the home he knew for 9 months.
I will pick this back up tomorrow... with our baby's day of birth! It's getting kinda late and someone want some food! Enjoy the pictures... I will post more shortly. LOVE YOU!!! Jake, Jenn and Dalton.
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