The Call

We got the call that BM was going into the early stages of labor on Monday, March 14th around 10:15am. Luckily Glen and I had packed our bags and placed them in the car the night before in hopes that the call might come! We left work and headed to the airport. We had already booked our flights for the following week so we hoped there was room on the next flight out that we could switch ours to. Once we arrived at the airport check-in we were told there were no flights available for the rest of the day. Of course, this was spring break week and everyone was going to Florida! We were devastated but put our names on the next flights stand-by list in hopes that there might just be two empty seats. We went through security, checked-in again and there was one seat that had opened up. Yippee, at least one of us might make it to see our son being born. My mom had arrived at the airport shortly after us and had called the airline earlier and had gotten a seat on that same flight. We had 2 seats now, so mom was going to give her seat to me so Glen & I could both go on the same flight. We went up to the check-in area once more to get the seats switched from her to me. The desk clerk said there was no more seats available so mom would have to fly out the next morning. After a few minutes of typing in his computer as they do, he said, "well, it is your lucky day - another seat has just come available." Mom and I immediately began to cry and the clerk probably thought we were nuts! We were all 3 on the next flight out and hopefully going to make it in time for the birth!!!! The flight which is about 2 hours 45 minutes seemed to take forever but we finally arrived in Florida around 5:30pm. Well, since we had flown stand-by our bags were on another flight that wasn't to arrive until 6:10pm. We decided to get our rental car and wait for the bags. The flight our bags were on was delayed about 20 minutes so we didn't wind up getting our bags until 6:30pm. We had just received a text from the social worker that the BM water had broke and she was getting the epidural. Still waiting for our bags, I am thinking.....we are going to miss it. Finally, our bags arrived except for my moms. They were on a completely different flight and wouldn't arrive until later that night. We worked it out with the airport that they would deliver moms bags to the hotel we were to stay at. Off to the hospital we went! We were greeted at the hospital by the social worker and her daughter. They had spent a good part of the day with BM & BF as they got checked into the hospital. We were taken to BM's room and had all kinds of emotions as we didn't know what to expect at this point. We were delighted to see BM & BF in the room doing fine. We had a great time catching up with them and talking about all the preparations we have made for Samuel's room since our last meeting. Around 10:00pm the nurse checked BM and she had only dialated to 2 so it was still going to be awhile. We left the room while BM & BF went to sleep. Glen, Mom & I would spent the next several hours in the hospital waiting room. Boy did we have an interesting experience! We saw many interesting "cases" of pregnant women/girls pass by as the night went on. The most interesting was a lady that was brought in on a stretcher by the EMT's. I guess she had waited too long and couldn't drive herself. I heard the EMT's say she had a ton of kids already at home. As she was wheeled through into the Labor & Delivery rooms we heard her scream like I have never heard before! She was too late to have an epidural, ouch!! They put her in her room, we heard screaming at the top of her lungs for about 10 minutes and then we heard a baby cry. She delivered a large child and we were glad it was over as was everyone else on that side of the hospital!

Around 2:00am BF came and got Glen and I as BM had progressed to a 10. We thought it was time but soon found we would wait another 2 hours before the arrival of Sam. We sat in the room with BM & BF those 2 hours and had more conversations about life, cars, favorite drinks, jobs, etc. It was a great time to really get to know them a little bit better. I am so thankful for those few hours. The nurse came in to check BM once again and had her do one push. One push was enough so they called for the doctor to come quick! Samuel was coming whether the doctor was there or not! Finally the doctor arrived, got everything set up and BM pushed 2 more times and out came Sam! He was huge! 8 lbs. 11 oz. and crying like he should have. It was such an overwhelming experience to be in the room and we are so grateful to the birthparents for allowing us the opportunity. It was time to cut the umbilical cord and earlier the BF had asked Glen if he would do it. So, Glen cut the umbilical cord as every other father has the opporutunity to do. They then had BM hold baby for a few minutes and then he was passed to us to hold. It was the most amazing moment of our lives. We were finally holding our child that we have waited so long for. He was absolutely perfect. The nurses then took him to clean him up, weigh and measure him. We were so thrilled! And BM made labor look so easy! She didn't even break a sweat and her make-up was all still in place.

We left the room as BM & BF were obviously tired and needed their rest. We followed Sam as he was wheeled into the nursery for the night. The BM had given me a wrist band so that I could go in and feed him as needed. I was lucky to get to be the first one to feed him around 6:00am. Boy was that a nerve wrecking experience. I was in the nursery as mom and Glen watched through the windows. They could tell I had no clue what to do! The nurses in the nursery that night were wonderful and helped me along with every step of the process. Once Sam was full he was swaddled up and went to sleep. We left to go check in to the hotel and get cleaned up. At this point, we had been up over 24 hours with no sleep.

We checked into the hotel, rested for about an hour, showered and went back to the nursery to feed Sam again.