January 21st, 2014 at 1:14
pm (a Tuesday) Levi Russell joined us and we couldn't be happier. His
arrival story actually starts the previous day as with most babies.
Monday, Marianne
(Gretchen's mother) came over for dinner. Throughout dinner Gretchen
complained about back pain which was nothing new. Her mom shrugged it
off, noting that with all three of her daughters she had similar pain quite a
bit of time before the actual delivery. I, at that point, had never heard
of back labor. So, I was skeptical when Gretchen claimed she would be
giving birth within the next 48 hours.
I was skeptical...
I was wrong.
Don't misunderstand.
My wife does not give into flights of fancy, nor is she particularly
sensitive to pain. The sole reason I was skeptical was out of ignorance.
Gretchen only had pain in her back and I assumed there needed to be pain
other places as well for it to be labor. I am lucky in many ways when it
comes to Gretchen; several of those ways would take center stage in the next 24
hours.
After Marianne left and
after some discussion (including Gretchen figuring out her back pains were
coming and going around 6 minutes apart), Gretchen told me she would like to go
to the hospital and I acquiesced, though still very skeptical. I
threw the bags in the back of the Element and am sure grumbled more than my
fair share. Thankfully Gretchen was quick to forgive given the events to
come.
We arrived at the hospital
and were admitted. Gretchen calmly went about giving information and
describing the pain. Neither of us thought we were staying. I am
sure the doctor chuckled to himself when he had to repeat that we WERE, in
fact, staying.
"I guess I'll have to
go get the bags when they move you to your room." I remarked as
reality sank in. We hadn't even thought about having the bags with us
because, as I said before, neither of us thought we would be staying.
I called my parents, still
in disbelief, explaining to them that we were not leaving until the newest
addition arrived. They offered to come right away, but thankfully I
assured them that the baby would not be here until the morning.
This was shortly before
midnight and the next six hours were a blur of exhaustion, tests and doctors.
Gretchen gave me a scare with her blood pressure, (it was 48 over 23 at
one point), but the doctors took wonderful care of her and by the time seven
o'clock rolled around Gretchen was resting comfortably - the drug induced calm
before the storm.
Around eleven the nurse
told me I should go get something to eat as they did not want me passing out
(always a good precaution), so I went to the waiting room. We had quite
the crowd. Both sets of parents were there, my sister Jill with Riley my
nephew, as well as my grandma and aunt Diane. I went downstairs and got a
chicken wrap and soup combination, went back upstairs and ate while we chatted
about how the baby was coming, but not for a little bit.
My phone buzzed and my wife,
bless her, texted with a casual tone I could hear her say in my head,
"Make your way back they want to trial some pushes, Nannapenini (her
doctor) called and said see if we can get it moving."
The calm, cool and
collected nature Gretchen had throughout this whole process still amazes me.
Television and other media makes us feel as if this process is insanely
chaotic. I wonder if our experience was more typical, but I would like to
think that my wife is simply that incredible.
I will save you all of the
gory details, but shortly after she started, Levi came into this world.
We fell in love immediately. After quite a while (enough to get
both of our mothers a little worried), I went out to announce to the world that
my little boy was here. We did not know if it was going to be a boy or a
girl so the excitement was palpable. I announced the weight first, 8 lbs.
8 oz., then the height, 22 inches, saving the best for last...
Levi Russell Wendell. Beautiful.
Wonderful. A gift from God.
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