Ok, here�??s how it all went down. Friday night at about ten o�??clock Kris and I went to bed. I remarked �??We better get a good night sleep; this is the last night we are gonna be able too.�?� As if I was cut from the Nostradamus mold, 5:20 AM, Kris woke me up with an exclamation �??I think my water broke, I�??m going to go to the bathroom to check.�?� According to Kris, I shot out of bed faster than I ever had in our 9 years together and went immediately to the bathroom. I thought as though my water was going to break. After waiting patiently, as usual, Kris eventually got to the bathroom, and brushed her teeth and we were off.

We arrived at the hospital at about 5:45 and were whisked over to the triage area and the nurse tried to get a sample of amniotic fluid to make sure it had broken. He had a bit of trouble. I began to joke with Kris about how she probably just peed herself. Apparently not as funny as intended. After a few tries and the tech left, I said to Kris, �??they must get a lot of people in here that lie about this stuff.�?� I stepped to the desk to see what was up and gave the nurse an inquisitive thumb down and he responded with an enthusiastic thumb up. We were off�?�

We were whisked away to the labor and delivery room, LDR #1. We were greeted by Kayrn, our, Kris�??, delivery nurse. Kayrn was tall and skinny with strait brown hair, glasses and a cute face. She looked to me like she had just left her locker at Hamilton high, put on her scrubs and came to work. I had to ask, �??how old are you?�?� and she replied �??How old do I look?�?� In typical classic Eric, I said, uh, eighteen. She was delighted. I was not. I thought, this kid who just rolled out of the RN factory is going to deliver my first little girl? I thought she could barely deliver a punch line, let alone my new baby. To her credit, Kayrn was an excellent nurse. I was pleasantly proven wrong.
Kyle and Brandon arrived shortly after we moved. Brandon was awake when we left the house and could wait to be involved. He was great. Kyle was asleep, somewhere. But they both eventually got there and began to help. After a while, Kris sent them home to get some sleep cause it might be a while. Kyle must have just closed his eyes in his bed when I called him with a request to get me a CompactFlash card for the camera. He came back to the hospital and I sent him and Brandon off. They got a card for me, picked up some burritos and were back before I could say Pitocin. Kyle and Brandon were great throughout the entire process and I give them a lot of credit. Good, no great brothers!

Kris�?? mom Georgie and her grandma, Shirley both arrived shortly thereafter and were very helpful-until they were ordered to leave by Kris. Actually, the orders came down to me and I issued them to the troops. Everyone out during delivery but me. No bystanders. No shirt No shoes No service. Nada. Zip. So we waited, it was going kinda slow at first. Kayrn checked momma, 3 centimeters, -3. Funny, the doctor told us at her last appointment that she was zero station. Hmm. Oh well, lets get this party started. Momma was having regular, short, contractions but nothing spectacular. Time to call in the heavy hitter �?? Pitocin. Like nitrous oxide in the baby making engine, Pitocin boosts the contraction engines RPMs �?? bigtime! Kris wasn�??t thrilled, when she had Brandon, Pitocin kicked her butt. Hit her hard and fast. But this was 14 years later and a new world, yeah right! Anyway, 9:00 and the IV starts. So do the contractions, here they come, like the snowball rolling down the birthing hill, building as they come. Kris is getting visibly uncomfortable.

Before we knew it, the anesthesiologist was in the room to give the epidural. Georgie and Shirley left momentarily so that it could be administered. Kris leaned forward and the doctor got the kit out. As he prepared, the contractions continued. Getting progressively stronger and stronger, but the epidural should help. Guess the epidural takes a bit more time than it took for Zoe to decide the Pitocin was too much for her and she wanted OUT!

To be continued…