We went in on Tuesday, December 15th for what we thought would be an out-patient procedure to start the induction process overnight but over the course the appointment it was decided Casey was already far enough along that the procedure would have no effect. We came unprepared with none of our go bags with us but we were admitted to the hospital anyway. Our doctor was pretty optimistic that baby would be here by 3 or 4 in the morning. Oliver though, had different plans. The beginning of the night was rough. It was about midnight when Casey had the epidural put in. This allowed us both to get some rest as 3 am rolled by, then 4 am rolled by, before we knew it 7 am was here. With the new hour we received a new doctor but the plan remained the same. Continue to wait, hour by hour, hoping for things to naturally (with the help of some drugs) progress to active labor.
It was about 2 pm when the doctor came back in to check on the progress of labor. Things had stalled out at 9cm dilated and it seemed Oliver was just too stubborn to come out the “natural” way. The doctor recommend we move to a c-section since he hadn’t “dropped” and we agreed, it was time to get this baby out. They prepped Casey for surgery and gave me a hilarious yellow jump suit to wear for the operating room. Casey’s favorite part of this story is how the shoe coverings were too small for my size 13 feet and I instead had to wear hair nets on my feet. They wheeled Casey away to the operating room and left me sitting in the room in my yellow jump suit. I stuffed down two protein bars as fast as I could... needed to make sure I had something in my stomach so I didn’t pass out while in the operating room. Shortly after eating my protein bars the anesthesiologist came to get me. Greeting me as “Walter White,” which gave me a good laugh, we then proceeded to the operating room.
I personally have never had a major surgery, and neither had Casey, so walking in to that O.R. was quite the experience. There were probably 10 different doctors/medical staff moving about all keeping busy with their assigned tasks. Casey laid on the operating table and admittedly was looking pretty nervous. I am sure I looked like a deer in headlights with all that was happening. Occasionally someone would ask us a question and it would take a beat for us to register they were actually talking to us. They pulled up a chair for me and I did my best to distract Casey from the process that was happening.
The surgery began and what felt like only mere moments later our baby boy was born in to this world at 3:27 pm on Wednesday, December 16th, 2020. What a crazy rush of emotions that was for us both. They displayed him to us as if he were Simba from The Lion King. Oliver was brought to a table to be cleaned off and they summoned me to come closer. I felt torn between Casey, who was still laying on the O.R. table as they finished patching her up, and this brand new baby boy. Casey urged me to his side and so I went. They cleaned him up and swaddled him tight. An almost full head of hair already on his head, he was adorable. I brought him close to Casey so she could look at her son. It was hard to believe the moment was finally here, we were parents.
Oliver, 9 lbs 8 oz, 22 in long
They wheeled us off to the recovery room where we got to begin learning how to be parents. Casey was still coming down from the surgery—she was extremely cold, nervous, shivering, and nauseous throughout the procedure—but we made the best of the moment.
Our first family photo
It was a crazy wild ride to get him here but we couldn’t be happier. It might have not gone as we thought but we have a healthy baby boy and that’s all that matters. We are going to use this website to document our journey as parents. Feel free to come back and check in to see how things are going.
