Today we were discharged from the hospital and brought Aidan home.  Susan and I agree that the discharge process was the worst part of the experience.  It took several hours and when they wheeled Susan down to the lobby, they were like “Have a nice day!”.  They didn’t provide any assistance with the car seat and basically took off.

Susan and I looked at each other and said, “Now what?” 

Now the real adventure begins!

-Allen

On March 3, 2009 at 4:04PM, Susan gave birth to our son Aidan Thomas.  He weighed in at 6lbs 8.8 ounces and is 18.75 inches long.

TIMELINE OF EVENTS

12:15AM – Susan’s thinks her water broke.  Allen had just fallen asleep and says to Susan, “Are you sure?”

12:15AM – 5:00AM – Susan showers multiple times in preparation

5:30AM – Susan pages doctor.  She calls back and tells us to go to the hospital.

6:15AM – We arrived at Hackensack Hospital and began the check-in process

7:00AM – Susan find out she is only 1cm dilated.  Her response is, “Are your friggin’ kidding me?”

10:45AM – Susan starts Pitocin and they begin an epidural.  Her lower half of her body goes numb.  Her blood pressure also dropped to 70/40 and they had to give her a shot of epinephrine.  They think they hit her intrathecal space.  They let it wear off and give it another shot.  Medical practice.

1:00PM – Dr. Cho’s shift is over and Dr. Clachko takes over

3:00PM – The contractions are getting closer and Susan is in pain

3:15PM – Nurses show me and Susan some pushing techniques and I learn to count to 10. 

3:20PM – Nurse asks me the last time I had some sugar and grabs some OJ for me to drink.  I guess lots of dads have passed out before…

3:35PM – Susan starts pushing

3:45PM – Susan tells Dr. Clachko and the two nurses, “I want a refund on this epidural”

3:50PM – Susan says, “Oww, it hurts!”  Dr. Clachko says, “No talking and more pushing!”  I stay quiet for fear of losing my life. 

4:04PM – A perfect baby covered in goo is born!  Two of the happiest people alive are grinning from ear to ear.

My take on the delivery process…

This was nothing like I expected.  You always see the emergency deliveries on shows like ER.  People come rushing into the emergency room saying, “Help, we have a woman in labor!”  We drive to the hospital, walked in, and were taken care of.  There was no rush or fuss.  Everybody throughout the delivery process was great.

I have a new found respect for Susan and women in general.  What an amazing process!

Overall it was everything that people told me it was going to be, but nothing like I had expected.

-Allen