Easter Surprise

Friday, April 6 was the day it all began. Whit went to one of her last doctor’s appointments and was told that she was dilated to a three and that at some point within the next week she should have the baby (this was a little surprise since her due date was April 20). Whit came home from work at the end of the day and started to have contractions. They only lasted for about four hours that night – being between five and seven minutes apart. 

Saturday

On Saturday, the contractions continued in the morning and ended up lasting all day long. Whit was in a lot of pain but handled it really well. She even felt okay enough to make some delicious Orange Roll French Toast, which was amazing! She timed the contractions all day, with them lasting between seven and 10 minutes apart. We decided that afternoon that we should be ready for the baby to be born at any time and decided to put the car seat in the car while we ran errands. As we pulled into Kohl’s parking lot we parked next to a truck with the driver sitting inside. As we got out and went into Kohl’s, Whit began to laugh, saying “I bet that guy thinks we just left our child sitting in the car seat.” We both expected the cops to be waiting for us when we returned, but apparently that driver didn’t care or notice. I guess it didn’t matter anyway since we were just “practicing” being parents.

10:40 p.m. Saturday

After reading scriptures, we said our prayers prior to going to bed. In the prayer, I prayed that we would know when we should go to the hospital. After saying “Amen” Whit laid on the floor to stretch her hips – as she does every night – and then it happened, her water broke. She yelled to me that her water had just broke and I immediately took off throughout the house like a chicken with its head cut off – gathering all the things we would need, such as: pillows, blankets, jackets, water, Gatorade, candy bars, phones, video camera, camera and about every charger we had in the house – just in case we needed to charge something at the hospital. Luckily, Whit had packed her bag a few days earlier so I just had to pack my bag.

11:05 p.m. Saturday

During the car ride there I thought about blowing through red lights with my hazard lights on, but thought better than to put our little family in harms way. We made it to the hospital just as another woman was being sent home for not being in labor. Once we were admitted and walking to room 11, we were told that we were the only ones there at the time so they would take extra good care of us. The nurses were amazed that Whit wasn’t in premature labor, but was actually 38 weeks along.

11:30 p.m. Saturday -1:13 a.m. Easter Sunday

The contractions got even more intense for Whit and the phone calls to future grandparents were made. I think I woke up Bret (Whit’s dad) and my mom, DoJo (Dorothy Jo), but both were excited for the phone calls. By this time Whit was at a six.

As contractions got worse Whit was a champ and would hunker down. Each one was more intense and painful and they were getting closer and closer together. I felt helpless watching my dear sweet wife endure such pain and it seemed like the nurses didn’t even care – I wanted someone to step in and help her out, but I guess this is how labor is supposed to go. The nurses kept telling her that if she wanted to get an epidural they would need to order it soon, since it could take 30 minutes for the anesthesiologist to get there and then another 10-15 minutes for it to kick in. Whit decided that she wanted an epidural at which time the nurse ordered it and checked Whit, she was at an 8. Whit was speeding through this labor thing “like it ain’t no-thing.”  

A few minutes later all hell broke loose. All the nurses came running in, started getting “prepped” and even started radioing for other nurses, “We need the ICU nurse in here now” I heard and started freaking out. What is going on? Will Whit and Ike be okay? What can I do to help? All these questions and more started to run through my head. At about this same time another nurse came in and asked if we wanted our guests to come in. “Guests?!!”  I thought. “Who would be here?” I looked out into the hallway and saw Papa Craig and Dojo (my parents) standing there. I told them to go down the hallway and wait. I thought “we have a baby to deliver in here; I can’t be hosting guests at this time.” The reason I felt like we had a baby to deliver and that I was going to play an important role in all of this, is because I had already been a good nurse’s helper by holding one of Whit’s legs during a contraction and had assisted in several “Hee-Hee-Hoo” breathing exercises. The nurses kept nervously checking out in the hall to see if they could get a glimpse of the doctor on call and the anesthesiologist, which still made me pretty nervous.

Finally, the anesthesiologist showed up - just in the nick of time. At this point I began getting nervous – not for the eventual birth of my son, the contractions Whit had to endure or if the doctor would finally show up, but for the fact that both Whit and I have a pretty documented history of passing out. I thought that this would indeed be the first time in history of LRH (Logan Regional Hospital) that both the mom and dad pass out at the same time in the delivery room. This thought only lasted a few seconds because I was too hyped up on adrenaline that there wasn’t a chance I was passing out and Whit was in too much pain to think about passing out too. So my fears were put to rest in a matter of seconds.

Soon after the epidural was done (and no one had passed out) the doctor on call (Dr. Craig) arrived. I felt good at this point knowing that I wasn’t going to have to deliver my own son. A few minutes later the epidural kicked in and Whit was able to relax and focus on pushing. Whit really did such an amazing job through this whole thing and without much pain medicine and was really rocking this labor thing.

1:14 a.m. Easter Sunday

After about five “pushing” contractions our little Ike Lane Watts was born! I was offered the opportunity to cut the umbilical cord, but respectfully declined, knowing that a simple cut of the cord could send the entire Watts family into shock with all passing out like a group of fainting goats.

Once the umbilical cord was cut everything began to sink in. Looking at my exhausted, beautiful wife and my fresh-from-heaven son, I began getting teary-eyed and a little emotional. The “Miracle of Life” had just unfolded before my eyes and was one of the coolest experiences of my life.  I couldn’t believe that this little guy, with a head full of hair, was ours. It immediately felt as though he had always been with us. I couldn’t believe the amount of love I already had for this little guy. This was the best Easter present ever!

The nurses cleaned him off and weighed him. He weighed in at a whopping 6 lbs. 2 oz. and 19” long. This little guy outweighed his mom’s birth weight (6.0 lbs.) and almost tripled his dad’s (2.3 lbs.).

This was the best Easter EVER! Thanks Whit and Ike.

Signed,

A Proud Dad