Tolstoy Stole My Title

It's Christmas Eve, we made it! I would like to be sleeping in, but I have a sinus infection and am having trouble seeping. Oh well, I'll live. I've had a lot on my mind so I figured I should put this restlessness to use. Normally a post like this one is something that I would save for my personal blog, but I know more people read this one, and I feel it important that this message reach as many people as possible. You see, I have had a couple of events happen in the past few days that have made me realize that we are all in big trouble and there may or may not be a way out.
I have to tip toe around this first one to avoid violating any policies I may have signed. In the course of my usual routine this week, I came in contact with two people whom I regularly deal with in a non-friend sort of relationship. In the past I have had bad experiences with both of them and I generally make an effort to avoid interaction with them as much as possible. I guess I would describe their personalities as: a wild self interest, perpetuated by egotism, and motivated by material gain. Both of these individuals happened to be in the same place this week though, they had family members that were seriously ill and in the hospital. I myself had a sister-in law in the hospital whom was very sick. I found myself wanting so badly to connect with these people on a human level, but I just couldn't when I thought about our past. It is still eating at me now that I let these people hurt when I could have offered them something, at least shared my own struggles. I really have to ask myself am I any better than they are if I see someone hurting and do nothing to try and help? It's not that I didn't want to I was just too afraid, of what, I am not quite sure.
This isn't the first time that I have encountered something like this. I am sure that you have been in this situation as well. You see someone hurting, and you want to reach out to them but its like there is a force field inside or something. It kills me when I know the right thing to do and I ignore it out of fear. Fear is such a weak emotion and I despise it in myself. I will freely admit that fear has been the cause of almost all of the shortcomings in my life. It has held me back from doing so many things that I have wanted to do it's kept me from being the type of friend, husband, boyfriend, student, employee...lets just say Person that I really wanted to be. We see the possibilities; but we are afraid of the judgment, or vulnerability, or failure that might come with it. So we freeze hoping that we can gather the courage or find the right moment to act, but alas, the moment slips away and then we must deal with the guilt and regret. We fail to become our potential...to ease someones pain...in the words of Thoreau we "lead quiet lives of desperation."
My other epiphany came during a lunch I had with my brother-in law Paul. We had a very nice, albeit to brief conversation about politics. Normally it is not a conversation that I would have with someone, but Paul is intelligent, thoughtful, and openminded and I feel safe discussing almost anything with him. We were discussing why I don't care a great deal for Phoenix and I relayed that it was a bit too conservative and I feel out of my element. He had asked me why I dislike political conservatism and I we had a brief discussion about it and some of the presidential candidates. It was kind of a weird coincidence because as of late, I have been studying a little about different types of economic and political systems.
In the few days since our conversation something keeps nagging at me though. As the Presidential election approaches there is all of this political fervor and anger in the air. Everyone is looking for the person to go in and fix this mess in Washington and restore this country to greatness! The thing is, it is the same rhetoric I have been hearing since I was a child. Washington has always been a mess the country has always been in shambles. So when exactly was this idealized utopian America that people dream of, and what does the restoration of that look like? How exactly is someone going to single-handedly come in and restore us to greatness?
The truth is, the revolution must come from within us. No one is going to fix this world, no politician, no government for that matter. We must take responsibility for our lives, and our brothers and sisters lives as well. The problem with politicians is that they tend to poses "a wild self interest perpetuated by egotism and motivated by material gain." If we are to get anywhere each and everyone of us needs to ask ourselves "What am I doing here?' If you can't answer that for yourself, then how can you reasonably make a decision about anything else in your life? What is the point of doing anything, without something that motivates our actions? And how do we know how to act without a goal or end in mind? If we truly desire peace and happiness in the world and not just "things" then shouldn't the majority of our actions and decisions reflect that?  We have the power to end wars right now if we decide to put down our guns. We can end hunger if we feed someone who is hungry. We can stop poverty if we stop greed. Its too simple to actually work; that is the problem. We already have everything we need. We have just become conditioned to accept the current state of the world as the only reality that exists, but it is a self imposed reality.
The Bible says that there was a man born 2000 years ago that told of another way. I am very confused as to wether or not I believe this story to be true, or if this man was really God as he is claimed to be and quite honestly wether there is a God at all. I tend to lean towards the notion that it is true. I have seen the power of this story in the world with my own eyes and have read of thousands of other accounts about the power of this story in other peoples lives. He taught of another type of government "The Kingdom of God" where no one goes hungry, we take care of our brothers and sisters, we love one another even strangers and people we disagree with. I will admit that I fall way short of this message but at this moment I feel compelled to make sure that I spread it. I don't know if it is true, I really don't. And I am definitely not a poster child for Christian living but I like what Jesus had to say wether he was God or not. I think he was on to something. So tonight I will go to church and sing Oh Holy Night and light my neighbors candle to honor Jesus and the power of his words, and I will ask you to remember his message as well and remind me of it when you think I need to be reminded. Because if there is a way out of all of this mess it seems like a good plan. God Bless you and Merry Christmas.

A Beary Merry Christmas

The fourth trimester is officially over, Ada turns 3 months old tomorrow! She is such a big bear. She barely fits in her bassinet now so we have to start transitioning her into her crib soon. We have had a lot going on in the last week, so much so, that I have had a a hard time making time for a post.
She has been a much happier girl lately. She seems to get grumpy for a week and then happy for a while. We think she is just going through growth spurts and so her sleeping patterns change and she gets tired, but then again I only play a doctor on tv. It is a good thing that she decided to shape up this week, because yesterday was Jennies first day back to work, and my first day alone as a parent. Everyone one seemed worried about us, which seems a bit sexist to me. Like I told Jennie, I take care of myself and my life is much more complicated, so I can't see why taking care of her should be any more difficult. I think we did just fine, we were both happy and i had her fed and down for naps at her regular intervals. So chalk one up for men.
In other family news we have spent a lot of time celebrating the holidays. We spent most of the weekend with the Bennions doing Christmas activities. Saturday we made gingerbread houses and had pizza, and Sunday we went over and watched "Its a Wonderful Life" and I made snowflakes with the kids it was a lot of fun! Tonight we are having a family Christmas get-together and singing Christmas songs, drinking wassail, and eating goodies. I can't wait for this weekend but i am sad that the holidays are almost over. Well, I just wanted to do a quick update for you that follow this thing. I will write a longer more well thought out one when things slow down a bit. Love you and Merry Christmas!

My Gingerbread Church with Gummy Nativity

All The Houses

Most Reesent photo of Ada

Jennie thought this picture was funny because I had on camp and she
is wearing green and brown she said I should post it. 

Life in the Circus

Jennie and I have an ongoing joke about us being monkeys now and Ada being the cruel monkey trainer of the Reese and Bros. Big Top Circus. We assume that her cries amount to something along the lines of "DANCE MONKEY, DANCE!" After a good two hour bout of screaming it is easy to feel like she is the one in control, especially when nothing we do seems to appease her. Add to the equation a cat that will only drink from a human bowl and requires refrigerated, filtered water every morning no later than six a.m. and at least five treats at two occasions during the day, and it is easy to feel like the inmates are running the asylum to quote a news headline I saw last night. The fact that none of your friends and family tell you about the dark side of parenting has been a constant conversation topic of ours lately. People love to tell you how much fun it is and how cute they are, and they may mention the lack of sleep a little bit, but no one tells you of the hours of screaming and face slapping that you are about to endure. They also don't share the part about eating separate cold meals while you play pass the baby and hide out in the lobby of restaurants.
 Yesterday, Jennie was eating at a restaurant with her sister when she noticed a pregnant lady staring at Ada in adoration from across the room, that is, until she decided it was time to make the monkey dance. At which point, the lady turned her nose up and looked away, as if to say, "that's never going to be my baby" Jennie was so mad and wanted to go pat the girl on the bad and just give a cryptic "Good luck Honey, you have no idea."
 I know it sounds like we are complaining a lot, and we probably sound like horrible parents. We actually love her more than life itself and would gladly eat a million cold partnerless meals for her, I think we are just for the first time in our lives figuring out how self centered and pampered we had been before having her. That is the amazing thing about being a parent, how much you learn about yourself and human nature in general. As much as we feel like monkeys,the truth is, she is screaming because she is scared, vulnerable, and helpless, which is probably the reason most people act out even after infancy. With that in mind it is nearly impossible to not want to act on her commands with love and compassion. Besides she is the cutest monkey trainer I have ever met. As for the Kitty, he is just spoiled...

Getting ready for Christmas

We have been very busy with holiday cheer, so just a quick post to keep you up to date. We had a good Thanksgiving. I took the week off and lots of Jennie's family was in town so that meant that we were hardly ever at home. Everyone was excited to meet and play with Ada and she was a very good girl most of the time. We were very grateful for the extra hands to help us with her. On Thanksgiving morning we went to Jennie's sister Heidi's house to make our food. It was really fun because all of the nieces and nephews helped us out with our stuffing and sweet potatoes which is normally pretty stressful with just jennie and I alone working on it. This week we put up our Christmas tree. Actually Ada was not cooperating so I put up and decorated the tree. As I worked I would stop and show Ada all of our special ornaments and Mommy would explain what they were to her. Having the tree up has really helped get us in the Christmas spirit. We have many things planned in the coming weeks that I will update you on later but for now I will leave you with some of the new pictures we have gotten of Ada.

This Years Ornament

Our Tree

Busy Bears

We have been very busy bears lately. It feel like we have hardly been home at all, but i guess it is that time of year. I am on vacation and getting to spend lots of time at home with my girls, which is really nice. We also have lots of family in town for Thanksgiving which adds up to a lot of fun activities  and adventures for us.

The good thing about the holidays season and all the extra family in town is that we have been getting invited to a lot of meals. It is really nice not having to cook or worry about dinner, as I have stated in past posts throwing a baby into mealtime causes all kinds of chaos. I am starting to feel guilty about all of the free food though. We definitely owe a lot of people meals sometime soon. Friday night we ate with the Campos family, they made us some delicious Lasagna. It was very good to spend some time with Lynda and Charles again as it has been a pain for us to get out much lately, you get to feeling like a prisoner in your own home. Jennies sister Wendy got into town on Sunday so we have been spending time with her and her family at both of Jennies local sisters houses. We have barbecued, started(but failed to finish) a puzzle, and eaten lots of yummy food that I didn't really need to eat (I suppose I will have to deal with it at New Years) and just kind of hung around and enjoyed each others company. I feel so privileged to get to join in the festivities this year. Normally I am working and only get to be at the meal on Thursday. I am finally getting the full on Bowler T-Day experience. 

We have also started getting in to the Christmas spirit already. Sunday morning we got up early, for us, and went back over to Casa de Campos to help with Project Christmas Child. Project Christmas Child is a program where you pack shoeboxes full of goodies and toiletries and they deliver them to underprivileged children around the world. The girls watched the babies while the men packed and wrapped boxes. We also shared a nice breakfast together. I wish we had been able to help a little more, I really only packed a few boxes and wrote some letters to put in them, but we had other plans that day and had to leave after a few hours. Nevertheless, it felt good to start out the season giving back in some way rather than worrying about presents and shopping. I hope that it helps brighten the day of the kids that receive them. It seems my brother started Christmas early this year as well. He is a paramedic on a Life Flight helicopter and apparently they spotted Santa's sleigh broken down on the side of the road and had to give him a lift in their helicopter. I bet when he was a kid he never thought he would be doing that when he grew up. 

In Ada news, there is a little bit to report. We seem to have found a bottle/nipple combo that works. It turns out after buying varied expensive setups with all the latest in nipple technology that she prefers the cheap old Nuk bottles that have nipples just like her pacifier. I wish she would have just told us that from the beginning...She has informed us rather passive aggressively that she is not pleased by our level of housekeeping. Yesterday after waking up and eating she decided to spew exorcist style all over our bed prompting an immediate sheet washing, that was a good time. Other than that she has enjoyed spending all the extra time with her Aunties and I think she is even starting to get used to riding in the car which is a bonus for us. Up until recently are car rides have been made to the soundtrack of Polly Prissy Pants' fire truck siren wailing. It is good to hear music again. With Thanksgiving tomorrow I am sure we will have lots of new stories and photos to share so check back soon, Love you all and Happy Thanksgiving!

Packing boxes for Operation Christmas Child

No Aunt Wendy, I am a bear not a turkey!

My Brother giving Santa a lift

"Please God fix these Monkeys you left me with"

Ada's Photoshoot

We got back some of Ada's pictures so I thought I would put them up here. No update today but I am off all week so I plan on doing another one soon! Happy Thanksgiving!

Ouch!

Tuesday was eight weeks since Ada's birth, so that meant a trip to the Doctor today. The good news first:

1. She has grown 2 inches and is now 22 and a half inches
2. She is up to 11 pounds 1 ounce 
3. Her head is big (no surprise there...lol)
4. She is perfectly healthy and meeting all her milestones

The bad news is it was her first time getting shots. The Pediatrician that we see is very good, but that is kind of a problem. He spends alot  of time with his patients, which means every time we go it is a long wait and she is usually not happy by the time he shows up. Being that the shots were at the end of the visit she was not in a very good mood to start with. She received her oral vaccination first and instantly spit it back up. Jennie was able to talk the guy into letting her give her the second one and did a much better job of giving it to her slowly, and Ada was able to keep it down. She received 3 shots and as you can probably guess she started crying loudly, Jennie started crying too, so it is a good thing I was able to sneak out of work and meet them there so that I could try to comfort Jennie while she tried to comfort Ada. I think we will all survive.
In other family news. We had our friend Robyn who is a freelance photographer take some pictures of Ada. We have not got them back yet or would have posted some, but we will share them as soon as we have some. Ada is growing up, as I stated earlier. We have had to move out of newborn clothes fianlly. Some of the 0 to 3 ones are a little baggy but the tight NB ones looked equally silly and it is fun to put her into new outfits everyday again. We are also still trying to find a good bottle/nipple combo that works. She hasn't quite figures out the bottle yet and they all seem to flow too fast for her causing her to choke and get really angry, so we still have work to do on that front. We are very excited that I am on vacation next week and we are looking forward to watching lots of football and hanging out with family. We will talk to you next week and fill you in on how that went. Also I started a new blog where I will be posting things not related to Ada and family so please check that out here www.thesewordsigive.blogspot.com

The real author of this blog

Tigger towel 

At the Doctors 

New Big Girl Clothes

The Many Adventures of Honey Bear

Time marches on at the Reese compound. Bear (that's the nickname we have given her) continues

to get bigger, and we keep slowly becoming parents. We didn't do too much new or exciting this last week, but I will fill you in on what we did do.

Last Sunday we took a family trip to the mall. It seemed like a good idea at first, but once we got there she suddenly seemed very small, and we realized that she is not quite big enough for crowded public spaces yet, especially since she hasn't gotten her immunizations. We were however, able to get our family Christmas ornament. Yearly ornaments is a Reese family tradition, and one that Jennie and I have adopted. Every year we pick out a special ornament with the year printed on it to hang on the tree, and then we get each other one as a gift. We have added to the tradition by getting one when we go on vacation as well. I might do a special blog series on here at Christmas time about our ornaments now that I think about it. Anyway, this year we got a "babies first Christmas" one while we were at the mall. We can't wait to hang it on the tree!

Other than that, we had a few dinners with family that were nice. We broke bread with the Bennions on Sunday and saw their famous new fancy kitchen. Then Monday night we had a Halloween party with the Sheahans. I posted Ada's cat burglar costume last week. Over the weekend we went out to eat twice, albeit one of the meals was only Denny's. Then Saturday night we went to Grandma and Papa Sheahans to watch a football game and snuggle with grandma in her rocking chair. We finished off the week at omelet with the Bowlers (monthly family dinner). It was a pretty nice weekend, and great to spend so much time with family.

That is all for this week. I have vacation time coming up thanksgiving week so we are looking forward to that, and decorating for Christmas soon. All of the holidays seem fresh and new with our little Bear around. It is a very exciting time to be a Reese!

Snoring Contest

Big Girl in a Bumbo

Pretty Bow

Enjoying The Outdoors

Baby Steps

Today Ada is six Weeks old! She is doing such a great job and I think we are getting the hang of things a little bit as well. I took a week off because I was deep in email conversation with the Bowlers, and I felt like they were probably tired of reading me talk. There has been so much going on with Ada in the last two weeks though I felt it was time for an update.

We had been having a really rough time about two weeks ago. Ada was crying for hours at a time every evening and we couldn't seem to figure out why. She was also staying up for a good portion of the night and her and Jennie were hardly ever making it to bed. So we did some reading and other research and decided to try and make some changes and they seem to have worked. It turns out she needed a little less attention, in the evenings rather than being held the whole time, she likes to lay on her back to play and sing. We also found that white noise is the most powerful baby sedative that you can find. I found a phone app that has 40 different types of noise. She loves it! She is also sleeping through most of the night in bed, waking up just to eat. This means Jennie is sleeping and feeling better too. 

She has taken a few bottles now too, which has allowed us to leave her for a few hours with someone and have an adult dinner without running out of the restaurant. She is such a big girl. The other big development has been some random little smiles, it is so cute. We can't wait until we get the full on real thing. We are going to start transitioning her out of our bed and into her bassinet. The Kitty is starting to get a little less scared, and a little more interested in her and has been smelling her in her co-sleeper. He has a tendency to walk across sleeping people so we think it is best to get her into there as soon as possible. Plus it will help when Jennie starts going back to work next month. 

I know I am forgetting some things, I will write another post when I remember. I am a little tired. We hope to have some professional family pictures soon, so we will keep you all in the loop on that. With the Holidays and vacation time coming up I am sure we will have lots of fun things to report. So keep in touch!

I Was a Cat Burglar for Halloween 

She Loves Bath Time

Playtime With Daddy

Steven Thought He Needed to Check in on the Photo Shoot

Dine N Dash

You become aware of an interesting paradox when becoming a parent: deciding to create children is a selfish decision, raising them on the other hand requires a great deal of selflessness. I would have never thought of Jennie and I as selfish people really, I do now see us as formerly being pretty self-centered. We used to just get up and do whatever we wanted, go out to dinner, go to a movie...sleep on weekends (weeknights to for Jennie). Now we cherish those things when they happen. A simple meal together outside of our house used to be a common  occurrence, it is now a luxury item.

Last Thursday we decided to indulge ourselves. I decided to take Friday off because things have been slow at work, Jennie had been cooped up in the house all week and were hopeful Ada would co-operate. So we loaded ourselves into the car and set off for Chili's (now the pinnacle  of fine dining for us). Another thing that has changed is the way we view crying babies in restaurants. We used to get upset that someone would be so rude to us childless people as to bring out their screaming baby when were trying  to enjoy a meal. Now we realize how important those precious moments before the wailing began were to those people.

As we approached the restaurant it became very clear from the squeals in the back seat that we were not going to be having our own "precious moment" that evening. So we turned around and picked up some carry out on the way back home. So last night we decided to have another go at it. Without boring you with the story of our meal, basically we left with the intention of having a near by fast food back up plan in case things went wrong. For the most part, everything went okay. She fell asleep on the car ride over and stayed that way right until the food was brought to the table. So we very quickly scarfed down our food while I rocked her in her car seat under the table to try and prevent our first, embarrassing barrage of stares from the people seated around us. Fortunately, for us she waited till we got in the car. The important   thing is that Jennie and I got some much needed time together, even if it was just Chili's, one handed. For a few minutes we got to be selfish again.

Now for the cuteness:

Day 1

4 weeks

"I SAID MILK NOW, OR I'LL EAT YOUR NOSE!!!"

Sill having fun with Dolly everyday

Bill Cosby Wasn't Joking

One of my favorite comedy routines of all time is when Bill Cosby talks about having kids. I always assumed that he was taking some comedic liberties and using hyperbole when describing the whole birth and new parent process. You always hear comedians telling tall tales about exploding diapers, projectile vomit, demon like wailing and as a childless person you laugh along thinking that these things can't possibly be for real. Alas, I have been to the other side and can attest to their reality.

So I am sure you can tell from the introduction that the last few weeks have been interesting. I wouldn't call them bad, but character building for sure. Ada has been teaching us all about her needs and wants, and in no uncertain terms. She is quite a demanding teacher, especially at feeding time. But she more than makes up for it in cuteness and kisses. We are still trying to figure out how to calm her down, mostly in the evenings. It's probably normal for babies, but it seems that she is so awake and active during the day that by night time she is very tired and frustrated, and she just needs to cry/scream it out.

It hasn't all been tears and screams though. She has a brand new belly button which is very cute. On Saturday in an attempt to calm her down we went on our first walk as a family which was pretty pleasant until the end of it when she started to get hungry. She has started to use a pacifier sporadically, and that has helped in the pacifying department. Just today we got her social security card, so she is ofically a United States citizen, which is quite a relief since I am pretty sure the kitty was planning on reporting her to Sheriff Joe. So, I guess it continues, a series of ups and downs, sleeping and eating, smiling and crying. Everything considered, I think we'll keep her...

kitty feet

My new Tattoo

finally using her pacifier 

I am learning to be a multi-tasking daddy

Ada's First Week at Home

Today is Ada's one week birthday! I suppose this is something that only first time parents get excited about, but it is a big deal for us. It is an understatment to say that things around here have been changing. Not necessarily in a bad way, but everything is new, so there has been a fair amount of anxiety and frustration. The interesting part is that it is not with Ada or each other as might have been the case in the past, but with our own ignorance and inabilliaty at times to comfort her or make her happy. But each new day we learn and grow. It is so exciting and refreshing to have this uncertainty and newness in our lives, for me anyway. I don't know if Jennie would agree always.

So, what has been going on this week? Well we have had bath time twice. Ada seems pretty at home in the water. She hasn't really cried about it at all. I know that this would be prime picture material. Unfortunately our camera ran out of batteries the first time and the second time I decided to help Jennie out...so bath pictures will have to come later. We have had two family outings. First we went to babies"r"us to pick up some things that we needed more of and to get a co-sleeper for our bed so that I could finally have my arm back at night(she is making the transition quite well). Then yesterday we went to visit the Doctor for the first time. The doctor says that she is perfect, but we knew that already. She was very good for most of the doctor visit and wouldn't have made a peep had we not been there for two hours.

Most of our time however has just been spent in our little cocoon, just the three of us. It has been so nice spending this time together, and it will be incredibly hard for me to go back to work tomorrow. I wish we could hang on to this closeness, but it is probably good for us to move forward at some point, and it will only be three days before I am off again. We have had some visitors come by as well, our friends and family have been very generous and thoughtful about keeping us fed. So far someone has stopped by almost everyday to bring us dinner or goodies, and they have all been so yummy I think I have gained ten pounds this week. Also Ada has had a chance to meet her Grandparents. We skyped with Nana and Pops Reese and Aunt Meagan when we got home last week, and Grandma Jodi and Papa Steve came by last night with dinner.

With Grandma and Papa

Other than that we have just been playing and sleeping, with a little crying mixed in. This includes taking our daily "Dolly Pictures". We got this little Doll and everyday we are taking a picture with her so that we can watch her grow and eventually I will make a really cool slideshow to share with everyone. We have also been trying to get her big brother Steven better aquatinted with her. He has been interested in her but hesitant to get too close. A few times when we have had visitors he has made it a point to position himself between her and them. It is very cute that he is protective of his little sister already. I am sure one day she will love him to death, and he will then protect himself from her. Well I guess that is about all I have to report so I will leave with some pictures. Love you all!

Dolly Pictures!!!

This is as close as he's gotten

Kitty Bottom

Mommy got a Chocolate chip on my belly

New Beginnings

I think the title of this post says it all. It is a time of new beginnings; for our blog, and more importantly for our family. When we started this blog it was mostly due peer pressure. We aren’t that exciting and weren’t very sure what to write about...then I forgot it existed completely. Thanks to the grace of God, and a happy marriage we now have something to write about. As I am sure almost all of you know; we have a new addition to our family, Ada Ruth Reese! She was born at 10:58am Sep 20 2011, so mark your calendars (if you need gift ideas for next year, she looks beautiful in pink). Her stats were: 7pounds 11ounces and she is 20 inches. So here it is that we begin anew writing the story of our lives.

As far as Monday’s go last weeks was an uneventful one. Jennie and I had spent the weekend going out to eat and trying to keep our minds off of Ada’s arrival. The anticipation was killing us. I had been considering making a batch of my “special” chili that night as it had been successful at putting our friend Lynda in labor. However, I was tired and a bit lazy so I decided to pick up food instead. I got in the car to leave when I received a call from Jennie. She told me that it had been a hard day, and that her stomach had been cramping for about an hour. “Do you think you’re in labor?” I asked. She repeatedly protested that it was due to some apple juice that had given her gas and pleaded with me not to get my hopes up. We both arrived home about the same time and her condition had not improved and she had little appetite, she said that it seemed to come and go so, remembering what we had leaned at birthing class I insisted that we start timing the pains. As it turned out they were happening for a minute every five minutes. After a lot of coaxing I finally convinced her to call the doctor, and the next thing we knew we were off to the hospital.

Upon arrival we were ushered into a triage room to see if we were far enough along to be admitted. After monitoring Jennie for about an hour, and checking how far she was dilated, we were told that we were not quite ready. Jennie was very disappointed at hearing this news as she was in a lot of pain. The nurse explained to us that the next step would be for us to walk for an hour and check again to see where we were at. So it was, out in to hospital at midnight to roam the halls like a couple of pregnant ghosts haunting the halls of the labor and delivery ward. We found a nice stretch of hall at the back of floor that was mostly empty and paced up and down, stopping every few steps so Jennie could clutch the railing in pain while I rubbed her back and reminded her to breathe. At 12:45 we headed back to the triage room to be examined again. The same procedure as before was repeated, and the nurse looked at us disappointedly and told us that we had not progressed. At hearing this Jennie broke down in tears, partially from pain and partially from fear. She pleaded with the Nurse “You can’t make us go home, I am in so much pain, and how am I supposed to know when to come back?” The nurse replied that she was not going to make us go home that she had seen a lot of women in pain and she could tell that this was the real thing, that coupled with the fact that Jennie had high blood pressure meant that we could stay.

They told us they had an anesthesiologist who was in surgery performing a c-section, so they would give Jennie some pain medicine to tie her over until he could do an epidural. While they were doing that, I went to call her sisters Kathie and Heidi. Her friend Lynda who was supposed to be with us was sadly out of town. By the time I returned, our room was ready so we headed over to get the epidural. A short time later the girls arrived and we took a nap (at least I did) and prepared ourselves for the trials ahead.

Around shift change we got a new nurse. A lot could be said about this nurse but “you know, Jesus, and stuff” (wink at Kathie). They were having trouble finding the baby’s heart rate because she was moving around so much and they also could not tell how strong Jennies contractions were so they wanted to put in an internal monitor. They had a hospitalist come to put in the monitor and upon putting her hand in to install it she looked up and said “when is last time they checked you? You are complete.” Which was quite a shock since the last time was about two hours prior and we were only at 4cm. Not to long afterward Jennie began to have a strong urge to push and the real fun began.

They gave us the option of either increasing the epidural or starting to push. Surprisingly to me, she decided to push, so the three of us grabbed hold of legs and began to chant from one to ten in intervals of three. After repeating this cycle for about thirty minutes Jennie was writhing in pain complaining that her hip hurt too much and that she couldn’t go on. We all kept reassuring her that she must go on and that it would all be okay. She mustered up the strength and continued bravely to push. About this time; the nurse checked her progress, which must have been advancing faster than she anticipated because she told her to stop pushing and breathe through the contractions. We figured out that she was trying to stall for the doctor. She kept saying “just wait for Dr. Schlect, she is a good doctor you need to wait for her” to which Jennie finally yelled “I don’t give a (censored) great deal about Dr. Schlect!!!” Eventually they realized we meant business as we kept right on pushing, so they readied the hospitalist. Not long afterward, after about forty-five minutes after starting to push the most magnificent miracle of our lives came gushing and wailing into the world. I will admit that there was a lot of sobbing and crying in the room, though I won’t say from whom to protect the egos of those involved.

After cutting the cord and checking the baby out we were moved down to a different part of the unit into our permanent room. Coincidentally, the new room was at the end of the hallway that we had spent the night pacing the night before. Over the next two days we rested in bed, learned not to sleep, and how little we actually know about babies, contrary to Jennies profession and our careful studies during the pregnancy. We also had many wonderful visitors that livened our spirits and complimented our baby making abilities. Finally the time came to go home and as we wheeled Jennie and our stuff to the car we were both smiling from ear to ear with tears forming in the corners of our eyes overwhelmed by the joy of our new beginning.