12/06/06

Week 37 of the pregnancy (he is 2.5 weeks early)
Janine started having contractions around 9pm on Apr 27th.  They were 5 minutes apart.  Her water broke around 10:00pm.  It was actually pretty light.  By 12:00am Apr 28th, we knew something was going on.  We called the doctor and she said to high-tail our butts to the Hospital (Northside Hospital Atlanta Georgia - a.k.a "The Baby Factory" - Last year, they delivered over 16,000 babies. That's over 300 a week)   

12:45am-1:00am We began the drive to the hospital.  Every 5 minutes, Janine was screaming so much I could barely stand it.  The louder she screamed, the faster I drove.  At any given time, I was flying between 90-100mph.  2 funny things in regards to the speeding...  I was actually hoping that I WOULD get pulled over.  This way I would get off the ticket, plus maybe get an escort down to the hospital.  But of course, when you need a COP, they are never around (HA).  The other thing that kept my mind off the screaming wife was a white mustang that started the quest with us near exit 14 on GA-400.  The guy thought I was trying to race him.  We actually drove for 27 miles before I had to get off at the hospital exit and let him win.. hahaha. 
Of course, now that I have this screaming woman in the car and the fact that I'm still concentrating on that mustang in front of me, I got off at exit 4, instead of exit 3.  So I get on I-285 and figure that I can just get to the next exit (Ashford Dunwoody) and take side streets to the hospital.  Boy was that a mistake to do in the middle of the night.  Nothing but corporate building after corporate building and driving in circles.  What should I do?  PANIC.   Still the Screaming goes on...  At this point, I'm thinking the baby will be delivered in a Mitsubishi Galant GTZ.  2 more red lights I blow through and finally get out of the car at an intersection.  Who's your friend?  911.  "Hello, Emergency, I have a problem."   Of course they are worthless because they have no idea where the crossroad is that I am talking about.  So they transfer me to the County Sheriffs Dept.  ARRGGHH!!!  With a screaming wife and hold music on the cell phone, I thought I was going to lose it..  Finally I just jump back in the car.   I go through 2 more intersections and just as the operator gets on and tells me they have my location and start telling me where to turn, I see the Hospital.  (again, your tax dollars at work.... )

1:30am  We arrive at the hospital.  Janine is in so much pain, she can't even get out of the car.  I leave the car running, get a security guard and wheelchair and try getting her out of the car.  Boy was THAT a challenge.   We got her into a delivery room and got her settled in.  15 minutes later, I remember that the car is still running at the front door.  D'oh!  I go park.

2:00am  We were told that she is 2-3 centimeters and that there is no reason why a woman should suffer as much as she was suffering during every contraction.   The wonders of Science/Chemistry begin.  EPIDURAL!!!! HURRY!!!  I watched them stick her with a needle and put in the IV drip tube.  Now that was cool!!!  Btw, Janine didn't care too much for that.  Now she is pain-free.  We watched the contractions on the monitor and just relaxed and talked.  We decided to go to sleep because it was going to be a very long morning and I wanted her to get her rest.  I wound up watching TV next to her while she slept.  Couldn't really relax myself.  It was comforting to see her sleep and watch her contractions on the monitor.

4:00am They woke up Janine and check to see if she was progressing.  She was really doing great.  She was 6-7 cm now. 

6:00am Once again, we went through the exercise of checking how far along she was.  She was approx 8 cm now.  Hmm not as far along as we thought based on the 4 am jump.  But that was ok.

8:00am  We saw Dr William Crone.  He was impressed with her progress, but wanted her to do a little better.  To the next drug we go...  We got her on Patossin to speed up the contractions to help her progress.  Janine's contractions were now around 2-3 minutes apart and getting closer.  We knew we were looking good.

10:00am  It was time for some practice pushing and prepared to start the real thing. 

10:15am We started pushing.  She was such a trooper.  She DID NOT swear at me AT ALL.  She lost faith only 1 time for about 1 minute.  We snapped her out of that pretty quick. 

12:07pm  I was given the honor of screaming out the sex.  I glanced quickly at the hands and toes and then looked down.  I felt so proud to say "IT'S A BOY!"

So, you ready to see him? Here we go....