Oh boy, oh boy, yesterday was the climax of a 39-week pregnancy.
Yesterday (February 25) was a typical day. I was doing some shopping for materials in preparation to do some electrical work and painting on the house Boo and I had recently bought. Meanwhile, Boo was enjoying the joys of going into childbirth. By the time I got back, she calmly and politely asked me to massage her in different places:
Boo: “Vinny, get here NOW.”
I shuffled over in the dark and turned on the light.
Boo: “You idiot, turn the light back off!!”
Boo: “AHHHHH!”
Boo screeched in agonizing pain as the contractions took place. We tracked the pattern of contractions in an app. As I entered the data, a prompt popped up.
Vincent: “Boo, everything is alright. The app is telling us something.”
Proceeds to read the phone.
Vincent: “Go to the hospital immediately. Well, shit.”
Boo: “What does it say?”
Vincent: “Nothing important… but just in case, where’s that hospital go-bag?”
Boo: “Ahhhhh! I never put it together. I only have this list to get all the stuff.”
I gazed upon the crudely compiled list, with some known and unknown vocabulary. After an hour and a half of the scavenger hunt for the necessary and unnecessary items, and comforting Boo the best I could, despite the half-done list, we were finally ready to go.
I helped Boo limp to the car, and we drove off to Hartford Hospital.
As we were driving, she called the doctor. At this point, Boo was so preoccupied with labor that I had to take over the phone call, giving details about the contractions, pain, and timelines.
We arrived at the hospital, and I grabbed the first wheelchair I could find and struggled to coax Boo into sitting down. Every five minutes or so, a contraction would occur, and Boo would let me know.
We were escorted by the hospital staff to labor and delivery. Upon examination, it was clear that Boo was definitely in labor… actually, really deep into labor. She was 10 cm dilated… Charlie was coming now. The team at Hartford Hospital and I assisted Boo with the delivery of the baby. I was there for the whole thing. Yep, watched it with my own two eyes. Saw every detail. All the details… I have decided to keep the beauty of childbirth purposely vague, but here are a few out-of-context quotes from doctors, nurses and I:
- “Oh my God, you’re 10 cm dilated! We just have to deliver the baby!”
- “Push like it’s the largest poop of your life!”
- “Oh, no, wait for the doctor! Get back in there!”
- “Good lord, That’s a lot of meat”
I met Charlie for the first time at 1:15 AM, February 26th.
P.S: I couldn’t be more impressed by the Hartford hospital Team and the nurses. They were absolutely amazing
ChiricoChronicles 