Happy news - our family is now 3! Baby Tiger decided May 8 was too long to wait - he was born April 21 at 10:00pm. It started pretty easily - Jayde started feeling a backache and general discomfort on Tuesday night, but we went to bed and slept (mostly) normally until Jayde woke up at 5 with some bleeding. We went in to the hospital for a (supposedly) brief check, but she was already 4 cm dilated, and they decided to admit her then, since she was contracting well and just to keep an eye on the bleeding.
15 hours later, Baby Tiger's heart rate dropped (for the second time), and Jayde went in for an emergency C-section. This was very frightening for both of us - everything happened fast, I couldn't go into the OR with her (since it was an emergency, Jayde got a general anesthetic, so they don't allow spouses in the room) and there was a clear risk to our baby's health. But 20 minutes later (a pretty long period of time, really) a nurse gave us the news that both Jayde and the baby were okay, and a few minutes later I got to hold my son! It was a special and intense mixture of surprise, joy, and relief at seeing his perfect little form. About 20 minutes later, Jayde was brought back out, still pretty groggy and attached to a wide variety of drips and machines, but that made my relief and joy complete.
All in all, despite not following our plan at all (which I suppose I should get used to), the day ended about as perfectly as we could have hoped - a healthy baby and a safe and recovering Jayde. It would have been really difficult without our great support team. My entire family was at the hospital at one time or another, which was a great support throughout the long day. Jayde's parents and brother dropped everything and drove up, 2 weeks before they'd planned, and arrived in the afternoon on Friday. It was great to have them here, and we're thankful to Linda for being here and cooking great meals during this first month. Our friends Belva and Julie also drove two and a half hours to be with us during labor and the birth. We really want to thank the wonderful staff at the UW Medical Center, who were as expert and as diligent as we'd heard. They got us out of a dangerous and scary situation, and launched us on the next phase of our lives.
So now we're a week into parenthood, working through the various difficulties of feeding, pooping, and sleeping, but loving (just about) every minute of it. I can't think of a better reason to get up at 3 am than to see our son. He's in his co-sleeper, having squirmed an arm or two out of my still-not-professional swaddling job, telling us that it's already past time to eat. And it is real bliss to rock-walk him around the house at 4 am, his body warm and limp from his meal, and to pat his back and kiss his head. Being a dad is great so far.
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