Well, she made it! Charlie Shay is still adjusting to life outside the womb, but overall she is being such a trooper and helping out Mommy and Daddy by eating well and getting lots of sleep. I must say the birthing process was quite an ordeal but we all made it through okay.
We checked into Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas last Wednesday night and the anticipation of what was about to happen the next day was pretty daunting to us. Kyri was understandibly quite nervous about all of the things that were going to be happening to her body over the next day or so. I was just nervous about Kyri and Charlie making it through the process without any complications. Neither of us slept well that night as we knew that in just hours something magical and scary and exciting was going to take place.
That night, it seemed as if every member of the hospital staff came into our room one after another and was charged with the task of either poking, proding, or pricking Kyri's body. We understood it was necessary, but made it difficult to get some rest before our big day. Early Thursday morning, the nurse came in and administered the Pitocin drip that would start the whole process. It was then that it started to hit us both that Charlie was about to enter into this world!
Thursday morning would be a time of just waiting for the medicine to do its stuff and get the birthing process started. We waited and waited, then waited some more. A few hours went by and Kyri's body was responding, but ever so slowly. It was at this time that our parents made their way to the hospital so they could be there when all the excitement happened. Kyri was dialated to a 4, far from the 10 she needed to be for the baby to start moving toward the exits, so I did the most logical thing I could think to do - go grab some breakfast from the cafe. It had been a long sleepless night - okay, so I slept a few hours while Kyri was up most of the night. But regardless, I was hungry. Poor Kyri had not eaten since dinner Wednesday night and would not be allowed anything but a couple of ice chips until after the birth (yum, ice chips!).
As I chowed down on my egg croissant and visited with family, I tried to update them on the ETA for our little bundle. Nurses were estimating that Charlie would arrive sometime in the evening. The rule of thumb we were given was that Kyri would dilate about a centimeter per hour and since she is a first time Mommy, she might need to push for somewhere around 3 hours. So being a math genius, I estimated we would be holding little Charlie at around 8pm. It would be such a long day.
After finishing my breakfast and strolling back into the labor and delivery room, I tried to think of how we would get through such a long day. As I moseyed back into the room, I was greeted with the latest status - Kyri had gone from a 4 to a 7 in the span of one hour. She was almost there! Within only one more hour, she would begin the process of pushing the baby out.
Complete and utter joy is the only way to describe how we felt when we saw our little girl come into this world. Tears filled our eyes and we could not believe she was here. I'll never forget that moment as long as I live. Charlie was now out and lying in our arms and would be our responsibility for many years to come. It was joyful and overwhelming all at the same time.
We spent two more nights in the hospital under the watchful eyes of trained hospital staff. Yet we decided it was time for us to step up and keep Charlie in our room instead of opting to let her stay in the nursery. I don't think I've ever missed sleep so much than during those two days. I remember at one point pleading with Kyri to let the nurses take her so we could get some sleep as it had been 48 hours since either of us had really slept. But Kyri was a determined Mommy and insisted we needed to take the pain and figure out how to watch after Charlie ourselves. I knew deep down she was right, but my eyes were as heavy as Donald Trump's wallet.
Our first big scare came when Charlie spit up a little. I must admit my biggest fear has always been of a baby choking so I was already on Level Orange Alert. As we saw Charlie spit up a tiny bit, I being the over protective Daddy, sprang from my seat and jumped into action to save the day. I grabbed Charlie as I had learned to do in our Baby preparation class a month ago, and decided she would not choke on my watch! Little did I realize that Charlie was fine and not choking at all. But not realizing that at the time, I whisked her up with both hands and clumsily slammed her head into my shoulder in an attempt to pat her back in a burping type maneuver. Had Kyri's eyes been equipped with lasers, I would have been dead on the spot. So in an effort to redeem myself I did the only other thing I could think of - I pulled her toward my shoulder a second time in an effort to "burp" her, this time crashing her head once more into my chest. The good news is, Charlie was fine and did not choke, nor was she injured from my less than stellar moves. The bad news is, I received quite a disapproval from Kyri as I believe her message to me was something to the effect of "If I didn't calm down and hand her the baby I was going to be in a lot of trouble." It was then that I realized that Kyri was more calm in a crisis than I was.
