Birthday Boy

Nine years ago today, at exactly 4:56am, Scott and I became parents.  And that’s no small life change people.  We went on a pilgrimage to Rome and came back with an Italian souvenir.  I hope that’s not a sharing violation…

My original due date was the Feast of St. Joseph, March 19, but Will decided to arrive eight days later.  Stinker.  I hadn’t felt super great all day on the 26th, and by the time evening rolled around, I was feeling downright junky.  Contractions had started but I was too naive enough to realize that the pain was labor.  At 11pm, I’d had enough and we called the on-call OB. 

In between bits of pain, I did a quick jump for joy when the voice on the other end of the line was our favorite OB, Dr. Teter.  Father of 5 and a really funny man.  We arrived at the hospital around midnight, to have my water break in triage which earned me a first-class L&D room.  After two hours of pain, I begged for an epidural and got it…at 2cm.  An hour later, I got the go ahead to start pushing.  I distinctly remember Dr. T sauntering in the room, with a cup of coffee in hand.  He quipped, “You’re welcome for the epidural early.”  I countered, “You’re welcome for progressing so quickly.”  A resident came in to check my progression, but because he was an Aggie and yet another Texan in the room, Dr. T kicked him out.  “Too many Texans in one room,” he said.  Then, he shook his head in disbelief when we placed a cup of Texas soil beneath the bed.  After all, Will had to be born on Texas soil even if we were living in Indiana.

Ok, that’s definitely a sharing violation.

At 4:56, we heard, “It’s a boy!”  Then we cried.  I could not believe I had just given birth.  While Scott was snapping photos and documenting the event on the camcorder, Dr. T and I shared a sweet moment.  One that I will never, ever forget.  He got all serious on me (which he rarely did) and said how this moment in a delivery is why he loves being an OB.  “This is what life is all about, Kathryn,” he said as he glanced over at Will and then back at me.  I blubbered something like, “Thanks for what you do, Dr. Teter.”  Grossly inadequate now that I think about it.  I loved Dr. Teter – but that’s another post for another day.