Gareau

It’s A Boy (Part 2)

Her water having been manually broken, my wife jumped to the bathroom, in major pain, and demanded that they get an anesthesiologist there immediately to give her an epidural (she also had a few choice words for me and the nurse). It only took about 15-20 minutes for the anesthesiologist to get to the room, set her up and for the epidural to take effect. Boy was she flying high and it was pretty funny to see.

It was around 7:30pm when my parents came around to see how we were doing. As they were about to leave, the doctor came, checked my wife and announced and that we were about to have a baby. My wife and I were shocked to hear this. It had only been 2 hours since they broke her water and she was now fully dilated. The following hour and a half was a huge blur. I remember the nurses tasked me with announcing the sex of the baby.I urged my wife to push. It all seemed so surreal. I could see that a small crowd had gathered in the hallway. Along with my parents I could see one of my nieces, my sister and her husband and my inlaws. At 9:28pm my son finally came into this world. The nurses brought him to0 me but at first I couldn’t see the sex as the umbilical cord was in the way. After a second or two I could finally see and exclaimed “it’s a boy!”, and the hallway crowd erupted in cheers and claps. I cut the umbilical cord and they whisked him away.

Nicolas measured 18.5 inches and weighed in at 5 lbs 7 ounces. The next hour or so is still a blur. They cleaned him up, measured, weighed him, did the apgar test and applied the eye ointment before I could even notice it. I then got to hold my son for the first time and it was an indescribable feeling. Multiple emotions hit me all at once: joy, love, happiness, giddiness and amazement. Once able to do so, I introduced my wife to her son. I could see that she felt the same emotions that I was feeling.

After a while our visitors started coming in and gushing over our little guy. He got held by grandma and granpa. Our company didn’t stay long though, realizing that Erin needed her rest. That first night we both woke up often. Every little noise made us rush to his side. I would also find myself waking up and going to just watch him sleep.

We ended up having to stay a few extra days in the hospital due to his low birth weight and him being borderline jaundiced.We finally got to take him home 3 days later on the Saturday. We’ve had some rough nights and some adjusting to do but that’s insignificant to the joy that he’s brought into our lives. Even 3 weeks later I fall in love with my son every single time I see him, I hold him, change him or feed him. A chapter of my life has closed, but a new, brighter one has opened up, and so I’m loving every minute of it.

Life

It’s A Boy!

At 21:28 on June 23rd 2010, my wife and I’s lives were changed forever. Our first child, Nicolas Larry Jacques Gareau, was born, weighing in at 5 lbs 7 ounces and measuring 18.5 inches. The birth did not at all happen as we thought it would, but the end result was more than worth all the worry. Here’s how it all happened.

On the week of the 14th, at her daily OBGYN appointment, Erin’s doctor was a little worried about the lack of growth in her belly area. He sent her for a second ultrasound in as many weeks to get a better idea of the baby’s size. At the last ultrasound, the baby was in the bottom 10th percentile for acceptable weight (done by measuring various bones and organs), weighing in at 4 lbs 5 ounces.

Two weeks later, on Monday June 21st we went for another ultrasound, at which point they measured him at only 4 lbs 7 ounces. This put the baby in the lower 3 percentile. The ultrasound office tried to get in touch with our OBGYN to see what he wanted us to do. Unable to reach him, they suggested that we go to our hospital to the maternity triage and see what they suggested. Upon arriving, they hooked up my wife to a heartbeat and contraction monitor. After a couple of hours we finally saw a doctor who broke the news to us. We were to come back tomorrow or Wednesday so that they could induce my wife.Â They suspected that the umbilical cord wasn’t passing enough nutrients and that the baby would have better chances of growing outside of the womb. This took us completely by surprise. Erin wasn’t due for another 3 weeks and we still had some things to do to get ready. Upon our return home that evening, we spent our time packing bags and trying to get ready for our hospital stay.

Early Tuesday morning the hospital called to ask us if we were ready to have a baby and to head on in. We rushed to finish off the packing we had left to do, made a quick stop for a tasty McDonald’s breakfast, ran a couple of quick errands and headed to the Montfort. We got there around 11 and by 11:30 or so we were escorted to the room where we’d be staying for the next 4 days. By mid afternoon they induced Erin for the first time. HerÂ contractions didn’t start until 12 hours later, and they were light and far between. Around 8:30am Tuesday morning they induced her again, but that didn’t bring about any changes.Â It wasn’t until 6pm when they manually broke her water that everything would start happening.

To be continued…