We went into the hospital Sunday evening, 10-9-16, around 6:45 PM. It was myself, Katie, and my In-laws, Dan and Cindy. We got checked in, settled a bit and Katie got poked and prodded until they finally got an IV in. They added some medicine to start the inducing process. Dan and Cindy headed back to our place for the evening and I crashed on the couch in room. (Side note: folded out into a bed, that thing was a torture device. Left in the couch position, it was pretty comfortable.)

A little after 8 the next morning, I was sleeping on the couch when Katie woke me up.

“My water broke,” she said. Moving with speed you would never expect to see from me, I ripped off my CPAP mask, jumped off the couch, and got my glasses on in about 0.4 seconds. Katie has taken much joy in telling several people she then told me to “Calm down, we’re already in the hospital.” I called the nurse and gave her the update.

I’m gonna skip a lot here, but eventually after the water breakage there was a nurse with an expressionless face looking at the stress test screen that monitors the baby’s heart and Katie’s contractions. Then she left and came back with a second nurse who looked at the screen, which I noted, but didn’t worry about yet.

Then the whispering started.

The two nurses leaned their heads in and began to speak in low voices. I don’t remember anymore if it was Katie or I, but one of us asked what was wrong. “The baby is unhappy,” said Nurse #1.

The Doctor came in not long after and laid it out. We could wait and see if “X” happened and if it didn’t, we’d end up with an emergency C-section. Or we could just do the C-section now. The Doctor didn’t believe “X” was gonna happen if we waited, but you never know. We made the choice to do the C-section right away.

They had an OR ready to go in short order. I ended up in a head-to-toe white monkey suit, with a blue hair net, and blue surgical mask.

I had to wait outside the OR while they got everything ready. Eventually they called me in and I went and sat by Katie’s head, talking to her, telling her how great she was doing, telling her to concentrate on her breathing, trying to keep her calm and focused. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t also for my own benefit as well, but Katie was amazing. She was a champ through the whole experience.

The anesthesiologist counted down from three, using his fingers for the visual. When his fingers made the symbol for zero, the Doctor said “Begin,” and they went to work. Minutes later another nurse had our boy wrapped in a baby blanket and whisked him over to the bed/heater for a cleanup. It was Monday, October 10, 2016 at 12:27 PM.

“You can come over here, Dad,” she said, and even through everything that was going on, I realized when she said “Dad” that she meant me.

My eyes were wet as I went over and saw my boy for the first time.

He was perfect. Simply perfect.

They cleaned him a bit and asked if I wanted to cut the cord. I did. My eyes were still wet, but not leaking.

The continued to clean Six up a bit.

I reached over and he grabbed my finger.

But our little man had had a rough day and was unhappy. He began to cry.

For entirely opposite reasons, I did too.