As I am sitting here reflecting on the past few days a smile comes to my face. Right now Laura is taking a quick rest on the couch after a busy morning and sitting back ready to watch Sunday football (that's my girl), my new son Kasen James (that's my boy) is sleeping in his crib and our dog Meadow (that's our dog) is laying upside down on the chair looking more tired than the new parents.
And now the rest of the story...
On November 1st I went to meeting in Rogers City with the Girl Scouts and received two baby packages and a nice letter written to Laura. I returned home from this meeting at midnight and crawled into bed and fell asleep needing to be back at work at 8:30am. At 3am Laura started having contractions and knew she was going into labor but didn't let me know until about 6:30 am. The contractions were still quite a ways apart so we decided to wait until an OB appointment we had scheduled at 9:30am so we could find out from the doctor what our next step was. Laura at this point was barely able to stand up so after a few tests, the nurse said she was at 4cm and that we would not be leaving the hospital without a baby...excuse me what?
So Laura got a super cool ride, through a back door, in a wheel chair to the hospital where she was given a luxurious room and a beautiful flowing gown. I got a sign that read "elevator out of order" and then drove myself across the road.
After a few minutes in the hospital and a few people checking Laura out they said she was at 6cm...little while later 8cm and soon 10cm by 11:30am. Things were moving fast and there was quite a concern that we were not going to get the epidural and some antibiotics we would need before giving birth. As we have nurses making several calls and there is some concern written on their faces about getting the needed medicine in time. Then looking at Laura, there was A LOT of concern on her face about getting the much needed epidural. Quite a sad moment knowing there is nothing you can do except just be there and be supportive when Laura was in immense pain.
As we have been accelerating through labor the nurses were sure we would have a baby by 2pm. Laura was already at 10cm and all we were waiting for was the urge to push. The epidural man finally came and quickly had Laura was much more comfortable and talking normally, not screaming in pain. At this point Laura told him the he was her best friend. Luckily he had to go to another room or a profession of her love may have been next. It was so weird to know that the same pains that had forced her to her to tears were still happening, but now she was talking and watching ESPN (now that's my girl) and now just waiting for the pushing to start. We had called both sets of Grandparents to the hospital because of the rapid progress and we were expecting a baby by 2pm. Little did we know...
The urge to push did not come for some time and the epidural needed to be backed off to help accomplish this. I was in contact with the Grandparents through texting and I believe there were something like 65 text's in all before the delivery. Grandparents were troopers as they were there until almost 9:30pm with the arrival of Kasen James at 7:07 pm. The final text to Wendy Clark (Laura's Mom) was... ":)". She knew what that meant even thought they had to wait awhile to meet the baby they still did not know was named Kasen James Witkowski and weighed 8 lbs 15 oz. and was officially 22 1/4" long.
During the final stages of delivery it was quite an amazing thing to watch from seeing the head come out to learning the sex of the child. This was such an amazing surprise since we both thought that we were going to have a girl when the doctor asked if I wanted to see what the sex was, I jumped at the chance and was shocked to see a boy. Very exciting moment and I would recommend to anyone to wait to find out. Even the doctors and nurses were excited to share in our joy of trying to find out. Amazing!
In the following two days we had lots of doctors, nurses and friends stop by the room. We started a game with hospital staff that anytime someone entered the room they had to tell us one interesting thing about themselves, it made it very interesting when new visitors would enter the room. Nobody was exempt; from doctors, nurses, food delivery service and even people just coming in to collect hospital trash or food. Great time to learn about people.
Our time in the hospital was filled with visitors, but also presented lots of time for just the three of us and that was very special. Leaving the hospital was also exciting as we dressed Kasen up in Lions apparel and video taped every minute of leaving the hospital and even getting into the car.
Upon arriving home We had a 7' stork in our yard with all of Kasen's birth information painted on the green sack. This is a Clark family tradition and I love it!!! We also had Meadow meet Kasen and she gave him a small little lick on the face, a very cute moment that we were hoping for.
Since coming home the baby has been an angel and has barely even cried at all. We are waiting for all the crying and screaming to come but so far Kasen has been nothing but content and calm. When he needs to be changed or fed he simply gets squirmy and because he is so calm that sticks out as fussy. What a blessing! That's about it for now. We will have more videos and picks coming soon. Have a great day and thanks for all the well wishes!
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