Trey Birthday Blog (Dad's Perspective)

Melissa has detailed most of what happened from her point of view - while the facts remain the same, the way they were viewed are different.


On Wednesday June 13, 2010, I got home from work about 90 minutes before Melissa (as usual). Typically when she's coming home that late, she will plan on stopping to grab something for dinner - however, this is the first I've read of a BLT AND a corn dog. For those of you that know me well, you are aware that hot dogs are a forbidden food for my pregnant wife. Nevertheless - she enjoyed it!

When she came in she was on the phone with her mom talking about "slight contractions". As you can imagine, this caught my interest. Following the conversation with her mother, she proceeded to tell me that she had been having contractions but that she thought it was related to her doctor appointment that was earlier that morning. So I filed it away in my brain, but as an extra precaution, I increased the birth threat level from Yellow to Orange with the grandparents. Later that evening, she was still complaining of contractions, but they hadn't really increased yet...oh no...Trey wanted to wait until daddy was fast asleep to pick up the action.

At around 3:00 AM or so, Melissa turned on the light to the bedroom and told me that I needed to call the doctor - the contractions are getting more frequent. I called the answering service and they relayed my message to the nurse on call. I paced around like a mad man while Melissa sat in a chair in the living room waiting for a phone call from the nurse. Finally, after seeing Melissa continue to wince in pain, I made the call that it was time to pack the bag. I called the office back and told them that this was more of a notification than a request - we are going to the hospital.

We got in the car around 3:15 AM and I tried to be calm driving as Melissa's breathing and "yoga sounds" increased. I called my parents and then Melissa's parents and officially raised the Birth Threat Level to Code Red...meaning birth is imminent!! I found that I was able to control my speed on the windy roads but once I hit the interstate - we were outta here!!

We walked into the hospital around 3:30AM and Melissa was placed in the triage room where they wanted to make sure she was in true labor. After about 30 minutes of testing, we were admitted around 4:00 AM.

Melissa's contractions had increased significantly by this time - she was in some serious pain and begging for an epidural. Just about the time I was about to grab a little doctor by the neck, take his white coat, and walk into an operating room to find an anesthesiologist, the fella walked in (close call for the one wormy looking little doctor I saw curiously looking into our room).

Melissa's details of the birth are as I remember them. One thing she failed to mention was when the doctor looked at me and mouthed "tell them to sit down" (Grandma Bonk and Gammaw Kirkland). Thankfully, they did without a fight. The biggest thing I remember is when Trey was born, staring at him and thinking "come on bud...breathe, scream, anything!!!". After what seemed like an hour, but was probably only 5 seconds or so - Trey let out a good scream - and I felt better.

After a few minutes of the nurses poking him, measuring him, and scrubbing him down, they handed Trey to his momma. Shortly thereafter, he was whisked away to have a few additional tests run. I asked the nurse when she was taking him if I could go too - she said they typically don't let parents back when they are running the tests - but she could tell by the look in my eye that was easier just to say "ok" rather than tell me no.

My time back there when he was getting tested was a blur - all I remember was that he was below 20 in blood sugar and had to be admitted immediately until his blood sugar stabilized.

That's how Dad remembers Trey's first day on this planet - the emotions were wild. At 2:00 AM I was sleepy, at 3:15 AM I was adrenalized, at 4:00 AM I was excited, at 9:00 AM I was terrified, 9:36 AM is the happiest time of my life, and at 9:50 AM or so - I was terrified beyond belief again. Was a wild an exhausting day - I can only imagine how exhausting it was for Trey and Melissa. Melissa was so strong and I was and am so proud of her.

I was able to emotionally hold it together for the most part the first day. The second day, it came crashing down on me. There's a commercial out - it's a stupid insurance commercial that has the Jackson 5 song "I'll be there"....that commercial came on and a broke down - and then Melissa broke down - we were a mess. But the whole time, thanks to loving and praying family and friends, along with an amazing medical staff at Women's East - Trey was healthy and we took him home that following Monday.

I plan to write another post detailing our experience in the Special Care Nursery - particularly the wonderful nurses and doctors that helped us.

Dad