And This Is How It Happened...

Brolin

Me and my son, Brolin (the Deuce)

He threw us a curve with that brown hair

Sang a little tune earlier...

Lisa, playing with her son

Sometimes things don't go according to the plan...

You would think us, of all people, would be prepared for the unexpected. Well, we were just a little bit surprised today.

Rewind to yesterday, the 13th. Brolin was already a day overdue, and we went to the baby doc to see what's up. He said he had a full load of inductions the next day (today, the 14th), so he lined us up to be induced at 6:30am, Wednesday morning, the 15th.

Well, me and Lisa decided to go buck wild with our guaranteed extra day (at least that's the way I went about it). We didn't go throw a party or anything, just got some lunch together, one last time before the kids go off to college, and picked up some necessities, like cookies and frozen chicken sandwiches. We enjoyed the evening with the Boy, and went off to bed, knowing full well we had another day to mentally prepare for the new addition.

From my point of view, the story picks back up around 4:3oam, when I heard Lisa on the phone with a baby doc, explaining that she was having unbearable contractions. You have to understand neither of us have slept well for about a month, because if Lisa ain't sleepin', I ain't sleepin'. After a minute or two, I came to grips with the fact that this was actually happening, NOT according to the plan.

I soon found out Lisa had been up since 2:30am having contractions. The doc told her to hold tight, and come in later when they got closer together (they were over 15 minutes apart, and sort of sporadic when she called). Within 30 minutes they were clicking like clockwork at 6 minutes apart, and the cliche', chick-flick, mad dash to the hospital was on. We virtually passed my mother on the way out the door (still not ready to leave Jackman at home alone - too mischievous).

I saw a new side to my loving wife on the way to the hospital... the fire-breathing side. Rush hour traffic will bring out the worst in all of us, but you should try it one day while you're having a baby. Seriously, Lisa did really well. God was smiling on us this morning. No kidding, if we had left five minutes later, Brolin would have been born on I-65 North.

We checked into the hospital at 7:07am. Lisa was at 7cm. They called for the anesthesiologist immediately. Lisa was screaming in pain just like in those bad acting movies... I promise, no one slept late in Homewood/Mountainbrook this morning. Well, he came in approximately 7:30, and the nurse told him Lisa was already over 9cm. I remember her saying, "It's too late to give her an epidural". You have never seen a wave of hopelessness rush over a human being like it did my wife in that moment. She went pale, her bottom lip rolled out, and her eyes started welling up. This was BAD. There was that uncomfortable silence that lasts a lifetime, then this old-timer, renegade, cowboy anesthesiologist said, "lay the bed flat and roll her on her side, I'm gonna make mama feel better". He made anesthesiology look cool, just like Run DMC did for Adidas. That dude is gonna get a Christmas card.

The baby was ready to be born when we got to the hospital. At this point we had to wait an extra 10 minutes for the medicine to take effect. Then it was finally time to call the doc in. It literally took less than 5 minutes. He just walked in and caught the boy. It was over so fast I wondered if I had missed something. Brolin was born at 8:01... 56 minutes after we walked in the door.

We both breathed a silent sigh of relief after Brolin got to stay in the room with us past the 10 minute mark. We've had him with us all day. We just look at him and each other, and wonder what to do next. It's kind of neat. It's such a unique experience - our second-born is like a first-born. We're tired, but really looking forward to all four of us being together.

Thanks to all of you who have taken care of us, kept up with us, and prayed for us.

I'm thankful God does things his way.