My birth story did not officially begin until the wee hours of February 10th, 2008. However, it's important to understand what my parents were doing the night of February 9th
That evening, Mom and Dad set off for a resteraunt called Mizuna in Denver. Friends of theirs were having a party and Mom and Dad were looking forward to a fun evening with good friends and good food. As it turned out, the friends and food were accompanied by a special assortment of wines specifically matched to each of the five courses. While Mom deferred out of respect to me, Dad, figuring that any potential labor was at minimum 20-30 hours away, availed himself to the selections of the chef and sommelier. A good time was being had by all until around 10 PM, when Dad looked across the dinner table at his very pregnant, and yet still stunningly beautiful wife, and noticed that she seemed somehow changed, as if a different light had sparked within her. Attributing it to the revels of the evening, Dad thought little of it...
...until 11:45. Having returned home by that time, Dad heard Mom exclaiming upstairs that she had "shown" her first signs of labor. Thanks to long hours of study, Dad was intimately familiar with the nuances of labor, and so he knew that my delivery was still potentially days away. Being a good husband, however, he dutifully walked upstairs to comfort Mom and help her relax. Over the next 60 minutes, Dad proceeded to watch Mom go through all the signs of labor (nausea, etc.), which normally occur over a period of hours, if not days. Sensing it was time to act, Dad settled in to time contractions.
Unfortunately, with the onset of labor, Mom assumed Dad had become not only a mind-reader, but a body-reader, and could actually feel the contractions along with her. While Dad has powers far beyond those of most mortal men, he was pretty much in the dark as Mom lay on the couch for the next several hours. As early labor set in, Mom would yell out seemingly random numbers to Dad like "Twelve!" and "Twenty-two!" while gripping his arms with the force of 10 human-growth-hormone-enhanced men. Dad would later find out that Mom was trying to tell him the time that the contractions began, but since she didn't communicate this to him until the day after I was born, the benefit was wholly lost. Once Dad was able to time contractions, he realized that I was coming much sooner than anticipated, and called the doctor-- if he wasn't sleeping after a birthday party, the person with the medical degree wasn't getting a full night's sleep, either.
Just after 4 AM, Mom and Dad arrived at the hospital. Mom was already 5 centimeters dilated by the time we made it to the labor and delivery ward and having contractions every 3 minutes! While knew I wanted to meet the world sooner rather than later, this resulted in Mom and Dad getting a lecture from the medical staff saying that next time, they really wanted us at the hospital as soon as possible after contractions began!
At about 9 AM Sunday the 10th, after several more hours of labor and several less hours of sleep for my dear parents, the doctor decided it was time for Mom to start pushing me into the world. While the first few efforts went well, my heart rate dropped a little and the doctors decided the sooner I arrived, the better. Since I wasn't quite far enough along...out came the salad spoons! Dad has seen these in medical journals and in the childbirth preparation class, but he'll spend a long time yet getting over the sight of the doctor using the saland spoons to help me into the world. Thankfully, out I came accompanied by a great deal of fluid (also forever burned into Dad's memory) to the cheers and adulations of all present (Mom, Dad, Dr. Moore, a medical intern, three nurses, and one hospital observer)!
And, as they say, a good time was had by all.
