The Greatest Day of My Life - Cal is Born!

Arrive at Deaconess Women's Hospital in Evansville at 7pm on April 8, 2008.

Admitted to Suite 1405. Beautiful huge room. I had no idea it would be so nice. I also had no idea that the entire process would take place in this room.

I took some phone pics.








Kim's mom and dad, and my mom are in the room to start. Kim starts her IV with some kind of drug to begin inducement process.

8pm. I go with Kim's dad to pick a few things up at the house that we forgot, and got some Steak n Shake.

9pm. After chilling watching tv the family leaves, and it's just Kim and I.

10pm. Kim's cervix is checked, still just 1cm, but it's thinning well.

11pm. Kim falls asleep...

Wednesday April 9th


Throughout the night the nurse checks Kim's blood pressure and Cal's heartbeat. Everything goes well.

1am. I get some sleep, but we know that the pitocin drug will begin at 5am.

I start checking the clock every 10 minutes begining at 4am. Nurse comes in at 4:30am to check up on things.

5am. Nurse Kelly begins pitocin drug. Kelly is super sweet, and a perfect nurse. We are very lucky to have her.

5:30am. Kim and I both just stay awake. We turn tv on and watch morning television. I'm not normally up this early. I didn't realize how boring morning tv is!

6am. Some pretty large contractions begin. nurse offers epiderral, but Kim is ok.

6:15am. I call grandma. She picks up phone on first ring! haha. She says she's been showered and dressed and ready to go since 5am. She's worried my mom won't get her to the hospital on time. I've never heard my grandma so excited.

6:30am. Talk to my mom. She tells me to calm grandma down. hahaha

6:45am. Nurse Kelly leaves, she wishes us well. We should hopefully have her again tonight.

7am. Our doc arrives!! Doctor Brown is awesome. She is one of the best around, and she is very happy with Kim's progress. She wants to break Kim's water, but can't quite get to the sak. So she is going to wait. Kim is almost to 2cm, but not quite.

7am. Our new nurses are Cherie and Jessica. Our tech person is Brenda. They are all great too. They consistently compliment Kim on the fact that Kim never complains.


7:15am. Kim gets out of bed and into rocking chair just to change things up.





7:20am. I talk to Kim's dad. They are getting ready to come over.

8:10am. Nurses check on Kim. Status quo. Contractions continue.

8:45am. Nurses adjust baby monitor

9:08am. Doc Brown sucessfully breaks water!!

9:19am. Contractions really increase. Kim has asked for epideral. She has to go through a bag of saline on her IV before it can begin. Roughly 30 minutes.

9:39am. Epideral administered. I had NO IDEA it was that intense of a procedure! Poor thing. She never even complained once. It should kick in in 10 minutes.

9:52am. Kim is now 2+cm dialated. Cervix is 50%. She can hardly feel contractions now. Epideral has kicked in. Looks like a long haul. Nurse says it takes awhile to get to 4cm, then goes faster. Family is here. Welcome to Griswold family delivery.

10:28am. Dr. Brown returns. She inserts some kind of guage into Kim to monitor the contractions even closer. Kim is now at 3cm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10:45am. Out of shower, washed...and clean and ready for the rest of the day. Family in the early stages of impatience.

11:01am. Kim is sound asleep. I just looked at the contraction chart...they are really strong. Meanwhile, the Griswolds are discussing my old pillow, and why i need a new one.  And you wonder why I'm making this blog!


11:35am. Kim still sleeping. Nurse removed one of her belly guages. Griswolds are quieting down

12:21pm. Nurses came back in. Kim is now 4cm and her cervix is 75%. We both slept awhile. I had been totally fine, but in the last half hour I have gotten so nervous i feel like I'm going to barf. Kim feels great. She can't hardly feel her legs because of the epideral.

1:28pm. Kim still at 4cm...but cervix is now at 95%. Great news. Cal still has not dropped

2:03pm. Kim's heartburn is bad. that will be the best thing about the baby getting here. No more heartburn!!

3:00pm. It's been a long hour and a half. Kim continues getting some pretty rough heartburn. She's not feeling too good. She is now at 5cm.

3:32pm. Thunderous applause from suite next to us. They just had a baby girl. Dammit Cal your girlfriend is here....let's go!

3:45pm. Not good news Doc Brown says she expected Kim to be further along. Brown is afraid the baby isn't going to drop. It might have to be a c-section. She's going to give Kim a few more hours. Doc Brown says maybe only 4 cm. Kim is somewhere between 4-5.

4:05pm. Epideral is wearing off. Drug doc is giving her some more juice.

5:45pm. Nearly 13 hours since the petocin...still no baby. No change either in dialation. Doc Brown is coming to check. Hopefully soon. It's looking more like a c-section.

6:18pm. Nurses checked the contractions. No change. Just waiting on the doc. We have resigned to a c-section. Which is fine. Healthier for baby. Just longer recovery for Kermie.

6:23pm. THE WAITING IS DRIVING ME CRAZY!

So after it was clear having a vaginal birth wasn't going to happen, around 6:40pm the nurses said we would do a c-section in an hour. The Griswold family all headed to the cafeteria to eat, because they were starving.



Just 5 short minutes later, the nurses come in quickly, and say..."We're doing it now!!" They hand me some hazmat looking suit, and prepare Kim for surgery. I mean it is a whirlwind!!





Luckily the Griswolds get word and come scrambling back in time to wish us well. There is a TON of excitement, and a lot of nerves.

While Kim is being prepared for the operation, I was in a holding room. It was a long 10 minutes. I prayed a lot. I told myself to stay strong for Kim. Please Lord keep Kim safe and let Baby Cal be healthy.

7:03pm. The nurses came and got me. There was a sheet up, and I was by Kim's head. I could've gone around, but i had no desire to see the surgery. My number one concern was to be there for Kim.

Literally 2 minutes later...Cal is here! I didn't know it would happen so quick.  They lowered the sheet so Kim and I could see him. He was really purple!! I thought he was a cousin of the dinosaur Barney. It was just wild. It was so fast I didn't even have time to think. Both Kim and I were in shock. Kim looked at me and said, "is he really here?" I will never forget those words.

They took him to wash him up. The nurses said I could go be with him, but I wanted Kim and I to see him at the same time.

Cal is measured at 20 inches and he weights 8 pounds and 2 ounces. After cleaning up Cal, the nurses bring our son over. Wow what a moment. The picture of Kim and Cal together was our first moment together as a family. She kissed him...it was overwhelming. Baby Cal barely made a peep. He just nuzzled against mommy.









Then i get to hold him, and I cried. I pulled my mask down and gave him a kiss.




It is just a miracle. They said Kim may never be able to have kids. It was the first time our doctor had a case like Kim and made it work. All of the agony, all of the bank loans, all of the nervous nights, was washed away in an instant. Cal has arrived!



Next up...we went into the recovery room. We have to stay there an hour. Cal was given his first bath. A lot of tests were done. The nurses gave him a clean bill of health!! Our pediatrician gives him a full check up tomorrow. I'm taking pictures as fast as I can.


Next up...Kim tried to breast feed. Keep in mind he's just a few minutes old. The nurses said he probably won't take to it, and not to expect much. They don't know Cal!! He is a pro. He goes to town!!

The family can't be in the recovery room. I go out to them and break the news. I couldn't hardly get any words out. I just utter "Everyone is healthy!" So many tears. I am now balling.  Kim's mom is a snot bubble mess. Heck, everyone is crying. It is unreal. I show them all the camera pics I have just taken, then I race back in with Kim and Cal.



We get released from the recovery room, and head back to our suite. The family is so excited...clapping and taking a million pictures.


My mom and John, my grandma, my dad, Kim's mom and dad, Paul Bear and his wife Mai are all in the room. Everyone takes turns holding the baby and taking A LOT of pictures.








I hand out cigars and explain why we named him Calvin Jacob Wilkerson. Cal, of course, for my childhood hero Cal Ripken. The all-time leading passer in Indiana high school history is Jake Schiff. I'm close to their wonderful family, and of course everyone knows Cal is going to be a superstar quarterback. Kim also has a cousin named Jake. He was the ring boy in our wedding.

The 10pm NEWS 25 newscast runs a story on Baby Cal. It is really cool. He's just over 3 hours old and he's already a tv celebrity!

All of the nurses have been so unbelievable. They really care about us. They have gone the extra mile everytime. The lactation nurses have been awesome with Kim. I'm so glad we chose to come here. I had no idea how great this place was!

Later in the evening...good friends Jason Pumo, Jeff Post, Mark Glover, Ryan Jenkins and Jennifer Cahill come to visit.






Everyone leaves around 11:45pm.

I burp Cal for the first time around midnight, and put on his first little outfit.

It's day one of an incredible experience...



I could never love again,
so much as I love you
Where you end where I begin is like a river flowing through

Take my heart, take my eyes
Cause i'll need them no more
If never again they’ll fall upon the one I so adore

Comments

[Jim (emcomm1)]

I wrote this poem shortly after my daughter was born. It's one of 4 poems that were actually published.

My Angel
As I looked upon the ocean I saw a distant light.

Shining brightly on the water, piercing my hearts darkest night.

As the light drew closer to my eyes my heart began to pound,

at this lovely vision of her eyes,
this angel I had found.

For what seemed like an eternity, my soul had all but died,

I could not begin to fathom all the lonely tears I had cried.

And the moment that she met my gaze my soul began to shine,

my heart believed in love again, the moment her hand touched mine.

I will now forever thank the Lord for her grace and for her charms,

for my heart did melt and my soul did live,

the first moment I held my daughter in my arms.

[Angie Spicker]

Lance, You were right...I LOVED this :) It is so nice to see how excited Dad's can get while all of this is going on. Congrats to Kim too! I'm so glad things worked out. We know what it is like to have "miracles" happen. I think you appreciate the entire pregnancy, birth, baby when you go through all of that (loans, doctors appointment, etc). Cal is beautiful by the way and wouldn't expect his name to be anything else :) ha

[Christine Payne]

Found your blog through Facebook...and I absolutely love love this story. Happy birthday to your little man. Did he say/sing ... Mom, it's my birthday? ;-)