Details According to Daddy

It was a dark and stormy night.... Well, actually it was just cold and windy. About 7:30, we were sitting around at home when Katie began to have regular contractions. So I proceeded to lose my mind just like I do when I try to pack for camping when everyone is ready and we want to get going NOW. Good thing Katie had already packed most of what we needed in a going-to-the-hospital bag. The only really important things I forgot were my contact solution and case. Julianne was home to watch Sarah, so we were off to the hospital.
We didn't do much walking in the halls since Katie was having contractions about 1-2 minutes apart, and they were getting progressively stronger. So we hung out in the triage room for a couple of hours, hoping to move along in the dilatation department, but without success. Katie had been at about a 4-5 for close to a week already, but no progress in the triage room. So they didn't admit us to the hospital, but set us up in a delivery room anyway. The nurse said that they were most likely not going to send us home, so we called Katie's parents in Missoula at about 10:00. As they set out through thick deer country in hopes to come and see their new grandbaby, the nurse gave Katie a shot that would ease the contractions and help her sleep. Four hours later, we woke up. Katie no longer had regular, strong contractions, and I no longer had moisture in my eyeballs. We walked the halls a little bit, but returned to the room and went back to sleep.
7am rolled around, and our awesome nurse midwife, Lisa, came in and checked Katie and still found no further progress. So she called for the epidural in order to break Katie's water. (For the sake of those of you who do not like needles, I won't tell you about the five times that they had to stick my poor wife in the spine - one for a local anesthetic, two tries at getting the epidural in, another local anesthetic in another spot, and finally a good connection.) So as Katie is getting numbed up and shivering like crazy due to the anesthetic, Lisa prepared to break her water. Having done that, we didn't have to wait very long until we were at a 10 and ready to roll.
Katie did have to push more than twice - for those of you who heard Sarah's story. Katie recalls the pain of the IV in her hand to be more annoying than the pushing. I wasn't brave enough to watch Sarah be born; I just held Katie's hand and stayed at the head of the bed. This time however, I had to know if we were having a little buddy or another little princess. So here comes the head. You might mistake it for a soggy Shar-pei. Kinda looked like a fuzzy little brain making its way into the light. It was the next push that I was waiting for, though. Pop! It's a BOY! Woohoo! I have my very own frogs and snails and puppy-dog tails!
Since there wasn't a problem with miconium with Cory, they set him on Katie's chest RIGHT after he was born - still with the leash on and everything. Katie was obviously overwhelmed and didn't know what to do. And all I wanted to do was run down the hall and tell papa that he had a grandson! I got to cut the cord again, and they moved Cory over to the warming table to clean him up, at which time he proceeded to send a stream clear over the walls of the table and onto the floor. Oh, yeah, I thought, I'll have to be a little more careful where that thing is pointing when I change the diapers....
They only had to put a stitch or two in Katie (praise God) before she was able to feed my little buddy for the first time - which, by the way, he is quite the little expert at eating unlike his big sister was. (Praise God again.) So, to contrast the story of the lengthy stitching process and wheelchair escort to the recovery room that we had with Sarah, Katie finished feeding Cory, ate a big lunch, took a shower by herself (supervised by yours truly just in case of course), even did her hair and makeup before walking herself out to meet the excited company whose noses were pressed up against the nursery window. (Praise God, yet again.)
Well, those are the details of the birth of Cory Wayne. If I were to continue the story I guess it would be the details of the first few hours of my little buddy's life. So I won't go into how the nurses were amazed at the amount of gooey pooey that Cory let go not once but twice before he even made it to his first bath, or how he took his two shots like a champ - just a squawk with the first one, and not a flinch at the second one. My little toughie! You'll have to get those stories from Katie. So there you have it.

-the Happy Daddy