Remembering the Birth...Daddy's View

The day the boys were born was exciting, crazy, joyous, scary and anxiety filled all at the same time. We had to wake up quite early to be at our morning scheduled appointment at the hospital. I remember thinking that this was going to be the day that the rest of my life changed and how it would feel weird to now have two little people to be responsible for. While I ate my breakfast, I wondered exactly what God was doing in Vanessa and my lives. I also gave some thought to how strange it would feel that after being just myself and Vanessa, living in this house for so long, what adding two people for the next 18+ years would be like.

We headed out to the hospital after packing up our Jeep and double checking that we have everything we needed. We had driven this route to the hospital countless times during the course of the pregnancy, but this time felt like it took longer than before. We pulled up to the hospital parking garage, parked and got all of our stuff together to head in. Not until after the boys were born and I had to make a trip to the garage to get something out of the Jeep did I realize that I never shut the drivers side door. In all the craziness I left our car wide open in the parking garage for hours. Thank God we live in Texas and everything was still in the car, right where I left it. I guess this was my first "new dad" moment.

So, we made the trek through the hospital to the area we needed to check in. Unfortunately, they said there were no rooms available for us, even though we were scheduled for this time. So, we had to wait in the general waiting room until a room became available. I don't know how long it was, but it was annoying and felt like forever. Finally they got us a room and we got settled in. I basically just hung out while nurses filed in to check on, poke and prod Vanessa. Vanessa's parents and sister were able to stop by and see us in the room and take a few pictures.
The next thing I knew I was being handed a blue hospital outfit, complete with shoe booties, a headpiece and a mask. The nurse told me to put it on and said get ready to go. Well, I was still getting this on while they started to take Vanessa out and I had to hurry to catch up.
The nurses and doctors whisked Vanessa into a room and told me I was not allowed to go in. I was not really prepared for this, I thought I could be with her the whole time. No one really told me what was going on, just that I had to sit and wait on a bench. I quickly made a phone call to my family to give them a progress report, we didn't talk long and I just turned off my phone when we were done. Just having to sit there was brutal. I wanted so badly to be there next to my wife, just to be there for her. People kept coming in and out of the room but no one would give me any info on what was going on. I could only get glimpses inside the room whenever a nurse or doctor opened the door to go in or out.

I sat there forever! It was really only like 10 or 15 minutes, but it felt like hours. I was so nervous and anxious, so I decided it was a good time just to pray until they told me I could go in the room.

Finally, a nurse came out and said I could join Vanessa. I jumped off the bench, but also wondered what I would find in the room. When I got in there, the room was swarming with doctors and nurses like a beehive. They told me to sit next to Vanessa on a stool. She was strapped to the table and was all drugged up. She also had a funny looking thermometer stuck on her head. But, regardless of how out-of-it she was or how funny she looked, it was great to see her, hold her hand, and give her a kiss. There was a big sheet covering what the doctors were doing, which made me happy, because I didn't want to see that.

A few minutes later the doctor asked if Vanessa was ready. She said yes and they told me I could stand up to see better if I wanted to. I did and the next thing I knew they were holding up Turner. A nurse whisked him away and started to clean him up. A few seconds later they were holding up Jaxson, and a nurse took him away too. Next, the doctors said they needed to do some work on Vanessa and to stitch her up. They told me I could go over next to the boys.
The nurses had both boys on some tables under heat lamps and they were wiping them down and cleaning them up. The nurses wrapped them up and brought the boys over so Vanessa could see them. They let me hold one (I can't remember who it was, I was not even sure who was who then) and Vanessa held the other. We snapped a quick picture and the nurses took the boys again. They told me they were taking the boys to the nursery and I needed to go with them.

So, I said goodbye to Vanessa, told her she did a great job and then went with the boys. Again, I can't remember who I was with, but a nurse pushed one of the boys in a cart while I pushed the other. We headed to the nursery and actually ran into Vanessa's parents and sister in the hall. We stopped real quick for them to see the boys and say hi and then went to the nursery area. There was a big glass window so Vanessa's family could stand in the hall and watch. The nurses put the boys in separate beds with heat lamps again, to keep them warm. They told me I could stay while they cleaned the boys even more, took blood and checked them out to make sure everything was ok.
This was just insane. Here I am standing in between these two little babies that are my kids. Holy Crap...I'm a dad, what do I do now? And then came holy crap...there are 2 of them! I watched intently as the nurses did their deal with my boys. Later, Vanessa's parents (who watched through the window) said that it looked like I was watching a tennis match because I just kept turning my head looking at Turner and then at Jaxson. Thinking back, yeah I totally did that. Honestly, I didn't know who to look at. There was so much going on with the boys and the nurses. And, I wanted to see Turner and Jaxson; to get to know their faces and see their expressions. I mean, I had just met these amazing boys and even though they look different now, I had a really hard time telling them apart when they were first born (for the first few days even).

The boys got to sit and rest for a while since the nurses didn't have much more to do with them. This gave me a good chance to just hang out with them for the first time. They yawned and cried and as always, they were just so cute. This quiet time with few interruptions gave me a couple of minutes just to thank God that everything went smoothly and that the boys were healthy.

Finally, the nurses said that I could take the boys to see Vanessa. Again, a nurse pushed one of them while I pushed the other. I can't tell you how many people in the halls of the hospital stopped us to say 'congratulations,' or tell me how cute they were. People just really seem to get excited around multiples and it was definitely a sign of things to come. We can never step foot in any store these days without at least 3 people stopping us to talk about our twins. We finally made it to Vanessa in the recovery room where I was relieved to hear she was doing well. All the time I was with the boys in the nursery I never knew how Vanessa was doing. As soon as we brought the boys in, we got them out of their little carts and let Vanessa hold both of them for the first time. What an amazing moment to see your new life unfold right in front of you. God truly has blessed me with the perfect wife for me and two precious baby boys.

Holy Crap, I'm a dad...of twins!