subject: My Memorable Journey Into Fatherhood [print this page] My Memorable Journey Into Fatherhood My Memorable Journey Into Fatherhood
It started in the early hours of a warm spring morning on the twentieth of May. I was dead asleep, and next to me was my thirty-nine weeks and six day pregnant girlfriend. Her stomach looked like a juicy watermelon was growing inside. I had a confident feeling that her water was about to break at any moment. Before going to bed I remembered she complained about minor cramps, but I thought nothing of it; as she told me they were Braxton Hicks contraction because her body was preparing for labor.
At around twelve forty in the morning I awoke to my expecting girlfriend in unspeakable pain. She turned over to me while I was half-asleep and gripped my hand with agonizing force and said to me,
"Jon! I think I am going into labor!"
I immediately jumped out of her warm and cozy bed like a gymnast and said,
"Baby, grab your hospital bag and lets head up to Clarian North, the drive is forty-five minutes so we might have to hurry!"
The pain was unbearable. According to my girlfriend, imagine a knife tearing into a human body's flesh every five minutes for forty seconds each.
As I was hurriedly getting dressed, my girlfriend told her mom the news; she was surprisingly calm and said,
"Let us call the doctor and head up there."
On our way up to Clarian North, Dakota's contractions were getting worse and worse. She began to slip out a few curse words. The forty-five minute drive felt like an eternity. Finally, at two seventeen in the early morning we got to the never- sleeping hospital. As soon as we got there, a blonde nurse greeted us, and admitted Dakota into Labor and Delivery. The room was warm and inviting. There was a giant flat screen television in front of the bed, a bath tub to the side of the room, three comfortable recliners, and a touch screen computer. Basically, everything in the room was to make our stay as memorable and pleasurable as possible.
The nurses laid her down on the comfortable hospital bed, hooked her up to a few strangely looking machines to monitor the baby, and inserted an IV in her arm. While I watched the nurses insert the sharp needle into her bare arm, I nearly fainted. The nurses told us that she was four centimeters dilated and the baby looked healthy, which was a great relief for both of us. Now it was the waiting game, the nurses gave her Nubane which made her drowsy and helped her sleep well. I laid there restlessly on the recliner for a few never ending hours.
At five thirty in the morning, the doctors came in to check Dakota's progress and to break her water bag. She was a slow- progressing five and a half centimeters dilated. The pain started to become even more excruciating so the doctors gave her another shot of Nubane through her IV, which helped her sleep on and off another six hours. She woke up around twelve thirty and the doctors came in to check her progress. Because she was not progressing fast enough, the doctors gave her the option of Pitocin to speed up her painful labor. Dakota welcomingly accepted the option.
Since it was lunch time her mother and I were extremely hungry so we went to the crowded hospital cafeteria to get something to eat. I had a slice of sausage pizza and her mother had a bowl of salad. While we were eating, Dakota was getting her Epidural, which was a medication that numbs the body from the waist down to get rid of labor pains. When we came back to the room Dakota seemed happy and no longer in pain. She was excited and ready to bring this baby girl into the welcoming world.
Two hours later, the doctor came in and told us that she was at an astonishing nine centimeters and progressing to ten centimeters. The epidural had also worn off enough for her to feel the excruciating painful contractions. The nurses told her it was time for her to start pushing the baby out. I was beyond nervous but excited, and my palms were sweating like crazy. I was about to become a father!
Before Dakota started pushing, she was nauseous from the Epidural and she began to vomit. I felt awfully bad for her since she was in so much pain. After she vomited, she began to push. At each contraction Dakota pushed as hard as she possibly could for ten unbearable seconds. I stood by her side and whispered in her ear,
"Baby, you can do it! I love you so much! You are almost there just a few more pushes and you will be holding baby Isabella in your arms."
I held her legs back as she continued to push harder and harder. I could see sweat running from her forehead to her cheek, and her face turn red as a tomato as she took another deep breath and pushed.
Little by little I could see my daughter's little head starting to squeeze out. I began to tear up as this was the most beautiful yet disgusting thing I had ever seen. With one final hard push the doctor delivered Isabella Michelle-Mai Nguyen at two forty-six p.m. As Isabella entered the world, she was covered in blood and amniotic fluid. I was crying like a baby as they put her on Dakota's chest. I thanked the lord that Isabella was healthy.
The doctors then cleaned her up and weighed her. She was a healthy seven pounds eight ounces, and twenty and a quarter inches long. Isabella was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. After the doctors cleaned her up, they wrapped her in a warm blanket and handed Isabella to me. Looking down at her, I could not help but notice her Asian looking blue eyes. Even though she could not understand a word I was saying, I whispered in her ear how much I love her and will be there to protect her, be her father, and walk her down the aisle when she gets married.
