BORN ON DATE

Tuesday, February 3 @ 11:50PM
I arrived in Sacramento. I arrived a day early as I received a text from Megan telling me she was beginning to progress. Cindy, my administrative assistant made the change. It was her prompting. It was an excellent idea.

Wednesday, February 4 @ 12:30-6:30AM
Joni picked me at the airport. She tells me Drew, our son-in-law, has called and Megan is hitting her labor strides. We drive to their house. We are with Megan and Drew the rest of the night. I am running on fumes…close to twenty-four hours with no sleep. Joni is a wonderful coach for Megan. I am in charge of tracking segments between contractions and length of contractions. Joni has to speak me awake several times for me to do my job. We put on a pot of strong coffee. It taste good, but does little to curb sleep…for me!

February 4, 6:30AM-Noon
We make the decision to head to the hospital. The first stop is an entry room. A heart monitor is attached for her and Brody. She goes through several contractions. She is only dilated to a two. Typically they would have sent her home, but there was a very small irregularity in the heart beat when she lays on her back.

They move all of us to the labor and recovery room. And I mean ALL. Megan is open to all comers. There is me, Joni, Drew (dad), Janet (mother-in-law), Scott (brother-in-law), Brad (family friend) and Ryan (brother) will be stopping in sometime soon.

It is a wonderful room. Spacious, fake wooden floor, TV, nice restroom and all the medical stuff you could need. There is a white board where they list the husband’s name, baby’s name and so I add Pappy’s name…this is me J

Drew and I make a bagel and Starbucks run. We get stuff for us and the others. It is excellent, but Megan throws her three bites of bagel up later. I was not here to see it…PTL! I don’t do vomit.

Megan dilates from a 2 to a 6 in a short time. The contractions are excruciating. She wants the nirvana of an epidural. She gets it. She is a whole different person. It was easier watching Joni go through this in the day, then my little girl. She moves from a 6 to a 7 in thirty minutes.

February 4, Noon-4PM
We are ordering lunch and Joni is ordering Megan to sleep. A mom is always a mom. We are awaiting Megan achieving the BIG 10…then it is time to push!

The last check had Meg at 8-9. She is experiencing pain in right hip. It could be a result of Brody’s head pushing down on her pelvis. She is feeling very warm (also another potential sign of the impending birth). Drew and his mom take turns fanning her like the queen she is!

We are hoping for another check on the dilation. There has been a shift change so should happen soon.

There is a bit of lull in the action. It is like being on a studio set. There is a couch and two chairs all facing the bed Megan resides. We simply sit, chat and watch. It is much like viewing a medical show, but we get to interact. Really weird! But fun and the building of social networks.
We have put Sports Center on. It is the thought of the guys if Brody could not be born on Super Bowl, or during a big time basketball game, or UFC then he ought to be drawn out during Sports
Center. This, we are convinced, will draw him out.

The nurse asked a great question just a moment ago. She asked Megan, “Do you wonder why woman do this more than once?” Meg, of course, answered in the affirmative. The nurse followed up with, “You’ll know in a few hours.”

It is true when that new life enters this world it will have all have been worth it. Brody will be the game changer. He will overcome all the pain, agony and price paid. He will be the grand prize.

The nurse is teaching Megan breathing techniques. “He, He, who; he, he, who; he, he, who.” Okay, I think its breathing techniques, it might be a question. The answer of course is “he, he, who?” It is Brody.

Nine has been achieved! One more centimeter to go and then the PUSH.

February 4, 4:00-5:42PM
Two nurses entered the room, but then pulled the curtain around them. They may think they are hiding, but we know they are there. Optimistically we think they are getting ready for Megan to Push, or, as is my theory, they are preparing a puppet show for us all to enjoy and help
Meg forget the pain. It had better be a great puppet show!

She has butt pressure…this is a good thing! It is the baby’s head.

5:42 pm PST Brody Scott Simpson arrived Feb 4 (this was the exact due date…never heard of this before). 21 inches 6lbs (exactly). He looked right at his mom as if to say, I knew we could pull this thing off! He was right!