Lancespawn

At 11:28 PM, Wednesday, August 18, my son Logan Henry Johnson made his entry into the world. Just like MacDuff, he was "from his mother's womb untimely ripped", so if ever that Macbeth guy causes trouble in Scotland again, you can rest assured that he'll be up to the task to bump him off.

We went into the hospital on Tuesday evening, as Kirsti was scheduled to have him induced. His original due date was for a week later, but since Mommy had gestational diabetes, they scheduled him to come a little bit early, as complications can arise if you wait too long. I wasn't too concerned about this, because he'd still be considered full-term, and I've known people who have had their babies up to a month early.

They began the procedure at around 9 o'clock (I may be off a bit there) and Kirsti's pain became so great by about 2 that she asked for the epidural. From there, we waited, waited, and waited. I have to say that my wife handled everything quite stoically. Sure, getting an epidural makes the process easier, but let me put it this way, I sure as heck wouldn't go through what she did just for kicks.

By 9 o'clock the next morning, my father, my in-laws, and my sister-in-law came to the hospital. They were really great and were ready to stick it out for the long haul. It even gave me a chance to get something for breakfast, and sure enough, when I was gone, Kirsti's water had finally broke. We figured that it shouldn't be too long after that point, but we kept waiting until about 10 o'clock at night. Eventually it got to the point where nothing was moving anymore, and the doctor told Kirsti that it was probably time to consider a C-section. By that point, Kirsti was more than eager to get the little guy out of her.

Unfortunately, the family who hung around for so long couldn't be in there for her, as only I was allowed in the operating room. I had to suit up, and I was specifically instructed not to touch anything that was blue. (The sheet that covered up what the doctors were doing was blue.) They also told me not to turn around when I came up to cut the cord, as I informed them that I really didn't want to see my wife all cut open. I did catch a glimpse with the peripheral though, but I did just fine.

I mentioned in a past posting that the word "excitement" just doesn't cover it. That was even more true for that moment. My knees were shaking, and I probably had a mix of about twenty different emotions going on all at once. The nurses asked if I was okay when I pointed out my shaking knees, but I assured them that it was a good thing, and I was extremely alert. Moments before, I felt myself wanting to doze off, but by that point, I felt ready to run a marathon.

When I got a chance, I ran out to the waiting room to inform the family of the good news. I was shaking, crying, smiling, and probably twenty other things. I told one of the nurses that I was "stupid happy". Her reply? "I like that."

So far, I gotta say that I like the guy. He's fairly mellow so far. Check out the video below, and you'll see how well he handled his first bath. He's alert, but he's taking it all in stride, which supposedly isn't the norm. (You can hear the lady getting me ready for a negative reaction that never came.) When he cries, he cries for a reason, and he doesn't seem to fuss all that much just for the sake of it. Last night, we got him to sleep from 10 to 3, and then from 3 to 6:30, which is when I had to get up for work. He's been sleeping a lot today, so I don't know if we'll be so fortunate this time. Good thing it's the weekend though.