Laura and I are very excited to announce the birth of our baby boy Gordon Taylor Earl. He was born on Friday March 10th at 10:08am. He weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces and was 20.5 inches tall.
THE PRE-BIRTH
Laura returned from her routine Doctor’s visit last week with some interesting news. She had found out that baby Gordon was turned upside down in her belly—a condition known as being breeched. There was no real danger involved except that he would have to come out through c-section instead of vaginally. We decided to go ahead with a procedure they call an “external version” which is a non-invasive method of turning the baby so the head i
s pointing downwards. There was a small risk that during the procedure there could be complications and he would need to be taken by c-section right away. However, after we studied the pros and cons, the risk and benefits and praying long and hard, we decided to try the procedure and see what happened.We went in the next day and got ready for the baby flippin’. Well, the doctor really gave it her best shot and it looked for a second like he might turn. Unfortunately, despite a 60% success rate, this baby was not going to turn for anybody. It seems that he had wedged his head underneath Laura’s right rib cage and he was perfectly content to listen to the sound of her heart beating. His little bumb was just south of her left rib cage and his feat were down below her belly button. The doctor said that his stretched out position was due to Laura long torso. He had a virtual Olympic-size pool to swim around it; why wrap up into the fetal position when you can stretch? So we were disappointed but knew that if this is what the Lord wanted, then it would be the best possible thing. We began doing research on c-sections and talked to lots of people that have had them as well. Despite its many disadvantages, its advantages are that you can plan for them a little better. In our case, we knew that Friday at 10:00am Laura would be having her baby. This allowed family to get off of work and travel to be with us on Friday. We knew that we probably wouldn’t have to worry about Laura’s water breaking at a bad time and then me having to rush her to the hospital. This would be a much more calm process. Although, I was looking forward to being justified in running some red lights. Oh well, maybe next time.
On Thursday night Laura and I went out for our last date night together before the
birth of our son. We knew that life would be different, but we also knew that it would be a very welcomed change. We went to Olive Garden and stuffed ourselves. It was Gordon’s last spicy meal too.THE DAY OF THE SURGERY
On Friday morning Laura and I got out of bed early. I say "got out of bed" because the phrase ‘woke up’ really only applies to you if you had actually been sleeping. We were way to excited/nervous to sleep. We drove to the hospital and they prepped Laura for surgery. I tried to get Laura to take her mind off of the surgery while we waited; I was marginally successful at best.
We had arrived at 8:00 am to prep and by 10:00 am we were ready to rock and roll.
Laura’s anesthesiologist came in and told her what he’d be doing. She was most nervous about this, so I was glad he came in. He seemed very nice and very professional. He seemed to tell her that no matter how she felt, he would have a drug ready to counter it. “If you feel nauseous, let me know and I’ll correct it. If you feel even a little pain, let me know. If you want to feel like you’re flying let me know.” Okay, maybe he didn’t say the last one. Anyway, I noticed that he was wearing doc martins with hand-painted white skulls on them, as well as a ring with a skull. I’m glad his professionalism didn’t seem to reflect his “dude-like” wardrobe. He even topped his get-up off with an American flag bandana. The nurses later referred to him as “a character”.SURGERY AND DELIVERY
They wheeled Laura into the surgery room and gave her the dreaded spinal anesthesia. She later told me, however, that she barely felt a thing.
Would you believe that she was more worried about the spinal than anything else? It’s true. Since I couldn’t be in the room for that part of the surgery, they put me in another room and told me to go ahead and get suited up in my surgery attire. I felt like I was part of a hazmat team. After 10 minutes they pulled me in and I saw Laura with a worried look but a nice smile as the doctors worked on her. I took my seat by her head and tried to be as much support as possible. It only took about 10 minutes before I could hear the doctors saying “well, he really doesn’t want to come out. He’s all slippery; I can’t get a good grip on him.” And then after a minute of struggle they had him out and confirmed that it was a boy. The anesthesiologist stood me up and I got to see him sitting on mommy’s half cut open stomach, it was quite the site. As many of you know, babies have the milky white protection on their skin and so they look a little strange. I almost said, “wo, he doesn’t look like he’s done, better put him back.”GORDON IS BORN
When they got him all cleaned up they brought him over to us and we got to look at him. It’s all sort of crazy that he is our son.
He’s just what I thought he would look like though. When we went into recovery with him, then we got to hold him for the first time. Laura nursed him for the first time as well and he fed like a champion. This would not hold true for his later feedings, unfortunately. He later became “narcolepsy baby”; we had to try every trick just to keep him awake while he was nursing: rub his cheek and back, move his legs and arms, tickle his feet, use a cold wash cloth, keep him in just his diaper, etc. They told us to do whatever it took to annoy him enough to keep him awake. But for this first feeding, with all the adrenaline of being born, he was chowing his first external meal down.
DAYS AFTER THE DELIVERY
Well, the next few days in the hospital were wonderful and trying times. People always told us we would get limited sleep, but when Laura got 1 hour the first night, and me with about 5, we realized it might be even harder than we thought. Fortunately, our sleep has increased little by little each night. The learning curve is extremely steep when it comes to caring for an infant. It’s the prime example of “trial by fire.” We feel like the Lord is helping us bit by bit and line upon line. We also felt blessed to have so much family with us over the weekend that lifted our tired spirits and rejoiced with us. They also helped us get a little shut-eye during the day.
Now that we’re back at home, it’s a very different feeling.
It’s one thing to have a new baby in the hospital where everything is already foreign, but when you get back to your normal life, except now with a baby, it really feels special. Gordon has checked out with the doctors and is doing great. His weight loss was approaching worrisome in the hospital but he’s back on the up and up. Laura is healing slowly but surely and is anxious to get back to her workout routine. She’s a great mom and is 110% committed to seeing her baby be happy. As for me, well, I’m a proud daddy and am grateful that my current situation allows me the extreme flexibility to be with my son all day and help take care of him during the night.Thanks for all your support, concern, and prayers on our behalf. We love you all and can’t wait for Gordon to meet you.
