December 3rd, a day that will live in infamy

Seeing as this blog was created as a means to record our growing family, I figure I should backtrack and record the birth of our first son, Atticus Dane Maes.

Below are excerpts from the birth journal I wrote a couple days after his entrance into the world.  Please don't feel the need to read it all!  

Thanks to a hypnobirthing class that Dane and I took, I was pretty confident that our little man, "due" Jan. 5 would come around Jan. 15...  Yeeeah, about that...

Enter Dec. 3.

I was excited.  I only had three more weeks of school left.  Then I would be spending my Christmas break getting Atticus's room ready, getting more educated about children, and getting things at the school ready for my substitute...  Yeeeeah, about that...

My first period class went off without a hitch.  With 5 minutes left before the bell, I sat down while the students started on an assignment.  To my surprise, I felt some wetness.  My first thought was, "Oh no!  I'm incontinent?!"  This wasn't something I was expecting!

I ran to the bathroom without saying a word to my students, thinking I'd be back in just a minute.

I never came back.

When I got to the restroom, I was so confused for a couple minutes.  Then it hit me.  My water had broken. I started crying, thinking that my little boy wasn't far enough along.  I thought this would be it for little baby Atticus.  This, to me, was basically a miscarriage.

Fortunately, I know nothing about babies.

As soon as I got myself together, I rushed down to see if I could find my principal, Robyn Ellis, who happens to be a nurse. She came right away.  She could see I was upset.  When I told her I thought my water had broken, her response changed everything.  "This is wonderful!  He's ready!"  She said.  Her optimism filled me with confidence.  I wasn't going to lose my baby!

Before I knew it, Dane had whisked me away to the American Fork Hospital and, after what seemed hours, my midwife came.  Her name is Claudia Killebrew and she just so happens to be the most experienced midwife from the clinic I had been going to.  One of the many tender mercies of the day.

After taking Pitocin around 1 PM, things really got going.  I can't describe the pain, only how important it was to me that Dane was there.  He helped me breathe through each surge so well, giving me counterpressure and encouragement.  Claudia was also a great coach.  She wasn't in my face and wasn't offering advice every minute.  She just made light conversation whenever I wanted it and gave me just the right kinds of help at just the right times.  She would give me a new position and every time it was just what the doctor (or midwife!) ordered.

After countless surges and positions, it came down to "bearing down."  After what seemed like forever (poor Dane's ears may never be the same..) little Atticus came into the world!  It was at 7:18 PM, and the little guy weighed in at 4 lbs 11 oz, 17.5 inches long.  Not bad for being 4.5 weeks early!

After a few precious moments with him, the nurses took him downstairs to the NICU, where, unbeknownst to us, he would remain for the next two and a half weeks.