Wednesday, January 28, 2015

A New Addition

It has been a very long time since my last post. There has been a lot going on in the previous months. One of the most important things I have been up to is getting ready for parenthood. Will, can  you actually get ready for parenthood? Nope, but I like to think that I could. My wife was pregnant with our first child (I am hoping for more), I was training for my races that were late in the season, I was working full time and we were also looking at buying at a house, all of this I remind you was during 4th quarter. 4th quarter is where things get super crazy busy at work, I work very long days filled with a ton of stress, pile on house hunting, a pregnant wife and trying to run and I had created a very chaotic life. But, with all this chaos there was always a light at the end of tunnel so to speak and that light was the pending arrival of our son. He couldn't get here fast enough.

As the months turned into weeks which turned into days, all I could think about was spending time with my family. Wow, my family, not that sounds different, but I love the idea of it. Soon we were weeks away and each day I would lean into my wife's belly and whisper, "Any day little man, any day. When ever you are ready you can come out. It is safe." He of course had his own idea of when he was going to grace us with his presence and will, I just had to be OK with that.

Soon we were only a week away from his due date. It was my weekend off from work, and my wife encouraged me to go run long on Saturday, as I had a race I was training for. I hesitated and asked "Are you sure?" She insisted. That Saturday I ran with Trailmomma and another friend and we knocked out 20 miles. Of course I had my phone on me and so did Trailmomma, just in case there was a call/text from my wife saying to hustle back. Trailmomma's phone went off a few times, and each time it did we would pause and check the message. Lucky for us it wasn't my wife which meant we didn't have to do a tempo run back to the car.

Trailmomma jokingly said "Watch you run 20 miles today and just as you go to bed I bet she goes into labor." We had a good laugh and I said "At least he would have waited long enough for me to get my run in."

Fast forward to Sunday night at midnight, only about 12 hours later, and yup you guessed it my wife is in labor. I strolled out to the living room to find my wife writing down her contractions and telling me they are 10 minutes apart. I casually suggested that we watch a movie, to keep our minds occupied as it was too soon to go the hospital. We did just that. But soon enough the contractions were 5 minutes apart, and we called Labor and Deliver who advised us to head on in. We did, but only after we had both showered. It was 3:30 am and we were headed to the hospital. We were admitted as she was close to a 7. They made us comfortable and we settled in. Then it was time to start pushing, it was 11:25am. My wife was amazing and at 11:41 am our son was born. He was delivered by the nurse and medical student as the doctor didn't have time to get to the room, the little guy didn't want to wait and wanted to make his entrance exciting.

Wow, our son. He weighed in at 7lbs 8oz, 20 1/4 inches long, and was the most handsome, adorable, precious little guy I knew. I just about cried when he was delivered, it was such an emotional experience and one that I will always cherish.


We have been home now for about a week, we only stayed the one night in the hospital. The three of us are getting our routines down and each day we learn something new. In the first week of his life we have had many firsts. A first being he peed all over me one time during diaper change, we lost our first little sock during an outing, I experienced how a little guy could clear an entire bedroom with his powerful farts.

Our first outing was hysterical. My wife and I and JCM had an appointment, we had to get lab work then head over to the doctors. Time kind of got away from us and soon we only had 15 minutes before we had to leave. My wife took JCM to change him. When she took his diaper off he peed everywhere, all over the wall (yes, that really happens, it is no joke) all over the changing table and all over his clean outfit. She had to change him, when she did she set him down, but had forgotten about the early incident and now he was soaking wet again and had to be changed. 3 outfits later we are ready to leave. I grab the diaper bag, (I  know my role) and we are off. We made it to the lab and doctor appointment, we then have to run and get some paper work. Will, during the walk from the car to the office, we lost his sock. We retraced our steps but couldn't find it. Our first time out and we loss a sock, I am sure it will not be the last sock we loss. We learned a lot that day, and we still laugh about our first outing. We have gotten much better each time we have to go somewhere.

We have pretty much been bonding and getting routines in place. I typically take the 3 am- 7 am shift, as I am up from my work schedule. This way my wife can get some much needed sleep. I always enjoy this special time with him. Just the 2 of us. We bond over feedings, changing dirty diapers and just cuddling. he just melts my heart. I can honestly say, I don't mind getting up with him as this is our special time together, sometimes we just stare into each others eyes. During this time, I also enjoy reading to him, which I think he likes. I am sure as the days and weeks go by it will be very difficult for me to go back to work, but right now I am not thinking about that, right now I am just enjoying every second I have with him along with taking as many photos as I can.