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The Birth of Thomas Kepler Carson For various reasons Erin and I thought it would be nice to have his birth scheduled. One of the reasons was because I felt that if it was scheduled, there would be less stress for myself - not having to worry about being awakened in the middle of the night and having to race to the hospital. With the birth being scheduled, we could make plans and have babysitters scheduled, and everything would be planed. I do better with plans. But on Monday, August 27, 2001 Erin started to have contractions. They started about 5:00 A.M. and lasted about three hours. At some points the contractions were just one minute apart - we definitely thought it was time. But the contractions eventually subsided and it wasn't time. Saturday, September 1, 2001 Saturday afternoon, we returned home from Layla's birthday party (Layla is Erin's Brother's daughter and Annika's cousin). When we checked the phone messages there was one from LDS Hospital's Labor and Delivery ward telling us to call them at 6:00 A.M. the next morning and find out when we could go in and have Erin induced. The evening was spent making last minute preparations. Erin packed her bag and one for Annika, who would spend the night with us then go to Jessica's house in the morning (Jessica is Erin's sister). I was getting very nervous. Sunday, September 2, 2001 I actually had a good night's sleep having dreams about being employed by the FBI and working along side Moulder and Scully on an X-File. At 6:00 A.M. sharp Erin called the hospital and they told us to be there at 7:20 A.M. It was about this time that my stomach started to get very upset - so much so that I actually drank some Pepto Bismal (or as I call it, Pepto Abysmal). This didn't really help at all, so I was going to eat breakfast but that didn't happen. We packed up the bags in the van, along with camera, digital camera, video camera, notebook computer, MP3 player and dropped Annika off at Jessica's house. Then it was on to the hospital. We were the first of the scheduled couples to arrive at the hospital and, as we checked in, one of the nurses called to another asking which room we should be put in. I saw that the room where Annika had been born was free, so I said "how about room 403?" So that is where thy put us. It was really kind of fun to be in the same room that we had been in with Annika. (Just as a side note, I also thought about my most common association with the number 403: Forbidden! In the HTTP standard if you try to access a resource you are not allowed to access, you get that error. At work it is dreaded above all other errors because that will show up on a report sent to the Managing Directors of each department - then you have to explain what you were doing. But in this case, I never thought of the room as being forbidden - it was just a funny association.) By 8:00 Erin was all hooked up to baby monitors and had a steady drip of Pictocin running. There wasn't much to do so I played a computer game to pass the time. Annika arrived with Jessica about 10:00 and we basically hung out and talked. By noon Annika was very hungry so Jessie, Annika and I went to lunch at the McDonalds on 700 East and 300 South. We took Jessie's car because the car seat was already in it. Eating at McDonalds was my preference, not only because Annika could play in the play area, but McDonalds had just introduced their "Tastes of Germany" menu, which consisted of the "Bratwurst" served with spicy mustard on a hot-dog bun, the "Von Muenster Burger" which was a regular burger with a slice of Muenster cheese and "Duesseldorf Mustard" (whatever that is), and something whose name I can't remember now but was basically a hot dog. I choose the Bratwurst and sure enough, it was a real bratwurst and was quite good! (As a side note, I would eat many bratwurst at McDonalds over the next month.) After Annika had worn herself out we headed back to the hospital to arrive just barely after Erin had been give an epidural. She seemed very relaxed - but aparently I had just missed her clenching her teath screaming in pain. Nothing much happened until about 4:00 P.M. when Erin was finally dialated to a 10 and she started to push. Pushing, Pushing, Pushing! There was a pre-discussed plan on who would be in the room during the delivery and birth. Tasha, Erin's sister, was in charge of photos and video. Jessica, Erin's other sister, was in charge of Annika and I, of course, was useless and was just there for moral support. Annika had expressed great interest in watching the birth. One of her favorite shows on TV is called "A Baby Story" which documents the pregnancy, delivery and birth of a baby with several families being profiled each episode. Annika is always excided to see the baby when it comes out. Annika also enjoyed watching the video of her birth. But Erin and I still had some doubt that when it came down to it, she wouldn't watch - this is where Jessie came in. If Annika started to freak out, or wanted to leave, she would take her. By this time many family members, including Meme, Erin's grandmother who lives in Florida, were outside waiting in the delivery waiting room. Every ten minutes or so someone would go and give them all an update. And so the pushing started. I'm not sure if the reader knows what happens during this phase of the delivery, but it is a stark contrast to the previous 9 hours. Relaxing and calmness gives way to a very serrious workout both physically and mentally. Just like a surfer, we would watch for a contraction to start then Erin would push to "ride the wave" through. Typically, three sets of ten-second pushes would be done. Patients with epidurals can't feel anything from the waist down (and don't get me wrong - this is a very good thing) so they can't feel their legs and need people to support them while pushing. After about ten minutes my arms were tired and Jessie took over for me. The nurse, having done this day-in and day-out for years seemed to have become acustomed to holding legs without effort - a talen't I can't think would be usefull anywhere else but on a battlefield. But I digress. Erin kept on pushing. Dr. Robinson kept constant watch on the progress and would engage us all in conversation during the akward pauses between contractions. It was akward because during each pause Erin would attempt to rest while the rest of us stood there thinking "Erin is obviously doing ALL the work here, I feel bad because I can't do anything more than stand around and possible hold a leg." Erin kept on pushing. Occasionally Dr. Robinson would say something like "he is moving" or "we're making progress" (which I thought was odd because "we" weren't doing jack!) or "I can see some hair." To the latter I would look and see some hair, but it always seemed uninteresting. But about 4:45 I looked and I could really see part of the head and it struck me like a truck: I'M HAVING A BABY AND THE BABY IS RIGHT HERE AND HE IS COMING OUT AND I'LL HAVE A SON! It was a very moving moment. Erin kept on pushing. About this time Annika had become wholy disinterested in the delivery and opted to go out to the waiting room and play with her cousins. I was disapointed that Annika wasn't going to be there, but hey, what can you do? Erin kept on pushing. At 5:00 Dr. Robinson suggested that Erin try pushing while rounding her back and pulling on a towel, secured at the other end by the nurse. This would produce increased leverage against which Erin could push. Erin kept on pushing. At 5:05 Thomas' head was just about out and I felt myself getting more and more excided. Annika decided to come back in and watch. We all knew that the end was near. It was at this point that Thomas' head really started to move and we were screaming "keep pushing Erin! Keep pushing!" It seemed to me that time then slowed down as I watched this head getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger! I kept thinking "this head is huge! It is never going to make it through! Oh my gosh! It just got bigger! Now I know it will never make it through! HOLY CRAP IT JUST GOT BIGGER!" I thought Erin was going to rip like a pair of tight pants on a big fat man bending over - but to my astonishment, she didn't. When Thomas' head was out the doctor stopped and suctioned out his lungs, nose and mouth. When this was done she pulled him out. Annika was watching about 1 foot away and was silent the whole time. The nurse wiped off Thomas then handed him to Erin. I then, weilding some sterile yellow-plastic surgical scissors deftly cut the umbilicul cord! (It was very exciting for me). Thomas was born at 17:06 on Sunday, September 2, 2001. It was here that I noticed that the clock on the wall of the hospital, my watch, and the clock on the computer was all different. I didn't worry too much about my watch since it is a wholy mechanical movement but I was dumbfounded that the clocks within the hospital itself were not synchronized! I suppose hospitals and their patients don't live or die by the time. This is wholy unlike my work environment where accurate and synchronized time is required to function properly. Without synchronized accurate time there would be no bank transactions, no global positioning systems, no astronomy, etc! But, in all honesty, atomic time is really just a consensus between many, many VERY acurate time sources. So I guess that a consensus of time in the hospital is not much different. So I guess the time when Thomas was born is as acurate as one would care to argue it. Almost immediatly our family members came into the room to see Thomas. Annika, sitting on Erin's bed, kept motioning to people to come closer and said "Come see my baby Thomas!" It was infinitly cute. In a bizzare outcome, I didn't actually get to hold Thomas until about 6:00 PM after everyone else left. I looked at him (he was asleep) and just felt warm all over. His birth was truly a miricle.