View From the Top of the World

“You wanna go have a baby?”

“Sure!”

This was the start of my day on Wednesday, August 1, 2012. My wife was scheduled for a C-Section at noon. “Something came up” was the excuse we heard regarding the assisting doctor’s tardiness, so we were pushed back about an hour. So we waited. The nurse came back around 12:45 to tell us another lady was dealing with some complications and needed to go into surgery immediately, so we were bumped again. So we waited some more. I don’t remember exactly what time the nurse came back again but her first words were “Remember, I’m just the messenger.” Bumped again for another emergency C-section. So we continued to wait. Finally, we got word that they were prepping the OR for us and they whisked my wife away at 3:45 leaving me all by myself to don the last pair of scrubs left in the hospital. At least that’s the only explanation I could come up with for the comically-oversized pair they had me drape over myself.

I walked into the OR, camera in hand and took my place on the “right” side of the curtain.  I was surprised at how alert my wife was given what was happening. But there we sat, me, my wife and the anesthesiologist, carrying on small-talk as if we were friendly strangers. As the time ticked away, I was shocked at how forceful the doctor and the assisting doctor had to pull and tug considering they were pulling and tugging on my wife. Shortly thereafter, the anesthesiologist stood up, peaked over the curtain and said, “He’s almost here. Do you want to see?”

My confused and hesitant response was: “I was told to stay on this side of the curtain.” I ended playing it safe and staying where I was told.

Then came the voice of the assisting doctor: “He’s pooping! He’s pooping and he’s peeing!” And sure enough, my son, in his very first act on this planet, dumped on the doctor that initially pushed the delivery back and started the chain reaction of delays. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be more proud of that kid.

And the next thing I knew, my wife’s eyes welled up with tears as the first sound of our baby boy rang out above the noise of the doctors and the equipment. I watched as the nurse wiped him down and did some other things and told me some stuff. I don’t remember exactly what she told me or what other procedures she performed. I was too busy not comprehending that I was looking at my own son. The nurse wrapped him up and handed him to me and I did my best to look like I knew how to carry a child as I walked over to my wife to show her her son. I can’t properly put into words what it was like to watch my wife get her first glimpse of our child, so I won’t try. But it was special.

After a few pictures, everyone was wheeled out for more tests before we were escorted down the hall towards the waiting room, where some family members had been waiting for 9 hours or so. We were greeted like celebrities and actually clogged up the hallway so much so that the nurse behind us had to make her presence known more than once before we moved on.

We made it to our room and I stood by as the new star of the show was passed from one giddy grandparent to another and from one freshly minted aunt/uncle to another, right on down the line. Then the crowd slowly dispersed and exhaustion was all that remained. But I had a healthy wife and a healthy baby…and let me tell you, the view from the top of the world is pretty amazing.