MILO TUT JOHNSON

Welcome to the world little man!

By Adam Johnson

August 6^th, 2014

Many of us spend our lives looking for beautiful, magical moments. Personally, that search has taken me all over the country and to a few places around the world. I would trade every one of them to be able to spend a bit more time inside the first moment I saw my wife holding our baby. It is the purest expression of love I have ever seen.

Unplanned induction

Our OB appointment on Thursday July 31st was to discuss the options for inducing, should we push 10 days past our due date. At this point, we were already four days past and Jess was ready to not be pregnant and get this baby out into the world. Upon discovering that Jess’s blood pressure was dangerously high and that the amniotic fluid was down to 20% of what it should be, the doc told us to head straight to labor and delivery as we’d be having our baby the next day. There is nothing like a deadline to get things under way.

They kept us at the hospital overnight in order to observer the baby’s vitals. The pitocin drip started at 5am the next morning, followed by breaking the bag at 8am. The baby would be born one way or another within 24 hours. Neither Jess or I had any idea what we were getting into with an induced labor. Contractions that are no fun when they come naturally are longer, stronger and more frequent with an induced labor. Throughout the day Jess went from anxiously nervous to reluctantly uncomfortable to “what the f**k is going on with these contractions?!?!”.

After 10 hours of hard laboring, and only 3cm dilated, they advised an epidural in order to relax the cervix and hopefully move her closer to the necessary 10cm dilation required for birth. An hour and a half after the epidural, there was no further dilation and our baby’s pulse was dropping with each strong contraction. With the advice of the medical staff and for the safety of Mom and Baby, we decided it was time to get this baby out with a Cesarian birth.

voodoo magic

An epidural may as well be voodoo magic. A woman goes from indescribable pain that Bill Cosby likened to “pulling your bottom lip fully over your head” to all smiles. After 10 hours of increasing pain, the epidural was as much a relief for me to no longer see Jess suffering.

A Cesarian birth is no walk in the park. Jess and I were both on the same side of the surgery curtain, holding hands and talking while a group of physicians cut through five layers of anatomy in order to get to our baby. If you haven’t observed someone while they feel their organs being manually shifted in their body, I assure you, it is surreal. Within 7 minutes of starting the surgery we heard the wailing cries of a healthy baby boy. About 2 minutes later, after wiping off the blood and having me cut the cord, they laid him down on Jess’s chest. That tiny baby boy went from wailing to completely silent within seconds of coming into contact with his Momma. I have never in my life seen a quicker, stronger connection between two beings.

Height and weight

While the doctors sewed up all five layers of Jess’s abdomen, Baby May (his temporary assigned hospital name) and I went into the room next door where they weighed and measured him. Note for future fathers…you will be incredibly anxious to lean over your baby, look into his eyes and say your first words to him. However, when you do this on the scale, it is difficult for the nurses to determine that your baby weighs anything less than 20lbs. Baby May came into this world at 6 lbs, 14 ounces and 19 inches long. In fishing tournaments, they refer to that as a “keeper”.

Oxytocin

The moment they wheeled Jess in from the operating room, they immediately placed Baby May back onto her chest. Once again, pure, complete, unadulterated bliss. The immediate skin-to-skin contact between mom and baby releases levels of Oxytocin that would be illegal in most states.

mother and daughter

There is nothing like having your own child to make you yearn to see your Mom. Fortunately, Jess’s mom lives only 30 minutes from the hospital. We didn’t have to do too much arm twisting to convince her to come see her new grandson in the first few hours of his life. It is safe to say that Oma is completely smitten by this little guy.

Love and logic

Ever since we got married, we have debated whether or not to have a child. If you look at the decision from the “logical” perspective, it makes no sense to have one. The alternatives to having children are blissful sleep, excess cash, leisure time, exotic summer travels, and the possibility of a an early retirement. However, my discussion with friends about their experiences with children made me question whether this was a decision that could even be made with simple logic. The way that they attempted to describe the indescribable love that you experience for your own child pushed us over the edge. As I stood there in the recovery room, looking at Jess looking at our son, logic was once again turned on its head. I am taken, hopelessly in love with this little boy and his beautiful Mom, and thrilled beyond explanation to spend the rest of our lives as a family. Welcome to the world little man…the adventure begins!

Footnotes

We are so grateful to our friend Jenevieve for helping navigate us through this birth. Not only did she guide us through the tough decisions, but she also took many of these amazing photos.

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FootNotes

We are so grateful to our friend Jenevieve for helping navigate us through this birth. Not only did she guide us through the tough decisions, but she also took many of these amazing photos.