START: 10:46am.
I have been up for an extremely long time now. I do not recall the last time I slept but because I haven't slept we, including myself, all must face the consequences. For those who do not understand what I am talking about, please concentrate on how much I persistently babble on about mediocre situations such as this. When I stay up for long endless periods of time (87.4 hours being my record set on the days of December 8th to December 12th, 1999) my mind begins to wander and stray into vast unfamiliar territory. To some it could be classified as a psychotic episode. Well, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce to you my very own psychosis.
I was contemplating of what I should write about. As you can plainly see from my previous blogs, my sole subject varies between category. I figured , based from my last blog, I should copy it in another unique way. Instead of referring to someone this time, I will tell the true stories of the Best and Worst moments of my life. Many after reading this would... well many who just read this probably haven't gotten this far... but many after reading this would express thoughts such as, "Oh, Josh is exaggerating. He never went through this. All he is is just one giant fish story." Believe me when I tell you, friends, that everything I write, everything I have ever written is all based off facts and emotions. More often then not, even as I am writing I can be very emotional and often cry. So as you read these, please remember that what I write takes courage from me.
MY TOP... BEST MEMORIES
#10: No shred of doubt about it. Hands down, the very best of the best memory I have ever gone through was witnessing the birth of my son, Austin Tyler. His mother, Nicole, was given induced labor on December 28th, 2004. I remember seeing her belly swollen up to the size of a Buick and slanted to one side because Austin had not fully turned. It was a really long night matched with an even longer day. Nikki was in labor for over 16 hours and by the end of the first hour, both her and I would exhausted. But I stuck with her every step of the way. Okay, I'll admit I got maybe three extra minutes of sleep longer than her, but only because I was woken up by her using the restroom in the delivery room in the middle of the night. From then on, it was all anticipation being raised. By early morning (December 29th [my mother and Nikki's best friend Maggie is also in the room]) Nikki's labor pains begun to rise at a various rate. She was put on oxygen and cranked up to the eyeballs with I.V.'s. She was becoming clammy and extremely fatigued. But, and I will even say it to this day, Nikki is a fighter and survivor like me. Nikki held on so much with what was going on, with the doctors and nurses and midwife coming to check on her whenever there was a problem with anything. So needless to say, they were checking on us every two seconds. By around 10am, Nikki was finally given the choice of taking something for the pain... a.k.a. the epidural. As much as she pleaded, Nikki finally agreed to it. Mind you, because of the sanitation issue, this was the ONLY time I left her side and it was only for 15 minutes. When I came back into the room with my mother and Maggie, Nikki was all set up with her epidural. We're saying, "Okay, this is it. This is the home stretch." Wrong! We still have to endure several more hours. After we came back, just about everyone was beyond exhausted at this point. Nobody slept and even some nurses keep going past their shift just to make sure everything was fine.
Listening to the heart monitor, we can hear Austin thumping like a locomotive inside mommy's tummy. But by mid afternoon there's a problem. Which each contraction that Nikki has, Austin's heart rate plummets. Now doctors and nurses are paying particularly close watch on what is going on. All throughout the time that I left for those short 15 minutes, the first and only thing I did was hold Nikki's hand. I never once let go. We have reached the point of nearly 3:30 in the afternoon. Nikki is in excruciating pain, she is fatigued like we all are, she is shallow-breathing with each contraction. Looking back on that moment alone, this was the time I really became frightened. It was also around this time that the entire maternity ward shut down and prepared for a possible emergency C-section because Austin still had not fully turned.
This next part is as serious as serious can get and I am not trying to embarrass or hurt anyone in any way by this. After they had made Nikki's pregnancy a priority, the midwife came in and examine the situation thoroughly. What the midwife did next was both fascinating and disgusting. With one hand placed on her belly and just two fingers from her other hand placed inside her birth canal, the midwife began massaging Nikki, turning Austin inside at the same time. The sight that my eagle eyes witnessed were clamped open as I saw the roll of Nikki's belly shift, even only for a small length in rotation. I looked back at my son's mother and saw the agonizing look of pain in her eyes. With a little help, Austin had finally turned to the point of when it was safe to start pushing.
During the long minutes of pushing, it was a constant team effort. With me forcing back one of Nikki's legs and her mother, Tammy (who arrived earlier), forcing back the other. We were cheering her on. Doctors, nurses, the midwife, Maggie, Katie (Nikki's other friend), we were all getting into it like some football rally. Nikki squeezed and squeezed (and at one serious point lost her breath even while at full oxygen). The entire floor could hear us as we cheered and encouraged Nikki. She kept pushing and pushing, even after she lost her breath, Nikki never stopped. Finally, Austin began to crown. The hard part of nearly over. Just one more big push and...
After an exhausting 41 minutes, Austin flopped onto the delivery bed like a sack of potatoes. When I finally saw my son for the first time in the flesh and after all that excitement, my emotions shut down completely. I collapsed onto Nikki's chest with tears just pouring out of me. I kissed her again and again and again. I didn't know what I felt. To this day, I don't know what I must have felt. I was so overwhelmed with emotions it was unbearable. I am 28 and a half years old as of this blog. I have lived for almost three decades now. But I have to admit, as I begin to cry re-realizing it, those 16 hours and 41 minutes of my life will be the most exciting moment of my entire life.
I was going to continue this with a few more, but given the fact that many don't like to read much online, I'll bring this out in segments. If you have a memory of me, please share it and I will add that into the mix for the next one. Thank you for reading.
STOP: 12:06pm
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