In the wee hours of the morning of Sunday, March 31, 2013, I was just settling down to sleep after a 12 hour ambulance shift knowing that I'd have to wake up in another 7 hours to begin my next one. At 12:39 AM, I was awakened by Sherawn yelling, "John! John! Wake up! I've either just totally peed myself or my water just broke!" Continuous flowing of amniotic fluid confirmed that, yep, this momma was ready to blow! So we grabbed Sherawn's hospital bag (which she had packed & re-packed everyday for the past 3 weeks & had been consistently bugging me to add my own things to on an at least daily basis!), put some water & food down for our doggies, then jumped in our truck to head into the hospital! (BTW, it took me all of five minutes to grab my clothes & bathroom gear but hey, who's counting?)
We arrived at Banner Desert Hospital (the same hospital where I was born 28 & 1/2 years earlier!) at 01:00 AM. We checked into OB triage where the nurses confirmed that she had indeed broken her water & recorded the first mild contractions. We were then moved to our labor & delivery room in the adjacent department. Our first nurse in L&D was Kathy, a very sweet lady who helped to get us situated in our room & helped Sherawn through her progressively more intense contractions.
Then, at about 04:00 or 04:30, Sherawn was able to get her epidural. It was so crazy seeing her in that much pain & knowing I was virtually helpless to intercede with anything beyond helpful words, ice-chips, & a very worried hand to hold. The epidural worked like a dream! It's not like the movies where Sherawn looked like some drugged out Heroin user getting her fix in. She just slowly stopped feeling the pain from the contractions but was otherwise totally with it.
Although her contractions were strong & steady, she was not dilating beyond a 4 even with a Pitocin drip through her IV line. So, at around 06:15 we just settled down & I caught a quick nap (which right now I know is actually the most sleep I've had in about 48 hours!) I woke back up at about 08:45 & got to meet our new nurse, Angelina, who would remain with us throughout the rest of the delivery process. Angelina was our super hero! She was the best birthing coach we could have ever hoped for! She reassured us & gave us the confidence we needed every step of the way! She is a shining example of the most impressive patient care I have ever seen from a health professional since we moved back to Mesa! When she had come on shift just after 06:00, she had suggested that Sherawn use the peanut ball (a large peanut-shaped pink inflatable medicine ball that goes between your legs to help the Cervix to dilate).When we next checked, Sherawn was dilated all the way from a solid 4 to a full 10 centimeters! That was at about 09:00 & that's when things really started to happen. Angelina got everything prepped the rest of the way & Sherawn was instructed to start pushing.
Now, I have always been extremely impressed with my wife & especially with the fact that God would bless me with such a strong, beautiful, & precious partner. But I have never been more impressed with any one single person in my entire life than I am with my Princess after this experience. She was pushed to her max over & over again working to push this little guy into this world. I have NEVER seen somebody hit such a huge physical & mental wall so many times & then power through to the other side only to be faced with an even more daunting/exhausting wall on the other side. This girl never gave up though. She is my Iron Lady! My Rock! She would NOT give up! She pushed that little guy actively for over 2 & a half hours! 2 & a half hours of painfully draining physical determination! & every time, no matter how much she just wanted it to be over with, she kept right on pushing & giving it everything she had to give! I'll say it again, I have never been more proud of someone in my entire life! She deserves a medal!
But, as impressive as Sherawn's physical, emotional, & mental endurance was, there was nothing quite so impressive to behold as what that strength actually produced. Abel Alan DeWitt came sliding into this world at 12:02 PM on Sunday the 31st of March, 2013 weighing 7 lbs. 4 oz. & 20 inches long! The kid looked like he had just come from a Coneheads convention or an extra from the set of Indiana Jones & the Crystal Skull(Seriously, at least 4 inches of his height were due to his head alone)! But besides his bizarrely shaped noggin, he came out with a full ten fingers & ten toes & breathing a whole lot better than his daddy did when he was born! I was so scared when he came out that he wouldn't breathe but he just pinked right up & was good to go!
It seems like there only exist a few moments in this life where we are blessed with the clarity to recognize when our lives are never ever going to be the same.
