We've had bags packed since week 25-26 I think in our den, and by bags packed I mean everything imaginable that you can place into a travel bag. For those of you that don't have kids, you are probably confused just as I was when first informed about what has to happen before the kid (or kids) get here. You need a labor and delivery bag, a post-partum bag, a bag that has shit you don't even know why you brought or where it is once the babies are born, and a few other bags that I'm probably forgetting. It looked like we were traveling to Europe for a month. With that said, we packed all bags mentioned above and all my stuff was in a Nike book bag. I know shocker. All the bags went into the money Traverse and we were off!
We get to the hospital and go to the 3rd floor where we will be spending the next 90 some hours of our lives. To get into the section where we will be delivering, you basically walk down a few hall ways and come to a double door with a call box on the wall. I'm not shitting you. It's literally a call box like those old ones on the outside of apartment complexes in the 90's that you press, say who you are, and someone says ok and they let you in. This is exactly what you do. I find this fucking hysterical. Here you are, hours, maybe even less for some, away from one of the biggest changes in your life and to start it off you have to press a call button and say something on the lines of "I'm here to have a baby." The women doesn't say anything and those magical double doors open up.
Since we were scheduled to be there at 6 pm, they were ready for us and all we had to do is check-in and be taken to our labor and delivery room. We already knew having twins we wouldn't be delivering in this room, we would be in the operating room which believe me we will get to. This nice older woman walks us down the hall and we put our stuff down (at this point I don't even remember what "bag" I have). Nora had to be hooked up to monitors that were watching the girls heart rates, along with her contractions the entire night and the following day until she went into labor. Fella's imagine 3 circular plastic disks a little bigger then round Tostito's tortilla chips but about 2-3 inches thick which are secured by fuzzy, and I use the word fuzzy very loosely, bands that wrap around Nora's whole body keeping them in place. It's now about 6:45 pm and Nora will have these on until about 10:30 pm the following night if I remember right. She's uncomfortable, having contractions, and all the other emotions and pains a woman goes through which we as men will never understand. I will get this out of the way and I know that I will get shit from it. Ladies, by no means am I comparing this to you pushing a human or humans out of your body, however for men around the world it has to be said. The "bed" you get in the labor and delivery room is pretty much a glorified chair that pulls out to an elongated ottoman. I can pretty much sleep on anything. You're talking to someone that fell asleep in Giant stadium at age 6 with 65,000 fans screaming while Dan Fouts and the Chargers were kicking our ass. This however was a whole different type of mind fuck. First the chair is made for someone that is between the heights of 4'8 and 5'10. Well that's fantastic, however your boy doesn't fit into this height group. Second, why does it have to be so hard? I mean was the manufacturer really pissed off at the world and decided they were going to make the most uncomfortable piece of furniture ever created? Two of my friends text me regarding the chair. One has two kids and I told him I was pissed he never talked to me about the slab of concrete I had to lay on and his response was he didn't want to ruin it for me. Dick. My other buddy didn't even ask about the chair now that I think about it, but someone needed to hear me bitch about it because there was no way in hell I was turning to Nora and telling her. Every time she asked how I was doing I said I was fine. I text my buddy back with something on the lines of whomever made this chair is a raging asshole and should be fed into a lions den.
Lets fast forward to 10 pm the next night. Little did I know I'd be a father in the next 90 minutes, but we'll eventually get to that. Guys, when your wife gets pregnant you go to all these classes to make sure you know what the hell you are doing, but nothing prepares you for the real thing. Our doctor came in around 10:40. Women's individual balance beam was on the TV and I walked over to Nora's side to hold her hand like I did every time our doctor came in and we went from 0-200 mph real fast. No warning, nothing. She just starts telling Nora to push and for the first time in the 37+ weeks of being pregnant I can truly said I had no idea what to do next. I mean a little heads up would have been good. You may do this on a daily basis doc, but I'm trying not to lose the 2 pieces of pizza I ate a few hours ago from nerves. It was here. The moment we had waited so long to come, just started. I went into coaching mode right away. I'm talking about zoned in on nothing else or nobody else but Nora. I heard the doctor and the nurse helping with the start, but it really felt like it was just Nora and I in the room. After about 20 minutes in the labor and delivery room our doctor said we were ready to go into the operating room.
I'm not exaggerating, but within about 8-10 seconds there was about 10 people in the room and I somehow had a white zip up jump suit (non-Nike), a mask, booties, and a hair net. They told me to get dressed and wheeled Nora out of the room and towards the OR. I got dressed and one of the nurses said that I had to stay outside of the room while they switched Nora onto the bed in the OR. There I sat, on a wooden chair like I was in 2nd grade again, nobody else, just waiting for the go-ahead to come into the room. I won't lie I got a little nervous for a few seconds and had to text a few of my boys to calm my nerves. One will go unnamed, however his advice was simple. If donks around the world can have 9 kids, people like Nora and I can definitely handle two. That's what I needed. I'm back. After about 2 minutes which seemed like about 2 hours to me, one of the nurses came into the hallway and said that I could come in. Here it is. Time to be a dad!
I'm not going to go into details of the OR, but to deliver a baby it takes a lot of people apparently. There was at least 12 people in the OR, and I knew what about 3 of them where there for. There was a nice elderly man sitting to the side of me and I really don't know what his job was, and to be honest I didn't give a shit. If I ever get to see him again I am going to thank him because at that very moment, having another man in the room calmed me a little bit. Nora did great. Fuck, she did better then any word that is in the English dictionary. I can tell every man in the world that women are the true hero's. We couldn't go through half the shit they have to prior to delivery and then during delivery. It's amazing though, with all the pain, nerves, and whatever else Nora was feeling and going through at that moment in the OR, she stayed true to who she was. Let me paint a picture. She is on the table in the OR getting ready to deliver our twin girls. I'm sitting to her left with all these people in the room and out of all the statements, comments, concerns a woman about to have a child can think of or say Nora looks at our doctor and says "what time is it? Are they going to have different birthdays? I don't want them to have different birthdays" What lol? Are you fucking kidding me hahahahhaaha? Out of all of things you can say or do this is what pops into your head? Don't get me wrong, I think it's hilarious this is what came to her head and to be quite honest it is one of the reasons why I love her. She was determined to fight through the pain and fatigue to give the girls the same birthday and you know what? She did it. The girls were born at 11:31 pm and 11:44 pm. It all happened so fast (I'm sure she will disagree with this). I can't really describe the feeling I had. I've told people before it is the greatest feeling in the world when your first child is born and you get to witness it. So great that there is no word that can even come close to describing it to give it the true justice it needs. With twins on the way, I not only got to feel it once, but twice. I love you Nora. Wren and Londyn are very lucky to call you their mother. Holy shit I'm a dad!