My Wife

I know I just wrote a blog about our labor experience, but I couldn't let another day go by without talking about the person that has been the rock in all of this: my wife, Kellie.

From day one she has been so positive and strong. Even as the days turned into months with the pregnancy, her complaints were few and far between. Hell, even during and after labor, she rarely opened her mouth to complain about anything.

During the pregnancy, Kellie was working two jobs. Not to mention, one of those jobs was teaching dance five nights a week. She still worked that job, along with the other one, up until a week from the due date! Yes she could have complained about every little pain, and milked it for everything. But that's not the person she is. She is determined, self-sufficient, strong, selfless, and hard-working. Sometimes I wonder why she really keeps me around!

During labor, she never complained about much. She just sat there mentally preparing herself (by eating popsicles and playing Nintendo DS). And when the time came for her to really push, she just stepped up to the plate, grabbed it by the nuts, and twisted (please excuse the analogy...just wanted to paint a picture). After labor, they had to stitch her up for an hour and a half, and she handled that like a champ. If I would have plopped a load of unfolded laundry in front of her, she would have tried to get that done then too.

She was up going to the bathroom and walking around the next morning, just daring someone to try and stop her from getting better. Even after we got home, I had to stop her from trying to carry crap up the stairs! I try to be the best husband I can, but I can't keep my eyes on her every second of the day. And trust me, it only takes a second for her to get it in her mind that she is going to do something. The woman is a machine, and I admire her to no end.

I say all of this to try and explain just how mentally and physically strong my wife actually is. I think the fact that she is a tiny little thing really fools people, and she is constantly underestimated. But not by me.

I know a lot of this sounds scatter-brained, but once I get a thought about her in my head, another one pops into my head that I have to get out. But that's how she makes me feel.

So to everyone out there, go ahead and underestimate her. Really, go ahead. But be prepared to be crushed and left in a wake of determination, will, and love.

And to my beautiful, strong, hard-working wife/mother of my child, I say, and I can't say it enough, thank you, and I love you. You have done such a tremendous job throughout not only this pregnancy, but our life as well. I know that our boy is in good hands. I couldn't dream up a better person to be with, or to ask help raise a child. I can't wait to spend the rest of our lives together, making memories with that little turd, and any other little chaps God blesses us with.

Narrative From The Proud Poppa

Well, we have finally reached the end of a long and memory-filled nine months, only to begin a lifetime of more memories. We could not possibly have been blessed in any different manner. I'd like to let y'all know just how awesome everything was with our labor from beginning to end, with details for all of those women (and maybe men) who can't live without them.



If everyone didn't know, Kellie was due to have this little turd on Nov. 17, but that date passed us with the quickness. After the hospital changing our inducement date two times, they finally set it for Nov. 24. We were convinced that we wouldn't have him until that day, so we weren't 100% mentally prepared for what was about to come.



Kellie actually went to the hospital on Nov. 21 when her sister went into labor. She came home that night, and we did everything we normally do before going to bed. Kellie woke about 12:30 on the 22nd feeling somewhat uncomfortable and went downstairs to sleep. I didn't think anything of it, as she had just started to battle her comfort when sleeping. Well, she came back up to the bedroom around 1:30, saying that she wasn't sure, but she thought her water may have broke, and pointed to her wet pants! It wasn't much, so we decided to wait until her contractions really started and got close. A few hours later, it was time! We called the doctor and he told us to come on in!



I thought I would be totally calm and collected, but I have to admit that I was a little scatter-brained. We gathered up all of the stuff we wanted to bring (which we didn't use but half of!), and finally left for the hospital around 6:00 am on the 22nd. Kellie was having contractions a good 3-4 mins apart on average, but they were very sporadic.

We got tot Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis around 6:30 and got her checked in. They immediately examined her and she was 4 cm dilated, and well on her way. They got us into our room shortly thereafter, and the waiting began. The nurses and doctors checked her every couple of hours for progress. The first time they checked her, she was about 5 cm, and we were encouraged that this was going to progress without much intervention. A couple more hours, another check, and she was already at 6 cm! And that's where we stalled...

They checked Kellie for the next 4-5 hours, and she hadn't budged from 6 cm, so they decided to start her on Petocin (sp). Well, that seemed to do the trick. They checked her 2-3 hours later and she was at 8 freakin' cm! That's when I knew it was almost "go time." Another 2 or so hours passed, another check, and she was now at 10 cm! As soon as I heard that, I knew it was only going to be a short time until this little man arrived. BUT...the nurses informed us that the doctor just got called for an emergency C-section, so it would be a while until she could get in there. So, the nurses said we would wait until the doctor was close to being done until we started pushing. Great...more waiting...

It's at this point that I want to stop and let everyone know how easy it had been up to now. After Kellie got her epidural, she was sitting in bed, eating popsicles, and playing Nintendo DS, while she was having contractions. So she had been feeling no pain or real discomfort. I got some on video and also took some pictures, so she couldn't then come back and blackmail me with a "hard and painful labor", or tell her friends and family what I put her through!

Back to the labor. The nurses finally came in and told us that the doctor was almost done, so we could start pushing. Talk about adrenaline pumping! I'm going to save the details of this part of the labor for another post, so stay tuned. But in the meantime, here's the rest of this part: an hour and a half later, my beautiful, strong, sweet wife gave birth to a beautiful, healthy, perfect baby boy!

Words can't express the emotions you feel at that time, but I will certainly try and explain all of that.......in another post for your reading enjoyment.

That first night was something else! We were EXHAUSTED! Nonetheless, we were in awe at the little bundle sitting next to us. Our nurses made it so good for us! And I just want to let everyone know how absolutely phenomenal our nurses were. They offered to take that boy with them for a few hours to let us try and get some sleep, and we obliged. And for all of those who wonder why on Earth we would do that, just you wait (if you haven't already had a child). After being up nearly 12 hours, and have just gone through the most physically (for Kellie) and mentally challenging and awarding experience in your life, sleep is the best thing for you.

Everything checked out great for both Seth Jr., and Kellie, so we were able to get out of the hospital two days later. Getting that boy all wrapped up and into that car seat was surreal.

We finally got home after driving the speed limit the entire way, dropped all of our stuff in the living room, sit Seth down in his car seat, and we all took at HUGE nap!

So needless to say, everyone is home and doing wonderful. Check back in periodically for new posts, because I think I'm really going to enjoy letting you all know all about it through my eyes.

But that stuff can wait. For now, I'm looking forward to spending every waking moment with my wonderful wife and beautiful new child. And don't think for one second that we aren't counting our blessings for what God has given us not only now, but throughout our lives to bring us to where we are now.

Thanks to everyone for their love and support along the way, and we look forward to writing more and describing our experiences with parenthood, and how we are dealing with it all.

Love you all,

Seth Sr.

Welcome new baby Greer!

This is our first blog post. We decided it was "the thing to do" since we have so much of our family and friends are out of town.

Baby Seth Greer was born this weekend, Saturday, November 22, 2008. He was born at 8:03pm and was 8 lbs 1 oz. 20.5 inches long. He is absolutely perfect...

Our whole experience through pregnancy, labor, delivery was wonderful! We truly couldn't have asked for more. What a blessing right to the end of that stage and through the beginning of this new adventure.

Seth Sr. was amazing through the whole experience as well, he was so supportive. The nurses were amazed at how helpful and involved he was. I already knew he would be but it was awesome to watch him in action through it all.

He's an awesome father too, he gets up with baby Seth, holds him, makes sure I have my sleep, and even comes home with goodies for us when he runs errands. Tonight was black bottom cupcakes:)

This whole parenting thing IS so differnt when you're in it. Before Seth was born people said it would be different when he was born. It SO is. I don't mind the lack of sleep (although it's missed) and the house being a mess...I'm accepting it. It's awesome learning to distinguish the little guys different cries, learning to multi task with a new one, and still finding time for big Seth and I to talk before bed. Jack's doing great too, he doesn't bother the baby much, just sniffs him and when he cries in the pack in play at night, Jack goes to the end of our bed to check on him. He's the protective big brother (dog). So sweet!

We can't wait to keep posting and sharing our new journey...