Coaches Entry: Post Delivery

Oh my, where do I start...
Well, my name is Craig. I may have been mentioned before in this blog, or you may know me. If you don't, I am Jenny's lesser half/husband. She suggested that I make an entry in her blog. I'm not sure why because she has seen my level of writing, and as a teacher she has never been impressed.

Now that the introductions are done, I guess I'll start from the beginning and give my perspective. I met Marc during a Light the Night event in Dayton for a mutual friend's daughter who was going through treatments for Leukemia. He was introduced to me by my wife as an old friend who she went to school with, but had moved away before I returned from Florida. He seemed like an alright guy. I met him again briefly during our class reunion/fund raiser for Ally's Army. It seemed that old friendships were rekindled between Marc and Jenny though Facebook. As you may know, Jenny is very thorough when talking to friends and usually digs to know everything about you and your story. (I am often under scrutiny from her when I talk to friends because I seldom ask "important" questions that I feel aren't much of my business.) With that said, she knew everything there was to know about Marc and Michael's journey, including their efforts to become parents. She vaguely told me some of the details from time to time. At some point she told me of their attempts for adoption, and that it did not work out. Not long after this I remember her coming to me and asking my opinion about the possibility of her doing a surrogacy for Marc and Micheal. I said "that sounds okay I guess" and away we went...

During the early stages of the process, I wasn't included in all of the details, but I was kept in the loop enough to be able to say that I knew what was going on. I was finally able to meet Michael at a meet and greet dinner arranged by Jenny and Marc, while they were in town taking care of some of the details at the reproductive clinic. He seemed to be a pretty good guy as well. Apparently a pretty big deal back in L.A. but unfortunately I hadn't heard of him.

I guess one of my first real support roles was placed upon me when Jenny asked if I could go with her to an appointment to see Sally (am extremely nice nurse who works at the clinic, who Jenny has a love/hate relationship with). I think she might have been nervous about the ride home. Much to Jenny's dismay this is where the big 'ol box of needles and meds came to life. If you have read the blog to this point, you know what I'm talking about. Needless to say, Jenny was pretty shaken up and I'm glad I was there because I am not sure she would have been able to get home in one piece. I was not allowed to administer any of these shots even though I was trained by sweet Sally. I'm not sure why. I went for the actual implanting of the fertilized eggs. They decided to implant two eggs because of the normal success rate being less than 50%. Little did they know that Jenny's "uterus of steel" was more than ready for the task. I remember the first ultrasound to check if the implantation had been successful. I think I was the only one not surprised that they both "took". If you put two loaves in that particular oven, you're getting two loaves out!

Things were getting exciting and plans were being made. I was having fun teasing the fellas about things to come (these were going to be girls). Doctor appointments were becoming more frequent and I was much more involved by this point. Now came the time when discussions were had about who would be in the delivery room. Jenny's doctor only would allow one other person besides Jenny due to fact that it was to be done in the O.R. in case an emergency c-section was needed. Jenny wanted that person to be me. She was nervous about telling Marc and Micheal this, but I told her they would surely understand. They did, and all the plans were in place.

Delivery Day:

We were off to a good start and it was exciting to see the "Daddies to be" experience labor for the first time. Although it was fairly uneventful, it can be very interesting the first time. I was enjoying my role as the experienced Daddy showing Marc and Micheal all the gadgets and what nots around the room. I tried to explain things to the best of my knowledge. When I was unable, the labor nurse was happy to answer any questions for us. Side note, Best labor nurse we have had to date. One of the best moments during that time for me was when Dr. Lepi did a "cervical check" without warning and caught the Daddies completly off gaurd. I'll never forget thier faces. They looked traumatized.

It was my daughter's idea to do the live Twitter feed during the procedure. Facebook can get overwhelming when you're getting a million notifications for each comment and like. I think it worked out pretty well and it relieved some of the pressure off of the daddies for having to give constant updates. I really had fun doing it. There were over 4880 views of my account during that day. I gained 109 followers. Be proud #bogobabynation.

Delivery started out fairly normal, apart from being in the O.R. I, as the coach, was given the ever so important task of counting to ten. Thats right ten, not eleven, not twelve. When Jenny started to push I counted, 1 one thousand, 2 one thousand, up until 10 one thousand, let Jenny breathe, push and count, rest, and then again. Three times per contraction. When Kate started to came out, the doctor said she was face up. I knew what this meant because our son Drew made the same entry. So it took some extra pushing, but it wasn't too bad. A quick scramble with the ultrasound to make sure Eliza was still head down and Jenny was off to pushing again, and I was counting again. Poor little Eliza was face up as well and really took some doing to make an apperance. While Jenny was doing just fine on her job, I was a wreck. I kept losing my place, getting nervous, and really not earning my keep. When Eliza finally came out, I was relieved. My poor Jenny was exhuasted, but she made it. I will skip the unpleasantries that follow childbirth and just say it wasn't very comfortable for Jenny.

I was very proud to be a part of Marc and Michael's journey into parenthood. I have no doubts that they will be great parents. They'd better or Jenny will be knocking down thier door. I was/am overwhelmed to see all of the positive support for them.

It was wonderful to have your support and to get so many messages about our part of this journey being moving, amazing, etc. I hope that people who were inspired by our story will go out and do something for someone else. It doesn't need to be giving up space in your uterus. It could be much simpler, like helping the elderly, giving to charity, or donating blood. It's a great feeling to see that something you've done has had a positive impact on someone else's life. Peace.