Open Letter to Matt Walsh

Dear Matt Walsh,

Until now, you have had no idea who I am or that I even exist. Until now, I have been a silent follower. I agree with your biblical stance on abortion, I've agreed with your stance on Trump, and I've agreed with a number of other issues you've blogged about. There have been several occasions I haven't completely agreed with you, but until now, I haven't disagreed with you so strongly I have felt compelled to write a formal response. 

Before I begin, let me make it perfectly clear that I am not financially endorsed by anyone. I don't get paid for blogging or writing in any form. I don't consider writing to be my strong suit and, with five children to care for around the clock, it isn't anything I have time to do as I'm sure you can see by how far behind I am on publishing in my own blog. In fact, with any free time I do get, I use it to knit or to spin. I have six alpaca fleeces to process and I'm anxious to knit them up since it is my favorite fiber. But this time, I made time. I have always been a quiet observer until I have felt the need to step in and set things straight, defending the defenseless, usually one person at a time as opposed to an entire group. And I've never been so upset in another's defense that my body has shaken as it is right now.

Let us begin with a semi-famous tweet I saw through a friend's screenshot shared on Facebook. I'm not actively on Twitter so I missed it on that particular form of social media. It is tweeted by one Matt Walsh @MattWalshBlog dated 6/9/2016 at 11:33 AM: "Drunken hook up culture is the problem, not "rape culture." Women can protect themselves by not participating in hook up culture."

Prior to this tweet, I was under the impression you were an intelligent man who has typed well-thought-out subject matter before publishing. As the adage goes, "There's a first for everything." Figuratively speaking, I put my foot in my mouth on a regular basis. I've always been good at it. But then, there's that "Doh!" moment and the guilt sets in and I have to apologize to someone. I'm just glad it isn't to an entire sex of humans all over creation because I'd feel really small then. 

Ugh. Here I go rambling again. See? Writing is not my strong suit. I'm going to need some help with this one so I got up and got my Bible. From every piece I've read of yours, I've gotten the impression you consider yourself to be a God fearing man, a Christian, a believer in our Creator, and redemption through the Gospel of Christ. I am also, except I'm a woman. As stated before, I have a special knack for inserting my foot in my mouth so I'm going to stick to the infallible Word of God for this.

As quoted, "Drunken hook up culture is the problem, not "rape culture"...."

Ephesians 5:18 "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery." 

According to Oxford Dictionaries, the definition of "debauchery" is "N. 1. excessive indulgence of sensual pleasures" not rape. Also, not a single one of the synonyms is rape. 

What is rape? According to Oxford Dictionaries, rape is: 

"N. 1. the crime, typically committed by a man, of forcing another person to have sexual intercourse with the offender against their will

V. 1. (especially of a man) force (another person) to have sexual intercourse with the offender against their will"

I haven't been raped, but I am a woman and I am very aware of the possibility - and it is terrifying, to be quite honest. My grandmother hadn't consumed alcohol when she was raped and became pregnant with her first child at 15 years of age in the 1940s. A friend of mine has a mother who is deaf because she has a rare genetic disease. She was walking to a college class completely sober when she was grabbed from behind, dragged away and raped in the 1970s. In 2009, a man raped a gas station attendant in my local area who was also not drunk. Within weeks, he proceeded to break into a third floor apartment in the night and raped a young mother who was also sober. Tell these women that they could have prevented their rapes by not participating in "drunken hook up culture." Please. We'd all love to hear it. My grandmother's attacker wasn't drinking either so there's that. These examples are, by no means, even scratching the surface of non-alcohol related rapes.

I don't follow you closely enough to know how many children you have or whether you have girls or boys or at least one of each. Do you have daughters? What will you tell them if they're raped? Will you tell them how it could have been prevented? That someone else's actions were their fault? Do you have sons? What will you teach them about rape? Will you teach them that it is okay for a woman to be raped because she has immersed herself in "drunken hook up culture?" 

Wrong! Sin, Matt. Sin is why we have drunken hook up culture and it is nothing new. Have you read about Sodom and Gomorrah? Sin is also the cause of rape. Romans 3:23 "...for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God...." You may or may not recall the first sin, fall of man, and curse of generational sin. I can't find a single verse in my bible which states "drunken hook up culture" causes and/or justifies rape. "Drunken hook up culture" is an excuse for a male to avoid taking responsibility for one's own actions. If a man gets drunk does it make it okay for him to beat his wife? Is it okay if she's drunk? But what if they were raised in a culture which condones it?

“Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme,”

‭‭I Peter‬ ‭2:13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Rape is illegal whether or not either party has imbibed! 

Ephesians‬ ‭6:13-18

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”

‭‭‬

Are you wearing your belt of truth or did you switch it out with the belt of opinion? The last I checked, the two are not one in the same. 

Who could have prevented these rapes if not the female victims? Surely not the very males who committed the rapes, for we all know that women must take responsibility for the thoughts actions of men, right? I wonder how many other males were at that party at Stanford that night, how many who were drunk and chose not to rape drunk girls.

“You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.”

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭139:2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before.”

‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭4:3-6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

““You shall not steal.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭20:15‬ ‭NIV‬‬

He stole her body and defiled it behind a dumpster while she was unconscious! But it is okay because she engaged in "drunken hook up culture?" Yes means yes and no means no. He didn't have permission. It doesn't matter that she wasn't able to say, "No," because she wasn't able to say, "Yes."

Ephesians 6:4 NKJV

And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord."

Fewer fathers do the aforementioned which means fewer men and women do this:

Ephesians 5:21 NIV

"Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ."

Ephesians 5:22

"Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord."

Ephesians 5:25

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her...."

I urge you to teach your children about the absolute truth (isn't that what you blog about?) - the infallible truth - not your deluded opinion. When we Christians raise our children up in the training and admonition of the Lord we are teaching them how to be loving husbands and wives. We are teaching our sons how to treat females, to love them in such a way they would die for them, not assault them! Teaching them certain things are wrong no matter what the circumstances are.

Rape is wrong regardless of the culture or setting it is in! 

"Thank You Sir, May I Have Another!?" she said.

When J3 was just 2 1/2 years old, we had Mirena removed. We were ready for another baby. No, I was not looking forward to another c-section, but I'd accepted it by now. I'd do it for another baby. I didn't feel as if our family was complete yet and Michael agreed.

It took a grueling six months for us to conceive. For those of you who have actually tried to conceive, you know how that feels. I know we're blessed it didn't take longer, but it felt like an eternity and each time I got my period was more and more disappointing. I could not wait to tell my friend, Jessica, that I was pregnant! Jessica is a natural birth instructor and birth doula, you see. She has three boys and I had two; we had a play date scheduled for the day I found out I was pregnant.

Within two weeks of knowing I was pregnant, I was so sick! I had nausea all day long and could not leave the couch unless it was absolutely necessary. At night, between midnight and 1:00 A.M., I'd vomit. After six to eight weeks of it, I broke down and cried to Michael. I told him I didn't know how other women do this and that it doesn't seem worth having more children to go through this. I told him I read the sickness could go on for several more weeks. Finally, a few days later, the nausea symptoms seemed to abate. Relief at last.

Now that I could function, I was starting to think about the upcoming c-section. I was thinking about the previous two experiences with cesarean. I was beginning to panic. I'd suddenly think about the c-section randomly in the day and my chest would grow tight. Struggling to breathe, writhing, gasping for air. I prayed asking God for peace regarding the c-section, repeating over & over, "Your will, not mine." Weeks went by and I was still having panic attacks. I decided to pour my heart out to Jessica. She's a natural birth educator, mom and woman; surely she'd understand.

Upon pouring out my heart to her, Jessica told me she has another friend, Sarah, with a similar story to mine. She introduced us together and we bonded instantly. Our stories are shockingly similar. Sarah shared her research with me and led me to the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN) for research and support. She also told me it's possible to have a VBAC after two cesareans and provided me with more of her research. A VBA2C. I immediately knew that is what I wanted. I began calling OBGYN offices to see if anyone would take me on. Every office I called turned me away. I got all the scare tactics you will ever hear about VBA2Cs. Sarah told me about a doctor she'd been negotiating with in a city an hour away. She was hopeful for a future VBA3C. I set up a consultation. Now, just to get Michael to agree to this....

Michael was less than receptive about a VBA2C. We'd previously been told there was a 50% chance of the baby and myself dying due to uterine rupture. I did research after that and had come to the realization that is a scare tactic, but Michael hadn't read much research yet. I had to convince him to read more research before meeting with the doctor. I was kind of afraid to confess to him that I was considering a home birth. I didn't trust doctors anymore, nor did I the medical system.

Michael reluctantly read the research. He was growing angry at me. I was growing angry at him. There was an unspoken tension growing between us. I can't believe he'd rather make me go under the knife again without at least considering other options! How dare he do that to me! He knows what I went through. He knows I'm terrified to do this again. Why is he being so reluctant?! I had to sit him down and talk to him about this. I must have his support in this or I can't do it, but I can't just go under the knife again either. I sat Michael down to talk to him about the research and how he felt about the VBA2C. He was shut down; he'd put up a wall. After quite a while, I finally got it out of him. He felt I'd already made my decision and that, whether he liked it or not, I was going to have a VBA2C. In a way, I had made my decision. My ongoing research made me realize it's riskier to have a repeat cesarean than to VBA2C. I was already no longer having panic attacks now that the VBA2C was an option. I still needed his support and I felt like he just wanted me to be cut to my innermost core again without a problem.

We met with Dr. M and he was...well...less than supportive and didn't really want to stick his neck out for me, but he knew a doctor who may be able and willing to help. He referred me to Dr. F and set up an appointment some six weeks out. On drive back home, Michael told me he's leaning toward a home birth at this point. He'd read the research as well and, after meeting with Dr. M, no longer feels doctors will help me. So, we met with a midwife too. She knew Dr. F and he'd backed up home births for many of her clients in his area. He came highly recommended. We went ahead and met with Dr. F as well. What a breath of fresh air! He told us that the risk of uterine rupture is highly inflated, said the scare tactics are garbage and pleaded with us to have a hospital birth since I'd had two cesareans. We didn't agree to the hospital birth, but we agreed to keep coming to appointments with him. With each appointment, we grilled him on different scenarios and how he'd handle them. I told him I fully intend upon a completely natural, drug free birth; all of which he was comfortable with.

We were undecided between a home birth or a hospital birth until the very last month of my pregnancy. It was only then that we'd decided to go to the hospital for our birth. We both had peace; we had Jessica as our doula and a team of prayer warriors. We had taken Brio (formerly Bradley) Natural Birth class and did all of the practicing we could and I did my exercises. I went to regular chiropractic care to make sure everything with aligned well for the birth. Now, we just wait for this baby to come!

Removing Mirena

When our boys were four years old and two and one-half years old we finally had Mirena removed. I never in my wildest dreams expected it to be such an epic event. I could not wait to get it out. I am pretty sure we conceived during the time Mirena was in my body and lost the baby. Not once, but twice. I have a lot of guilt with having chose such a device.The Mirena had actually gone AWOL somewhere in my uterus during its two and one-half year tenure in my body. The P.A. made several attempts to get it out and just could not find it. She was disappointed to tell me I'd probably have to go in for an ultrasound just to find it. I was uninsured and could not afford a bill like that. She consulted with the OBGYN who oversaw her and he suggested lidocain shots...into my cervix! I was not at all looking forward to it, but agreed. I was running out of affordable options. A few shots in the cervix later, she used the hemostats to reach through the cervix to the uterus and actually got the Mirena on the first try! The removal of the device was painful considering the entire process, but I was glad it was over. Finally, we could try for another baby! We were ready.

Who's Up For Round Two?! ~His Story

Jessica had been telling me for a couple weeks that she was pretty sure she was pregnant. I just did not have the feeling that she was; just kept thinking it was stress making her not feel well. We had a part time cleaning job together so we dropped off N5 at my moms house then went on our way to our cleaning job. Jessica had convinced me to get a pregnancy test on the way. Money was tight so we opted to get a store brand test. We thought we would stop by our house take the test and then head off to our cleaning job.

We took the test and it showed positive! Wow we are going to have a another baby!!! I was excited thinking, "Are we going to have a another boy or have a girl? What will his/hers interests be?. ...What will he/she look like?" We told my mom that night that we were pregnant. She was excited. My dad...not so much. Got questioned if we were planning. He kept saying, "You are going to have your hands full." I did not care. We were having another baby!!

Jessica and I had to make a decision to either have a vbac or another c-section. Ugh! The dreaded c-section. Memories of Jessica's previous c-section had come to mind: the experimental staples, the opening of the incision, recovery time and the "drugs" Jessica had to take during delivery and recovery. We opted for a repeat c-section to help clean up the scar from N5's birth.

 With this pregnancy we chose our due date for the scheduled delivery. Jessica and I were kind of bummed out that there was no surprise as to when our baby was going to be born.

May 18th, 2005. We had to be at the hospital at 7:30am that morning to check in. We woke up and got ready...nervous and anxious about our delivery and meeting our baby. We arrived at the hospital, checked in and started getting prepped for our delivery. N5's delivery seemed like it went so fast! With this delivery it seemed like it took forever! It was so quiet in the operating room, I heard everything and smelled everything like cauterizing of the skin...(YUCK!!) I could feel myself getting weak but kept telling myself to stay strong...got to stay strong for my wife. One of the nurses had told Jessica she will feel some pressure. Jessica's face turned red and I lost my strength. I passed out! When I came back to I was squeezing Jessica's hand very tightly! A nurse helped me up and had me leave the room. She got a cold wash cloth and had me put it on my neck. I got my strength back and walked back into the operating room. Nurses told me to leave and I had to watch our baby get cleaned up, weighed and umbilical cord cut from outside the room. I did not even know if we just had a boy or girl.. Not to mention seeing my wife laying on the operating bed alone, knowing I could not go in to hold her hand and giver her strength. A nurse came out with our baby announcing we just had a baby boy and gave him to me. I was so excited to get to finally see and hold our new baby!

I got to give J3 his first bath and be with him while he got all his vitals checked out. This took a couple hours. During this time I was wondering how my wife is doing. I asked a nurse how she was doing and all the first nurse said was she is in recovery. After J3 was done with his bath and vitals I asked another nurse if I could take J3 to Jessica. She informed me that Jessica was not doing too well and was taking longer to recover. She made it sound worse than what was actually going on. This put me in a world of panic! Jessica was having trouble getting her temperature back to normal. After a while, J3 and I were able to see Jessica and Jessica was able to finally meet and hold J3! This poor little guy kept crying for the 2 hours we were held of from seeing Jessica. He just wanted his mommy.






  

Who's Up For Round Two?! ~Her Story

Within a few short weeks of N5 and I giving up on the nursing I was having to use the bathroom a lot and was having dizzy spells. I realized that I was pregnant. Michael, however, was in denial and it took me two weeks to convince him that I should take a pregnancy test just to confirm what I already knew. We bought a cheap test rather than a digital test. We thought it was positive, but the lines were so faint that we really could not tell for sure. I still knew, however. Vertigo set in the next day and it was really bad; I could only walk if I leaned against walls. Considering how much physical pain I was still in from N5's cesarean and how much I hated my body at that point, we consider J3's pregnancy and birth a complete miracle. I had this huge, ugly scar from the cesarean and had what I have now found out what most post-cesarean moms call cesarean depression (though, I would not figure this out until after J3 was born) and had so much physical pain at the site of the scar I was unable to wear panties and certain pants. In those eight months we had not come together romantically even eight times.

Throughout the pregnancy we debated between a repeat cesarean to repair the physical pain I had been enduring from the botched cesarean or just planning for a VBAC birth which we were given the option of. When it came down to it, we had decided a repeat cesarean would be best so I could [hopefully] be pain free again. 

On the morning of Friday, May 18, 2007, at 39 weeks and 3 days we went in for my scheduled cesarean. During the surgery I'd requested a mirror so I could at least witness the birth of our baby. Michael is quite squeamish so I was narrating to him what was going on. I told him they were about ready to reach in and pull out our baby. Well, they have to do a bit a prying and moving things around; they actually move something (not sure) out of the way, shoving it toward the lungs which makes it difficult to breath. Michael told me my face turned red. He asked me if I was okay and I told him I was fine. He passed out. When he came to, he squeezed my hand (the one with the IV...OUCH!). A nurse helped him up and led him out of the room. There I was at the mercy of the doctor and her surgical team...alone after a botched cesarean just 17 short months ago. While I was happy to see our baby be born, hear the announcement, "It's a boy!" "Wow! Such long eyelashes!" I was still terrified. I was alone. My husband missed the glorious moment of our second baby boy being born. I. WAS. ALONE. I hate to admit, I'd completely forgotten that I was not alone; I had God.

It seemed like the surgical team took forever to get me stitched and stapled back up. Eventually, I was wheeled into recovery and left with two different nurses than I'd previously met. Again, I was alone. My body temperature was not coming back up so I was kept in recovery for two and one-half hours. I requested my husband and my baby, but was denied over and over. I asked how my baby was and was told nothing. I asked how my husband was...nothing. I didn't even know if my husband was with our baby. Finally, after two and one-half hours, my body temperature came back to normal. Michael and J3 were allowed to come see me. J3 had been screaming the entire time; he was not a happy camper. As soon as he saw me he got quiet, opened his mouth and turned his head. He knew what to do and he was STARVING!

At just one day old, I'd realized that Joshua had "that cry." I'd heard it before; I knew what it was. Our pediatrician and the lactation consultant on staff at the hospital both argued with me as if I knew nothing, but I knew. They said it was too soon, that my baby had to have exposure to milk and soy proteins. I felt that me ingesting milk and soy while our baby was still in utero was good enough; not to mention, the colostrum was sure to have milk and soy proteins in it. I called Dietary to see if the hospital offered the MSPI diet. Thankfully, they had recently started working with local pediatrician offices to offer moms the MSPI diet. I began the MSPI diet with the following meal. By the next day, J3 was no longer screaming and was content.

The lactation consultant had come to inform me that our new baby had a "tight frenulum" meaning he was tongue tied and that it would be best if they could have permission to clip it so I would not have trouble nursing. We consented, of course. When they brought him back from clipping his frenulum, they reassured me that there would be no pain to the baby. Sure. Who are you kidding?! Imagine a paper cut under your tongue; I'm sure that's how he felt. I'm not a dummy; I know how sores in the mouth feel. It just needed to be done and I'm okay with that. J3 dropped more weight than the staff liked. Yes, when you cut a baby's mouth, he's not going to want to nurse as much nor as vigorously because it HURTS. I had to begin pumping or they would not allow my baby to go home with us. I would breastfeed J3, pump and finger feed, wash and repeat. We had to track his intake amount for finger feeding and "outgo" times. The four days in the hospital seemed like forever, but he was able to go home with us.

On our second day home a nurse came to conduct a home visit. We were settling in well. N5 was angry; he didn't understand why we'd suddenly left him with his grandparents for four days even though Michael went to tuck him in bed every night and brought him to visit each day. We had planned on him staying with us at the hospital, but I was so sick from the pain medications that I could not have him there even just at night. Once the anger had subsided, N5 seemed to adjust well. He climbed up onto the couch each time I'd nurse J3 (a vigorous nurser each hour and one-half) and I'd read him a book. Though I could not lift him, he still accommodated me well and we still got our bonding time. I felt so relaxed while nursing J3 and I was so in love with him that I realized then that I'd had depression after N5. Bonding happened so fast with J3 and was so much stronger. I'd cry happy tears and sad tears at the same time. I was happy to be able to bond with my Snuggly Bear, but was so disappointed that I was cheated out of that bonding with our N5.

One week after J3 was born we attended a family reunion on my mom's side of the family. J3 screamed the entire next day. Michael discovered that the buns for the sloppy joes contained whey which is a form of milk protein. It was confirmed: J3 was MSPI.

Though I was (and am even more now) against using any invasive/medication-type form of birth control, we'd chosen to have Mirena inserted because I felt I could not handle having another baby anytime soon. Little did I know, it wasn't a baby at all; it was that I could not bear going for another cesarean. Because I'd had two cesareans, I'd been told by several doctors I would have to birth any subsequent babies via cesarean. I was cheated, robbed...they'd broken my body.

What Mother's Instinct?

By his third day home, N5 was no longer the quiet, content baby we brought home. He wasn't sleeping, was inconsolable and was using an unbelievable number of diapers! Nursing N5 was just another chore like cleaning the toilets. I had no emotion for my screaming baby. I remember just staring at him, waiting for him to be done. I could never wait to put my baby down. He didn't like me either. I had to call Michael home from work on his lunch hour just to get N5 to stop crying. I could not wait to hand our baby over at lunch and at night. N5 could not wait to see his dad and get away from me. I didn't hate him or want to hurt him, but I certainly really didn't want to be with him. I still wanted to nurse and do my best for him, however.

Every first-time parent hears, "Don't buy any newborn-size diapers; your baby will grow faster than you can use them." That was not the case at our house! We used somewhere around six 96-count packs of NB size diapers before he could move on to the size 1 diapers. I sought advice with my mom and my mother-in-law. I was told that I am a new mom and newborns just cry. I remember thinking to myself, "My brother (6 years younger than me) and cousins (10 and 13 years younger than myself) didn't cry this much when they were new babies." When we took him in for his one-month appointment at the Pediatrician she asked how things were going. My eyes welled up with tears. I told her, "We love our baby, but we really don't like him." It's true. I had told Michael on the way to the appointment that maybe we'd made a mistake; maybe we weren't ready for kids. The doctor decided to test N5. She directed me to nurse him and then they'd take his dirty diaper for testing. After the nurse took the dirty diaper, the doctor was back in five minutes. Diagnosis: Milk and Soy Protein Intolerance (MSPI). My baby's tummy was being ripped apart because he was unable to digest milk and soy proteins. We were given copies of a strict diet I should follow to help my baby's tummy. No dairy, no soy.

Leaving the office, I felt so much better about my mothering instinct. I knew there was something wrong with my baby with all that crying, but I was convinced I didn't have the "Mother's Instinct" every mom talks about and that I was not going to be able to care for my baby the way other moms do. Within two days of changing my diet, our baby was much happier. He was not better completely. He still cried quite a bit and had some bad days with diapers, but we finally got into a routine. My milk supply took a direct hit, however. We'd have been able to work through it and nurse successfully had I not gone back to work full time. I dreaded every moment away from my baby. Alimentum at daycare and nursing at night. After two and one-half months of working full-time and a great promotion, I came home with N5 full-time. Unfortunately, my milk supply was hit hard enough we still had to supplement with formula which eventually turned into supplementing with nursing. By his 8th month, N5 worked for five minutes to get a gulp. I finally gave in and went full-time formula. I'd felt like a failure; completely defeated.

Failing with nursing left me with a lot of guilt, but I did the best with what I had and what help we could afford to seek out. My baby and I were in tune with one another and we communicated quite well by then. We could enjoy one another's company.

We Have a First-Timer Here! ...His Perspective

Wow so much excitement that morning where do I begin!!

I was 24 and my wife was 23 and both of us were thrilled to meet our baby! We took a breastfeeding class and an infant care class where we met our future pediatrician for our boys. Our birth plan was to deliver our baby naturally with no drugs. Unfortunately, we did not take a natural birthing class; we just read "Your Pregnancy Week by Week" book and had that whole "It's not going to happen to me" feeling about a cesarean delivery.

On the evening of December 13th right before I left work Jessica called me to let me know "tonight might be the night!" So when I got home Jessi called L&D at the hospital we were going to deliver at and told them that her bag of waters might be leaking so they had us come in. While we were in the waiting room it is like our baby knew, Jessi had a couple strong contractions and at that point Jessi knew.."this was it". So we got admitted to our L&D room and Jessi got hooked up to all the monitors. They laid her in bed and made her feel relaxed. At this point I am in a awe thinking wow this is really happening!! A nurse came in checked to see if Jessi was dilated at all, and she was. The nurse said Jessi was "1 finger and a wiggle".  I called my parents and told them this is it, I think we are having this baby tonight!! So a little while later in comes my parents and my brother. Our labor stalled having extra people in the room making things less relaxing for Jessi. Jessi's OB came and gave Jessi some Visceral to help her sleep and sent us home around 2:30am.


I slept pretty lightly when we were sent home from the hospital and woke up every time Jessi would move or had a contraction. Around 6:00am Jessi woke me up and asked if I could go get her a breakfast burrito, I asked for five minutes, then probably 10 minutes later she woke me up again, I again asked for 5 more minutes and so on until 7:30am(ish) then Jessi's water breaks, so here I am looking for a puddle of water on the bed, she hurries to the bathroom and asks for a new pad (we had the car all packed from the night before for our hospital stay) So I go out to the car and bring back a pad, thinking that just 1 will be fine. Jessi says "Just one?!?!?!" So back to the car I go and bring back the whole pack. 


I could not drive fast enough to the hospital, although the hospital is only 2 miles away it seemed like it was 200! So we get to the hospital and I can not find a close place to park, so here I am driving around this parking garage trying to find that close spot to the door which did not impress Jessi at all! So finally I find a place and we get into L&D. We get settled into our room and the nurse comes in and checks to see how far Jessi has dilated. The nurse then says "uh-oh, I think I violated the baby", Jessi and I look at each other and nurse gets another nurse for a second opinion, and sure enough our baby was breech! Our OB came in and told us that we are going to have to deliver this baby by c-section. What we absolutely did not want was now going to happen and at the time we did not know we had a choice whether or not to deliver by cesarean; we were the rookie, uneducated parents that did not know we had any rights. So before we knew it a nurse came in and gave me my scrubs and off to the operating room we went to deliver this baby.


The c-section seemed like it only took 5 minutes, we were so awe-stricken by the fact that we are going to meet our baby!! The c-section went smoothly during delivery, our baby came out at 10:07am with open eyes and very alert. I heard "It's a boy!" Jessi and I cried with excitement and while the nurses and our OB finished up with Jessi, I got to cut the umbilical cord and show off our new baby to my parents and Jessi's best friend. Throughout the day I could not take enough pictures of Jessi and our baby, I held him all evening and night long until 5:00am the next morning when Jessi convinced me to take him to the nursery so we could get some sleep.


All though we did not want to deliver our baby c-section it seemed like everything went okay except for a couple "bumps" along the road. Little did we know. It all started when Jessi was getting the epidural and the doctor was way too aggressive inserting the needle. Then 9 hours after our c-section the staples started to back themselves out! A nurse removed the center ones and replaced them with steri-strips. The rest of the staples were removed the day we got to go home. By the time we got home and somewhat settled in the incision had opened up to the fundus layer. Jessi had made an appointment for the next morning to go to her OB and get the incision checked out. Her OB comes in and is surprised that the staples did not hold which she then tells us that we were pretty much her "test dummy" and these were experimental staples. (WHAT?!?!) We were not impressed to say the least, we were not informed that they would be using experimental staples on us nor would we have even signed up for that! Had the incision not opened up we would have never known we were a "test dummy!"


Jessi had to get a ride from my brother to our OB's office everyday for the next week to have her incision packed as she could not drive for 2 weeks and I could not take all that time off work everyday. Luckily no serious infection set in and we got it checked right away.