After much waiting and anticipation, Joseph Williams Kenalio Brems finally came to join our family on June 23, 2011 at 1:45 PM. Despite a few bumps and scares along the road, both mom and baby are doing very well and we are very excited to have our sweet little angel with us.
The story of his arrival begins early Wednesday morning. At about 1 AM, Jodie was woken up by a contraction. At 3:30 AM, Jodie woke me up and told me that she was having contractions about every 8 minutes apart. We started recording the frequency and within a few hours, Jodie was having contractions under 5 minutes apart and we head out to the hospital.
At the hospital, we first went to the triage center and Jodie was dilated to a 4. Our doctor was the physician on call at the Women's Center and recommended that we walk around for 2 hours to encourage things along. This was a little bit of a curse because we were confined to the triage center; it took 3 minutes to slowly walk a loop around triage (I timed it). After 2 hours of walking and contractions, Jodie hadn't progressed, so our doctor sent us home.
Once we got home and after a quick nap, we started walking around to try and encourage the contractions even more. Personally, I was very thankful that we had a bigger area to walk around. Gradually, they started to pack more of a punch. So, at 2 AM on Thursday, we went to the hospital again. We went to the triage again and Jodie wasn't even dilated to a 5. Because it was during the night shift, they didn't want us to walk around and said they would just monitor Jodie for an hour. In hind sight, this was a big blessing for us because they noticed that Joseph's heart rate dipped during one of the contractions. This deceleration and 24 hours of solid contractions gave them enough justification to admit Jodie. The doctor on call recommended that we give Jodie an epidural and potentially induce labor.
Shortly after being admitted, Jodie was able to get an epidural. Despite the relief from the pain, Jodie still wasn't able to get some sleep because with the epidural, her blood pressure began to drop; which began to affect baby. After getting over the blood pressure scare and getting Jodie stabilized, they started the pitocin. Joseph didn't like the pitocin and he let everyone know. Once we started, Joseph's heart rate began to decelerate with the contractions again. They discontinued the pitocin and started Jodie on oxygen to help improve Joseph's heart rate. After a little bit, he stabilized and they started the pitocin again. Sure enough, his heart rate decelerated again during the contractions and we stopped the pitocin and he stabilized. Around this time, we had a nurse come in and ask if it was ok for a student nurse to shadow our nurse. Of course we were fine with it, but I knew immediately that we were an atypical case and things could get interesting. Hopefully our experience helped the intern to be better prepared when she starts working- we went through just about everything.
After a few failed runs of pitocin, the doctor came in to examine Jodie- we were just barely at a 5. She decided to break her water in hopes that would encourage the dilation. Additionally, she wanted to attach an intrauterine monitoring device to Joseph to better monitor his pulse. They were able to attach it the first attempt, but the connection wasn't very good. So, the tried to place another one but nobody could get it attached. Because of and during these numerous failed attempts, they found out that Joseph was in a slight transverse position. The good news was this helped to explain the lack of dilation, but also meant that Joseph had to turn his head before anything would happen. To try an encourage Joseph to turn, they had Jodie flipping from side to side- which also helped with Joseph's heart rate. Around this time, I took this picture of Jodie. In spite of all that was going on, she was still quite the trooper and was willing to throw up a shaka for the camera.
All in all, they didn't use the pitocin very much because of Joseph's reaction. They worried about the possibility of the cord being wrapped around his neck, which would account for his reaction to the contractions. After being in the labor room for 12 hours, Joseph's heart rate was still slowing down to about 60-70 bpm during contractions- a far cry from his usual of 145 bpm. During this time, the doctor came in again and checked Jodie's progress- still dilated only to a 5. Because there was no improvement after 36 hours of labor and pitocin was out of the question, the doctor recommended that we perform a c-section. After getting the go ahead, we were quickly prepped and transported to the operating room. Within 45 minutes, Joseph Williams Kenalio Brems was born, coming in at 19.5 inches and weighing 7 pounds even.
We've gotten some questions about his name, so here's the explanation:
Ever since an early teenage, Joseph was the only name that I ever thought of and wanted to name one of my sons. In addition, Joseph is in both sides of our family, so it worked out nicely. Williams is my middle name. It comes from my grandpa, Robert Williams Brems, it was his mother's maiden name. Kenalio, pronounced Ken-AH-leo, comes from Jodie's family. On Jodie's mom's side of the family, Kenalio is the Hawaiian name given to all the first born sons as far back as we can trace in our family history. It is a warrior's name and means strength and power. It has been a very fitting name for him so far and is a great tradition that I'm glad to pass on to my son. So, his two middle names are great reminders of his rich family heritage.
So, here is Joseph's first picture. They were getting him cleaned and all ready to go to the nursery.
Here he is at the nursery. We got to spend about 45 minutes together while we were waiting for mom to get stitched up and back to the room. It was one of most special moments in my life, cradling him in my arms and starring into these big eyes.
Here's a picture from after we got back to the room and he got to spend some time with mommy.
We have a little thumb-sucker. He really likes to have his hands by his head and to be swaddled very tightly.
Within 45 minutes of his birth (timing worked out perfect), Jodie's parents landed in Tucson and were the first people to meet out little angel.
Here are mom and dad getting some quality time with Joseph. Jodie's parents are actually going to be staying with us for almost 2 weeks; which is very nice because Jodie's C-section is really going to slow her down for the next few weeks.
Later that night, my parents were able to come down to Tucson to meet Joseph. It wasn't a very long visit because my dad was on call at the hospital, but it was nice for them to be able to spend some time with their newest grandson.
My sister-in-law recommended that she try to walk as much as possible, as soon as possible to help speed the recovery of the c-section. So, with that advice, Jodie and mom took Joseph on his first "stroller" ride. It made me laugh because the cart had really squeaky wheels and you could tell whenever they were close by.
Jodie and I with our little man.
Two days later, my mom got back from France and came to the hospital to meet Joseph. She made some very special blankets for Joseph, ones that all of us boys had when we were born. But here is my mom holding Joseph; another very proud grandma.
We consider ourselves very lucky to have Joseph able to meet most of his grandparents so quickly after his birth. He was able to feel so much love and support; I think it really helped his transition. On a personal note, Jodie and I would like to thank everyone's support and kindness that they have shown to us; we appreciate it very much.
At the end of my mom's visit, the doctor's came in and told Jodie that we could go home if we wanted. So, we got everything together and came home with our little angel. Notice his blue blanket- its one of the special blankets from his grandma.
As I sit and reflect on the miracle that has happened in our lives, I find myself deeply grateful for the many blessings that we have received. So many little things, that if they didn't happen the way they did, we may not have our little angel with us. I am so thankful to the many nurses and doctors who oversaw Joseph's arrival into this world- without their skills and expertise, the outcome could have been dramatically different. Lastly, I'm so very thankful for the prays of our families and friends, they provided so much comfort when there was so much uncertainty. Humbly and gratefully, we present you our little angel, Joseph.
Which leads to his next favorite activity, sleeping. Especially when he is in his bouncer.
He also doesn't like to be unwrapped. The quickest way to wake him up is to change his diaper. So, naturally, he was a little apprehensive about the idea of his first bath.
Needless to say, he wasn't a fan and his face showed it too.
He also loves sleeping on his changing table pad- who'd a thought.
He'd also make a really good football referee, except if it weren't for his two favorite activities of snuggling and sleeping.
However, he still will call a touchdown in his sleep.
Tummy time... its okay.
Not nearly as exciting as reading with mommy.
However, he does like to cuddle with daddy too.
Or Grandpa
Or Grandma
And the last new discovery today, he seems to like cupcakes too. So much that grandpa had to hold him back.
We love you, Joseph!
