Now, I will go onto life, for I have taken part in that, I have a son, and I was there when he was concieved, I was there when he was born. That was another memorable occasion, seeing a life brought into this world. My son's birth is a rather funny story. I was stationed 150 miles from my now ex-wife (at the time we were not married yet) and only came home on weekends to be with her. It was a Friday night when I came home, and payday, so on the way to the apartment she wanted to stop at Wal-mart because she had to buy an entertainment center. I pretty much always let her have her way, so we stopped, one of the stockboys helped me put it in the car and we headed home. When we arrived home, I was on my way to ask a neighbor to help me carry the center into the apartment when my stubborn ex-wife grabbed the box and started pulling it out of the car by herself. I asked her if she was crazy and told her to wait, but that wasn't happening. (let me insert a few details here, like the fact that at her appointment the Tuesday before this, she was already dilated at like 3 1/2 centimeters, they were expecting her to have the baby at anytime) So since she was being stubborn I grabbed the other side of the box and we carried it into the house. Not sure if I then put it together or what, but the next thing I remember was her waking me up sometime in the night to tell me she was in contractions. So I asked her how far apart were they and she told me like 20 minutes. I told her to wake me up when they were closer (yeah I know girls, I know). The next morning the Commandant was to be on base and she had a formation to go to which she insisted on going to, I told her she was crazy and no one was going to say anything to her for missing a formation when she was in labor, but she insisted. So I drove her to this formation, the whole time she was having contractions, about climbing out of the carseat everytime they hit. We get to the formation and her plattoon sergeant said something to the effect that only she would show up to a formation IN LABOR, and we went to the hospital. When we walked onto the delivery floor, the Naval Nurse who was standing there, looked at my ex-wife and told her she wasn't even in labor (and when I say looked, I mean we didn't even make it to a room, we were at the admitting desk) and to go back home. At this point I was a bit pissed off, if on Tuesday she was at 3 1/2 centimeters, then I was wondering where she was at now, anyway, we went home, and she took a long hot shower. Around 2:30 p.m. we went back to the hospital and they actually looked at her. The nurse who had turned us away earlier was still on duty, and she is the one who checked Sarah out. I remember sitting there (although we weren't married the Navy decided since I was the father I was allowed to be there) and the nurse was checking to see how dilated she was, the nurse was like, hold on, I will be right back and cameback with the midwife, the midwife checked and said, "yes, she is at 8 centimeters", the look on the nurse's face at this time was quite priceless, and I knew she remembered us from a few hours earlier. Well for any that do not know, you can't get an epideral when you are that far along, so my ex was just dealing with the pain. It wasn't long before the doctor came in and started doing her thing. Sarah was screaming she was in a lot of pain, and the doctor looked at her and told her to shut up, it wasn't that bad. This was all very crazy for me, and seeing her in that much pain was tearing me apart, I kept wanting to cry. Well after the doctor said that to her, there was no way I was going to cry or do anything of the sort, I had to keep looking out the window and clearing my eyes. I am not that sure, but I think we were at the hospital anywhere from 45 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes before my son was born. They even let me cut the umbilical cord. Watching his birth is the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life. Although it was also one of the most disgusting things as well, seeing something that size come out of something that small was not something you can prepare yourself for, in anyway. Since the day he was born he has been a true joy, and one of the most precious things in my life.
