The birth of my son

Brandy, my wife, and my boy!

And yes boys, Brandy is single:)

Cody James Richard Hanson

Big shoulders and chest. Long tourso, and the Hanson's short stubby legs. Sorry about that son.

When my wife went into labor with my daughter it was a slow and relatively easy birth. Not so with little Cody. My wife's water broke at 10:50pm Sat Aug 4th. I thought people's water only broke like that in the movies. But nope, in the real world, just like in the movies, no warning, nothing, just BAM. Or should I say SPLASH. Ok, more like a steady and constant trickle. Too much info? Sorry. Just trying to set the mood, which for this labor was fast, intense, and all in all surprising. We called my Mother-in-law right away to come pick up my daughter because it was show time!

My gorgeous wife's contractions didn't start until about 20 minutes after her water broke. Since her contractions didn't start right away, and my daughter took a day and a half to get here after contractions started with her, we assumed we had plenty of time to wait for my In-law to drive from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. Wrong! The first contraction suprised my wife and I with how strong and long it was. So I grabbed my little girl in one hand, our suit cases in the other and sprinted out the door. On the way to the hospital her contractions were lasting 2-3 minutes and were only about 2 minutes apart.

By midnight we were in hard labor. Notice how I say "we". I guess technically she was the only one going through labor. Don't know why I feel compelled to say "we" considering she was the only one in intense pain. But anyhow, at midnight Dr. Kelly is in the room and telling her to push. They could feel his head and each time she pushed they said he was getting closer. By 3am the Doc and nurses are starting to get concerned. Cindy's really hurting and I'm freaking out! The medical staff are busy so they aren't really able to explain much. What they do tell me is that with every contraction my son's heart rate is slowing down and my son seems too big for my wife to push out. Shortly after 3am the nurses are saying the problem with my son is getting worse, so they put an oxygen mask on my wife. And then my wife flat lines! I'm no medical expert but I've seen enough movies to know when someone flat lines: it means they have died. I've never been so scared in my life! 2 of the three people I love most in this world may be dying right in front of my eyes. I looked at my wife when the machine claimed that she flat lined and she was in the middle of a contraction. Other than that she seemed fine. Is there some kind of delay or something? Turns out the machine they were using to monitor my wife's vitals had been malfunctioning allot recently. She was still alive, just machine malfunction. Thanks for the warning about the machine people!

But unfortunately my son's HR dropping with every contraction was still a real concern. Just before 4am the Doc said she wanted to try a couple more times, but if my wife wasn't able to deliver they were going to do a C-section. So on the last contraction the Doc actually reaches in and grabs hold of my sons head, and the nurse pushes on the top of my wife's stomach with both hands when my wife pushed. Thankfully my son's head plops out. And then no movement again at all. His head is stuck-literally. My wife is still pushing, the nurse is still pushing on the top of my wife's stomach, the Dr is even wanking on my son's head. But he's not coming out! I'm in complete melt down mode. My wife starts weeping and saying "I can't, I can't do it." The Doctor then said in a very loud voice, almost yelling" Cindy push, you have to push" while simultaneously wanking on my sons head again. My son did finally get pulled out and my wife let out a horrid yelp! Turns out the Doctor said he had some of the biggest shoulders she'd ever seen on a new born. When he comes out he's blue and apparently there is something wrong because they cut the cord right away and rush him over to a corner to start working on him. I was frozen. I couldn't move, I wasn't thinking, I couldn't even get out a full prayer. I just kept repeating over and over in my head " oh please God, Oh please!" After what felt like an eternity I hear what sounded like a squawk, then it turned into a real cry. He was alright. Thank goodness God answers prayers even if when I turned into a complete and bumbling idiot that couldn't even fully articulate a full prayer!

From that point on everything was fine. Cody James Richard Hanson was born at 4:01am, 8lbs 7oz. 22.5 inches long. No fat on that kids body! He was all head, chest and shoulders. I'm telling you, this kid has some seriously broad shoulders on him. He was born ready to bench press 220. After he was cleaned up he and I had our first arm wrestling competition, and I'll be dad gum, the little turd beat me. Alright, a little exaggeration there, but I can't help it. I'm just so dang proud.

I've attached pics. Let me tell you, they don't do my boy justice, he's much more handsome in person. And I'd like you all to notice, even after such a hard night how beautiful my wife still looks. Enjoy.