Looking back through all of these pictures really makes me almost teary-eyed every single time. I knew being a father would be a difficult task, and having a girl would be even harder. But what no one tell's you, what no one stops to think about is that your wife could have the complications during the pregnancy, not the baby.
Lets rewind back to February 4th, 2015:
Yes. A positive pregnancy test. This (Along with 7, or 8) other positive pregnancy test is what my wife gave to me as I came in the door, just getting home from work.
The feeling of being over joyous and scared as hell at the same time will never, ever leave my memory. That is what most people consider a "Lifelong Impression".
Once we found out that we would be having a baby, we decided we would eventually have to tell our parents (or at least someone else!). I just remember the feeling of confusion when nearly everyone we told was not surprised. Apparently, It was always meant to be.
Fast Forward to March 17th, 2015:
Speck. This was the chosen name given by my mother. All we had was a speck of white on an ultrasound, and everyone was already so in love. Including me of course... Since this day when I could actually see her I have been wrapped around her finger, which in these photo's, did not exist.
Now lets go to Mother's Day (May 8th) 2015:
On this day we take my wife, and my family to get another ultrasound. This time, we find out that our little girl will be a little girl!
So of course we had to announce it!
From here on out our little girl was growing like a weed! We went through all of the amazing first moments... The first heartbeat, the first kicks I could feel on the outside, the "Figuring out how to position myself so my wife could sleep on my comfortably", etc. Everything seemed to be going so great. Nia was always perfect at the ultrasounds, her weight, height, and heart rate were always good. Everything was good, with her.
Fast forward to September 5th, 2015:
The Baby Shower. We drove 12 hours from Tampa, FL to our hometown (area) of Franklin, TN. This is when a serious issue was about to be noticed and became part of our reality. The term "Preeclampsia" was starting to be used which, in my family, was a very serious issue since my parents had lost my older brother partly due to it. Basically, my wife's blood pressure was in the 180-190/110-130 range at any given time, and we didn't even know it yet. Another symptom is severe swelling, which with my wife was so gradual we didn't even realize just how swollen she had gotten. One of our favorite pictures of my wife and I with my Great Grandpa and Grandpa, shows how swollen she was:
Here you can see her face is abnormally swollen, even for a 8 1/2 month pregnant woman.
Little did we know 4 days later we would be having an emergency cesarian to get our little girl out... Because she was killing her mommy.
Hop Ahead A Couple Of Days To September 8th:
This is me, reading the instructions to our Pack and Play that we had just gotten a few days before. We were so excited to be getting our First baby things, we decided to go ahead and get everything set up in our 1 bedroom, 620 Sq. Ft. apartment we had just downsized to a little over a year ago. (Bad Timing, Right?)
Everything was starting to come together so nicely. We had our room ready to go, our Daughter's clothes in her own drawers, the Pack and Play in the corner of our room... Little did we know the very next day she would be here.
About 24 Hours Later:
Somewhere around 11:30 AM, just before I was going to go on lunch, my wife tells me that she was at her Doctor's Appointment that was already scheduled. Unknowingly, this is the moment someone finally noticed. A midwife was taking my wife's blood pressure, and as it finished, she shook her head and took it again. When the numbers cam back up the same, everything went into full "High Alert" mode. They started my wife on some natural remedies for blood pressure (Essential Oils, Magnesium, and Dandelion Root), and she called me right away. After about 20 minutes of her Blood Pressure not coming down they decided that she need to go to the hospital because her Blood Pressure was considered "Stroke Level's". I was working in St. Petersburg, FL at the time and my wife was at her midwife's, in Wesley Chapel, FL. She was told to go grab a bite to eat, try to relax and calm down, and check in at the hospital. I beat my wife to the hospital....
My mother came as soon as she could and was the next person there, then followed my mother in-law. I remember sitting in the hospital room for what seemed like hours. They tried magnesium drinks and some others to get my wife's blood pressure down, but it wasn't budging. My wife was so heartbroken when the OB came in and informed us that we were not going to be able to have our Natural Water Birth. In fact, since she was "35 Weeks" according to her first gestation, she informed us we would be having our baby girl in about an hour! Shocked doesn't even begin to cover how we felt.
All this planning and preparing to become a parent that most people get to build up to, we didn't get. It was just another normal day for us, over a month before we were supposed to have our baby, and then all of the sudden, today was THE day.
Welcome to the World, Nia Rose:
Our daughter, Nia, was born at 7:31 PM. She was 4 pounds, 11 ounces. Obviously, being so small, she couldn't really breastfeed so we had to spoon feed her breast milk.
It was a rough couple of days for all of us. We ended up staying in the hospital for 7 more days because my wife's blood pressure was still not stable. She was still at risk of stroking and seizing so she was on a Magnesium drip with a padded hospital bed. After a couple of days I almost forgot that we were in a hospital.
Me and Nia got some good sleep when mommy could..
Finally, after 7 days in the hospital, we talked the doctor into letting us go home. Our original car seat didn't work out because of how small Nia was, so we ran and got a "Preemie" car seat. Who knew?
My wife was on up to 12 pills a day for months, and we had to do blood pressure checks every hour or so, but we were home. We were finally home, for the first time, as a new family.
Fast Forward To Now:
It's really hard to remember everything that happened during that time. I know there is a lot that I left out, and a lot of pictures I could have thrown in, but in retrospect the only thing that matters to me is that my wife and my daughter are perfectly healthy. My daughter is almost walking, she has 4 teeth, and she can say my name (Daddy). She is one of the greatest things I could ever imagine and she's already growing up so fast. My wife and I are very lucky and we plan on never taking life for granted. We are going to show our Daughter the world and teach her that her dreams are achievable. In conclusion, I hope that my article was heartfelt and even possibly and inspiration for new parents. Just know that life will never be "easy", you just have to learn how to roll with the punches sometimes.
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