It's a Boy!

It's been approximately one hour since the newest member of the DeShazer family came into the world. Bryce Russell DeShazer was born at 4:15 am this morning. Heather was AMAZING!
Here's how our memorable night began.

6:15 pm: Heather's craving spicy food. Apparently this helps encourage contractions. She's been dilated 50% for two days now, and we haven't successfully induced her pregnancy up to this point. Denise has been over all day helping clean the house and re-arrange pictures and make our house look like the Taj Mahal on a budget. The place looks great. Off to Lowe's we go to get a stud finder to hang a mirror in our living room.

6:30 pm: Mmmm . . . Taco Salad at Qdoba. I know it's a Chipotle rip-off, but if Chipotle sold something other than just enormous burritos, I would frequent that joint more often. Heather buys a burrito the size of my Toyota with habanero pepper sauce on it. We pick up one for Denise as well, that was so large, they had to double wrap it. I go out to my car and pick up a dolly to tow these things in. I hope the suspension on my car can handle the extra weight. And, how ironic I'm the only guy and the one ordering the salad. As we get into the car, my blackberry belt clip breaks. This is the third one that has broken on me since I got it. Ugh.

7:30 pm: The mirror is hung in the living room and we've eaten our dinner. Half of the two burritos are still not eaten. They break the shelves in the fridge as we put them in there. Okay enough big burrito jokes for one evening.

8:00 pm: Just on a hunch, Caleb goes to Grandma's (Denise) house while we try to initiate the birthing process. Heather and I go on a walk alone for the first time in years around our housing development. No new contractions quite yet. Heather listens to my ramblings about work, business and just being a complete nerd.

9:45 pm: We start getting ready for bed, hoping the contractions will start sometime early in the morning. Heather is on the phone with Annie, and then it happens. Contractions begin. We grab our stuff and jump into the car. I wanted to use my blackberry to send text messages, but I can't remember where I put it in the car! Oh well, there are more important things to worry about. Heather is soothed to the sounds of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden and Radiohead on XM Radio as we head up to Wheat Ridge.

10:15 pm: Heather and I are frantically calling everyone to tell them we're on our way to the hospital. This is the one time I'm hoping I get pulled over by a police officer. I have always wanted a wife in labor in the driver seat to get out of a speeding ticket and get a free police escort down I-70. No such luck.

10:45 pm: We arrive at Lutheran Medical Center. I drop Heather off at the front door and leave. Just kidding! What kind of father and husband would I be if I did that? I actually did drop her off though. I had to park the car and bring our bags of toiletries, cameras, my laptop, and everything else we needed for the delivery. I have everything in my arms and begin the 1/2 mile journey from our parking spot to the delivery room. It was like walking in the casinos in vegas to go to a convention, only to find you literally have to walk halfway across the the world through the casino floor to get to the convention hall.

11:15 pm: I finally arrive to the delivery room. Heather is doing well. She's dilated 7 centimeters and still no broken water. She's comfortable and handling these contractions really well. The nurses are surprised she hasn't used any painkillers. Then, as I am getting stuff organized, I hear, "Honey, did you grab the toiletry bag?" D'oh! I didn't. I couldn't find it in the car. However, I turn around and make the incredible journey to the car to get that bag. The journey almost required me to camp out halfway into the parking lot, but it was late already and Heather needed her stuff, so I sucked it up and journeyed into the night.

11:30 pm: I return with the toiletry bag and my missing blackberry that fell in the back seat of the car. Happy day! We are anxiously awaiting Heather's water to break. I amuse myself with clips from Saturday Night Live on my laptop while Heather and Denise chat.

12:00 am: I've been up since 6 am this morning, so I drift off to sleep. I have a pillow that I rest my head on.

1:00 am: I wake up with my head leaned over to the left all the way. No new progress yet, but man is my neck sore!

3:00 am: I wake up with my head leaned over to the right all the way. I seriously can't move my head for at least 15 seconds. I finally lift it up. Heather gets checked by the nurses. She's fully dilated but her water hasn't broken yet. We decide to expidite the process. We walk around the floor of the hospital. Heather gets a contraction and uses a side rail to hold onto while she squats. We're hoping for a good push here.

3:45 am: She's tired of this whole water not breaking business. She calls the nurse who comes in and get's the job done. Immediately some more intense contractions kick in. She goes almost immediately from a 7 to a 10 and she feels the urge to push. Doctor Besch to the rescue!

4:15 am: After three really brief yet solid pushes, We have ourselves a baby. She did it without the use of a single drug. No epidural, no topical anisthetic and no novacaine shots. Bryce has a HUGE head and enormous shoulders, and he isn't breathing. The umbilical cord was tight around his neck. I cut the cord and the nurses immediately give the boy oxygen. He starts to make a little noise within a few seconds. Within a few minutes he begins breathing on his own. His face is bruised and battered. They weigh him on a scale. 9 pounds even. 9 pounds! almost a pound bigger than his big brother was.

5:00 am: I meet with the doctors as they check his glucose levels. They put a dome over his head filled with oxygen to help him breath better. He starts to wimper and really cry for the first time! Then he starts to pull off the dome from his head. Did I mention that this dome is weighted so he can't move it? This is no ordinary child however. This is a 45 minute old NFL linebacker! I hold the dome over his head while the doctors prick his heel to test his glucose levels. Most baby's cry when their heel is pricked, not my junior Dick Butkus! I could almost hear him say to the nurse, "I had a cord wrapped around my neck, and a bruised face from being born, do you think I would cry over a pricked heel?!" I imagined him already mercilessly beating up his 3 year-old brother when we bring him home.

5:15 am: I tell Heather and Denise of the great news. I begin sending out text messages to all my friends and family. I'm so wired I can't sleep anymore. Heather on the other hand looks exhausted.

All in all, it was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. When that child comes into the world, you can't help but get a little teary eyed, and feel incredibly grateful. My wife is the most amazing woman in the world. I am so proud of her. No meds, and not even a peep when she pushed. The nurses were shocked. Heather used her hypno birthing techniques and she flourished. For those expectant mother's out there, I highly recommend this method. Anyway, it's nearly breakfast time, and I'm tired. More to come.

Happy Belated Father's Day!

Okay, so this was a crazy weekend. It was one of those where you don't really feel like you were able to relax at all. It was great however. I can't complain.

Friday was an insane day. I've been contracting for a Natural Gas company for the last 12 months, and Friday we had to move about 30 users' computers into new cubicles. The last two times we did this, we weren't able to start until after 2pm, making for a long day that would end late Friday night, and required us to come in on the weekend. Fortunately, we were able to start earlier, and we were finally done by 6 pm. My day was far from over, however.

I was doing a PA gig for a WFG event the next day. As a result I had to set up the night before and make sure everything was working. But before that I needed equipment. I drove home, grabbed my gear, put it in the car, drove to Arvada, picked up my Dad's speakers, drove to Ben's house, grabbed some long speaker cable, and drove to the Hotel in Westminster. I got there around 8:15. I set the equipment up successfully and got back to Ben and Annie's house around 10:15. I ate dinner finally and hung out until about midnight.

Heather, Caleb and I got home around 12:45 and I went to sleep. 5 hours later, I was up and on my way back to the hotel for the event at 6:45. Things went very smoothly and it was a great deal of fun. I ended up needing only my dad's speakers, which worked very well. There was a group of people in the next conference room that complained to us numerous times about the noise we were generating. It was amusing. The hotel had to move them to a different location in the hotel after 2 hours of whining to us.

We wrapped up right at 4 pm. I was out of there by 4:15, which was a record for me cleaning up after a gig. I drove to the Harris' again, and then over to my parents' to drop off all the stuff I borrowed.

Heather had a grand old time at her baby shower over the weekend at Maria Adams' house. She received several items that register high on the cuteness scale. Her due date is a whole 8 days away. I can't believe how fast time goes by during a pregnancy. I am sure she feels differently.

Father's Day was pretty cool, literally. Russ and I watched the US Open this weekend while I froze under an A/C vent blowing directly on me. It was weird because it was in the 90's outside during this time. Gift's were fantastic. Heather spent a little cash and bought me an iPod Nano! Holy crap! I was not expecting that! It was nice. I was watching "The Simpsons" on it it within minutes. It was quite nice really.

It was fun, it was busy, and I was tired. But it was a good weekend.

An update for you all!

With someone who is familiar with my family's situation, they know about the absolutely hectic couple of months the DeShazer family has been working through for the last several weeks. So with that in mind, let me begin.

May was the month that my brother Geoff would be getting married. It was moved up from August originally as scheduling and impatience no doubt caught up to him and his fiance Jessie. Things were going according to plan when my Dad started getting sick. To sum it up, my father was diagnosed with type 2 Leukemia. Most people have enough stress in their lives dealing with the preparations for a wedding, but to have your spouse in the ICU with Leukemia as well has to be a very difficult situation for my mother to be in. Oh did I mention she is a Relief Society President in her ward? So naturally, she was pulled in all sorts of directions. We all pitched in in as many ways as possible. I contributed a DVD of slideshows I made on my new Macbook laptop. Andrea, Dylan and Holly helped in many ways as well.

The wedding was a lot of fun. I have never in my life seen Geoff so happy. Jessie is a great match for him, as I am sure he is for her as well. Jessie has a wonderful family and we are excited to have her as a part of the family. The wedding went off smoothly. I was a witness for the ceremony and signed off on the marriage certificate. I didn't think I would be doing that for at least another 20 years. For lunch, Papa treated everyone to Olive Garden. I entertained the crowd by sticking 4-5" long tooth picks in my mouth and nose.

Friends of Geoff that came were Marie Giles and Andy Brown. It was great seeing such good friends. It had been 2 1/2 years since I saw Marie and at least a year since I saw Andy. Due to the small numbers at the sealing, it was good to have them able to attend.

The reception went smoothly for the most part. It was at Papa's house. About 20 minutes before the reception, my mom could not find her shoes as she was getting ready. I frantically searched for them. Unfortunately they didn't turn up until I looked in her van one more time. I lifted up one of the seats that was put down to allow people to get out of the back seat. I found them and couldn't find her anywhere. Apparently she went to Kohl's to get a different pair and get Geoff another tie, because he left his at home. So I frantically drove over there in Dylan's new Nissan Sentra he purchased earlier that week. I got there and ran laps around the store in my suit. After about 6 trips and 10 minutes, I found mom walking out of the store. I told her and she was glad.

At the reception the Harris's came to help. Annie helped with food serving while Ben manned the background music. Dad's band sang (minus Dad of course). I even joined them on "Lonesome Road." It's a rare moment when you see me up there singing, but I knew the bass part and Dad wasn't there to sing it so I jumped in.

Even though Dad wasn't there and as difficult as that was, the wedding went very well. It was a great memory that I won't soon forget.

Now as for my immediate family, Heather is expecting baby #2 in 2 weeks. It's amazing how fast 9 months goes by. She's at that stage where 2 weeks can't come soon enough. She is quite uncomfortable most of the time. We got the bassinet set up and pulled out all of the baby clothes. Heather suspects he's going to be bigger than Caleb. For the record our baby's name will be Bryce Russell DeShazer. Although we had some challenges with names on this one, it wasn't like with Caleb. We've been happy with this name for over a month now, so it appears that won't be changing. Heather said she will have the baby after her baby shower this Saturday. Let's see if that happens! :)