Nathaniel Thomas Fiala

Hi everybody. Allison originally started this blog as a way to keep you updated on her pregnancy and other goings on in our life leading up to the birth of our son. This weekend it was our intention to post some new "belly" photos or maybe even a picture of me filling up the tank of the 'Benz with its first tank of biodiesel. But my how things change....and FAST!

On November 28 at ~8:00pm, as I am digesting my spinach and cheese tortellini with marinara, I hear an "Oh...my... god" from the nursery/office. Usually this means she just read some interesting new gossip about Nick and Jessica or some politician I have never heard of got himself into some predicament I don't fully understand. But after the second, more panicked "OMG!" I knew it must be something more. And it was. Her water had broken.

While Allison called her Dr. I scrambled around looking for the overnight bag we had yet to actually pack and make mental list of the things we thought we still had a month to do. We eventually got it together and loaded up the car and drove to the hospital. Since Allison obviously had not gone into active labor we were sent home until her contractions were bad enough that she was either punching me or it was 9:00am, whichever came first.

On the way home we decided to stop by the office so Allison could tie up some loose ends, which all said and done took about 2 hours; we were working till 1am. Allison liked the distraction and felt more comfortable knowing that things were in order since she knew she would not be able to go back to work for a while. We finally made it home where Allison's mother and sister, Amanda, were waiting for us. Around 2am we retired to our seperate rooms where we all spent a long, long night of laying in darkness pretending to sleep.

Eventually the sun rose and although Allison was having contractions, it was never to the point that she felt she was better off in the hospital than at home (we do have a very comfy bed). We arrived back at the hospital around 9am as planned and Allison was admitted. After another round of being poked, prodded and asked the same questions (age, birthplace, medical history, medication, etc) by no less than 3 different doctors, nurses and anesthesiologists, they finally decided that since it had been almost 15hrs since her water broke, it would probably be best help her along by inducing labor with Pitocin. Allison really wanted to have this child without the aid of any type of medication and knew that this drug would cause a much more painful and difficult labor and might lead to the need for further medication. After much thought and long discussion with the doctor she decided that the risk to the baby was so great (as well as her slow progress through labor) it was probably best to just succumb to the Pitocin pushers in the blue scrubs and just do it.

Here you can see grumpy Allison not happy about having to be tethered to a pole.




Jump ahead 3 hours and Allison is indeed in much pain, but unlike her husband, pain does not manifest itself into rage. Lucky for me. Barely able to speak, she was able to grunt out just enough words to let the doctor know that if the labor was still going to take another 2 hours as expected, she would like some relief in the way of an epidural. So with that, Allison's mother, Gail, and I were whisked out of the room while the anesthesiologists were brought in to do their thing. That was fine because Allison's sister, who was forced to wait in the lobby, needed the company since she had finally finished counting all the ceiling tiles, sprinkler heads and light bulbs in the ceiling. She also informed us that there had been 3 shift changes at the gift kiosk and only 2 items sold, all doctors are cute and she was going to ace her Spanish exam which she had ample time to study for (thanks Amanda!).

30 minutes later, Gail and I were allowed back into the room and greeted with a smiling Allison and a doctor telling her it was time to push!!! What??? Just as unexpectedly as her water broke, her labor progressed with gusto! I ran to the corner to try to get the camera set. File type...check... resolution...where's resolution??...oh yeah, ISO...check... lighting type...check... (almost makes me miss film...almost). I continue to fiddle around with the buttons only to glance up to see Gail with one leg, a nurse with the other and the doctor crouched behind the batter's box like so much Jason Varitek giving Allison the sign for a fastball down the middle (you didn't think you were getting through this without a baseball analogy did you?). Meanwhile, I'm screwing around with the camera!!! I run over to do all I can to help (which apparently is mumble words of encouragement, stroke her hair and cry) and about 10 minutes and 20 pushes later we have this

.....Ewwww!!!





Little did I know before today that my wife is not only a champion breeder, she can still look this good 3 minutes after giving birth. She keeps amazing me.






More pics...
















Here is the stat sheet.

Name: Nathaniel Thomas Fiala (He prefers Nate)
Born: 11/29/05 2:21pm
Weight: 6 lbs 10 oz
Length: 19.5"
Hair: thin curly brown


There are more photos and posts to come but I want to wrap this up with a BIG thank you to Gail for helping Allison through the pregnancy and delivery and helping me keep my head. I'm sure once Allison gets some time (yeah, right) she will give you her side of the story. Meanwhile, please feel free to keep checking the blog and I will keep trying to figure out how to get this topic on the main page.

Stay tuned....


Chris