We couldn’t hold him back. He has too much of his father in him. Doc Wolfgang Eskridge came into the world on Monday, January 15th, 2018 at 8:55 p.m. About 6 weeks early, he is doing well and improving everyday in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). Mama is recouping and we are spending every chance we can with Doc until we get to bring him home.
After a long weekend at the hospital with my wife Marie and our (at the time unborn son) we are now the proud first-time parents of the one and the only Doc Wolfgang Eskridge! He is more rad than I could ever have imagined and already by far my greatest creation (or I should say collaboration) but you know what I mean. Words can not describe what I feel and I now understand that phrase when those before me spoke it.
So you know how in movies and t.v. a pregnant women says “Oh No! My water just broke!” and it’s all “holy crap, is there a doctor around?” and then hilarity ensues and the husband drives like the Dukes of Hazzard to the hospital completely disregarding basic traffic laws, stop lights, and every single other humans’ safety? Well all the books and unsolicited advice said this is not how it happens in real life. Well guess the hell what? This is EXACTLY how it happened for us. We weren’t home 3 hours from the hospital after successfully stopping preterm labor and I was in the laundry room about to flip the laundry (and I swear to god) minutes away from getting “the bag” together when around 3:00 p.m. Marie was on the couch trying to breathe through some heavy contractions that had returned and she said “My water just broke!” I dropped whatever clothes were in my hand, grabbed a reusable grocery bag, frantically put in a pair of dirty socks, a grocery list that I had just previously crossed off, a hairbrush and for some ungodly reason, I was trying to stuff Marie’s purse in the grocery bag. But whatever, the important thing is that I quickly helped Marie into the car, and I drove like a bat out of hell(ish) to St. Mary’s.
I never left Marie’s side and I coached as best I could (although I never did finish all of the books I meant to read on the subject) I watched the whole thing and it was the absolute most beautiful event I have and probably ever will witness. I heard his first cry, and got to cut the umbilical chord. Marie got to hold him for a minute or so and I got to hold him for about 20 seconds before NICU nurses gave him a preliminary overview, weigh in (4 lbs 12 ounces) and length (17.5! inches) and then they rolled him up to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. I know he is in the best care for him right now, but I can not wait until the day we get to bring him home.
“What?! Are you kidding me? We’ve got us a family now!”