Joel's Debut

Joel’s birthday was one of the best days of our lives. It all started the day before (Aug 12th) at Randi’s doctor appointment. Randi had many contractions during the night on August 9th and then they stopped. We guess they were Braxton-Hicks (fancy wording for pre-labor) contractions. We were operating under the status of “if she makes it to the 12th, we will set a date to be induced.” So when the 12th came, and Randi went to the doctor we were both very nervous and excited. When the doctor scheduled Randi to be induced the next morning at 5:30 am we were both floored. We thought the date would be days or even weeks away. You can imagine how frantic and chaotic the night before labor was.

My (Cory) parents quickly packed their suitcases and left around 2:00 am from Zachary, La. (near Baton Rouge) to make it for the delivery. Randi’s parents met us at our house the morning of the big day and followed us to the hospital. Randi already had an I.V. and was receiving labor juice (aka ptossin) by 6:30 am. The contractions started minuets after! Her initial contractions didn’t hurt that bad; however, we knew she was getting an epidural and we were anxiously awaiting it. In the meantime, my mom and dad are getting text message updates every 2 minuets. At 7:00 am, we got a new nurse named Angie and we quickly found out that she was awesome. She was funny, friendly, and made the time pass quickly. She gave us straight answers and didn’t try to boggle our minds with medical mumbo-jumbo.

After a few hours, the contractions began to intensify and it was time for the epidural. The epidural was very scary mostly because of the unknown. We made the decision to get the epidural early so Randi was able to relax and hold a good position. It only took about 20-30 seconds and it was over. Whew! After the epidural, the pain completely vanished. Randi was having contractions 2-3 minuets apart and she didn’t even know it! The only way she knew anything was if I looked at the monitor and told her she was having one! It was so great. After she got the epidural, the doctor broke her water. The next few hours of the day consisted of moving sitting positions from right to left to get Joel to drop down.

Finally, around 6:00 pm the doctor gave Angie (our wonderful nurse) the approval to start pushing via the phone. I was very concerned about where the doctor was physically since we were about to start pushing. What if Joel comes out fast? How long will it take for doc to get here? Anyway, we were off to the races and I was in a state of panic internally, but pretty calm and supportive externally. I knew I had to be strong for Randi. After pushing during contractions for about 15 mins, Randi looked at me with eyes of confusion. I quickly knew that she was not totally with us. She had blacked out and was still loopy. Randi hadn’t eaten or drank anything since the night before (doctor’s orders) except for ice chips. She was nutritionally drained and the pushing pressure was too much for her. We had to give her an oxygen mask and fan her. I was extremely worried and scared. I wanted to be in that bed taking her place. She didn’t push for another couple of contractions to try to come back to full awareness. She never really came back fully but we started pushing again. She was sort of out of it until she heard the word “PUSH!” and she would kick it into drive.

Joel was ready to come out after a few more pushes, but I looked around and there was still no doctor. Angie was talking to her over the phone and trying to give me the run around so I wouldn’t freak out. We had to stop pushing and wait for the doctor to get there! Randi was about to blow a gasket or a child; one of the two. After about 5-10 minuets of waiting (which felt like 2 hours) the doctor burst through the doors with a whole pit crew of physicians, nurses, and specialist. She immediately started giving orders, moving things around, and getting things done! That woman doctor might have been small, but she was definitely in charge! Randi pushed like two more times and out popped beautiful Joel Rylan. The doctor was more of an overpaid baby catcher.

I was completely clueless to how I would feel or what I would do when I saw him for the first time. The very moment I place my eyes on my son, something happened inside of me that I could never explain in words. It immediately brought me to tears and filled my heart with something I never knew was missing. I knew my life would never be the same and all I could do was stare at him and weep. It happened so fast and it overwhelmed me. I went from knowing nothing about how he looked, felt, moved, or sounded to seeing him in the flesh. To look at him and know that he is a part of Randi and me and physically see the miracle of life happen before my eyes were moments that I will never forget as long as I live. Joel has redefined my understanding about children being a gift from God. August 13th was one of the best days of our marriage and our lives. On this day, the Knight Family Love was multiplied.

Just click the slideshow below to view our studly new addition!

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