Chapter 1: The Adventures of Summer!
Chapter 2: The Origin of Summers' Name!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
The Adventures of Summer Rayne Vol. 1
Summer Rayne Drasich
Born
August 27, 2009
8:29 PM
6 Lbs. 14 Oz.
18 Inches
I think she’s coming!
11:00 PM August 26, 2009 Joell began to time contractions, having them every seven minutes. Looking back now she tells me, “Oh, yeah those were LIGHT ONES!” Of course, that night it was a different story. At around 6:02 AM we were sitting watching TV, still timing them at five minutes apart now, when Joell was wondering if she could eat something. My simple answer was “Let me look it up online”. So, I started up the computer and did a couple searches, but of course like everything else we have looked up the last nine months every woman is different with what they could and couldn’t do. I then turned to her and said “I’m sure toast will be fine”. Toast it was, and after making hers, that looked so good, I decided to make myself some. Well, just before mine popped up from the toaster, Joell had looked at me telling me that she thought her water might be breaking, running to the bathroom announcing that it had. I yelled back to her “Well my toast just came out, your just going to have to wait”, all the while grabbing her bag and taking it to the truck. As I started my way out the door the heavens opened up on me and the short run to the truck was a soaking one. I think that was the exact moment that I realized Summer was coming for sure. The entire way to the hospital it rained so bad I could barely see out the window. I sent out a mass text, that I had prepared a couple days earlier, to everyone I had an email or number for. Joell called the doctors office to notify them we were heading to the hospital.
6:49 AM, we arrived at St. Anthony’s Medical Center. I dropped Joell off at the emergency entrance so she could get checked in, parked the truck, grabbed the camera and ran for the door getting soaked again. Joell told me that the woman at the counter had asked if she could help her. Joell responded that she needed to check in because she was going into labor. The woman behind the counter replied “You don’t look like your going into labor”. Joell had the obvious response “Well I am!”. She called upstairs to get us an attendant to bring a wheelchair down to take us to our room. The attendant arrived with the wheelchair, loaded Joell up, swiped his card to open the employee only doors, rammed the left foot rail of the wheelchair into the side of the door and then continued to take us to the elevator. No apology, just continued silently to the elevator. Joell and I looked at each other shrugging it off and asked if he had ever seen the movie ‘Baby Mama’ quoting some funny lines from the movie.
Room 706 is ours, let the poking and prodding begin. As the barrage of nurses came and went, hooking Joell to this machine and that, sticking her with needles, and asking a thousand questions, I began to wonder if maybe we should have gone to some of those classes everyone talked about. I think we both just figured people have been giving birth for thousands of years, this is nothing new. One of the nurses had asked if Joell was going to want to use any pain relievers during the birth. Of course both of us got huge smiles on our faces, as we were surely thinking of ‘Baby Mama’ again. Joell told the nurse, jokingly, “Yes all of them”. I added that we needed the maximum legal limit of any cocktail she could come up with. Her response was just to ask us if we needed a doula. Our doctor had told us to get one so I guess so.
In comes Mary Ann our doula and Louise the coordinator of the doula program at the hospital. Both of them were very nice and started pampering Joell the moment they entered the room. The doctor had come in and checked Joell to see if her water had truly broke. After a few tests she said she was pretty certain that it was but, Joell was only 2cm and 80% effaced in station -2. So, Mary Ann began going over with us the different options we had to help her along. Of course, Joell being a runner and soccer player, when we heard that we could walk around the ward to help get Summer to drop, we decided to do that. Before we could begin doing ours laps though, the nurse wanted her to stay attached to the contraction monitor for 15 more minutes. Well in that time Joell’s contractions started to increase in intensity and right in the middle of a pretty serious contraction, the nurse had stopped back in and asked Joell how tall she was. Joell held her finger in the air to say please wait, and as soon as the contraction was over asked “What?”. The nurse repeated, “How tall are you?”. Without skipping a beat Joell responded “6‘-10“”. After the nurse and doula give her a funny look Joell laughed and said “5‘-2“”. Everyone got a good laugh and we were free to begin our laps. After a few laps, it was time to head back to the room for Joell to get checked for progress.
11:40 AM, 3 cm, 80%, -1 station. Things are starting to move along and we are going to try “The Ball”. The ball at this point is Joell’s best friend. She can sit upright and rock her hips from side to side, helping to get her through this next set of contractions that seem to be getting stronger by the minute. After sitting on the ball for only 20 minutes, which seemed like an eternity though, I swear Joell and I both looked at Mary Ann simultaneously and asked if she could get in the tub. During her pregnancy one of Joell’s favorite things had been the tub and this one had jets in it! Our doula, Mary Ann, checked with the nurse and we were off filling it up. This is where Joell stayed the longest and seemed to be the most comfortable. Shortly after Joell had gotten into the whirlpool tub, with jets raging, her friend Amber had shown up unexpectedly. This turned out to be a heaven-sent though because while Mary Ann and I helped Joell through contractions, Amber massaged her back, arms, and hands. It was a funny site to see us all hovering over this tub, in strange positions tending to her. With contractions still progressing Joell decided she had had enough of the tub, after almost two hours, and wanted to get checked again.
1:45 PM, 4 cm, 90%, +1 station. “Ok Joell you did say that you wanted an epidural, correct?” Joell’s immediate response “YES!”. The nurse then went on to explain how they would have her sit on the bed and how the procedure would go down. She explained to Joell that once her I.V. drained then she would get the epidural. Joell looked around at all of us and said “Can someone slash that bag”, all of us getting yet another good laugh.
2:45 PM, 5-6 cm, 90%, +1 station. Now that the epidural is in, Joell is able to relax a little and take a nap. I am so relieved that she is finally somewhat comfortable and I can relax just a little myself. The nurse came in about an hour later to check Joell again, but I was able to convince her to just let her sleep a little longer.
4:25 PM, 6-7 cm, 90%, -1 station. Well, Summer has retreated back into the womb just a bit, but we are still progressing along. Once again another funny event had happened before she had gotten tested again. I had told Mary Ann that Joell gets startled easily and maybe I should be the one to wake her up before they check her. When I did go to get her up, she woke up, looked at me and asked “Where’s John”. Confused for a second, because I was so tired I had to think about it, I replied “I am John, I’m right here”. She just smiled and the nurse instructed her that they needed her to turn to her other side.
5:30 PM, 7-8 cm, 90%, still -1 station. Well, at this point we’ve, Joell, myself, Mary Ann, and Amber, have been sitting around discussing the wedding, engagement and basically our history of how we met. Joell is still in good spirits and feeling comfortable with a little pressure. The doctor had come in and said something to Joell about a possible “C” section. Joell’s only response was “Look at this gorgeous body, I can’t have any scars”. Once again everyone getting another great laugh.
6:45 PM, 9-10 cm, 100%, 0 station. It’s time, Summer is coming. Things are being set up, lights are being turned up, instructions are gone over with Joell on how they are going to count for her during the pushing process. The only thing that wasn’t gone over was what was it that I could personally do to help my wife stay as comfortable as possible. No one reviewed anything with me. Had I disappeared? Wasn’t there some sort of instructions for me? I soon realized that there was nothing. Nothing at all that I could say or do. I was, for the first time in our relationship, completely useless. Moral support was all I could give and I just had to pray that it would be enough.
7:35 PM let the pushing begin. Now that everyone is crowded around Joell, they are ready to start what they are calling practice pushes. Three pushes, deep breathe and push for a count of ten. This process continues until……….. WOW, is that hair? Is that her head? YEP! Summer is coming, but she just keeps getting sucked back in and I know it’s got to hurt terribly bad. At this moment it is the first time that Joell has started to really make some noise. Only loud moaning, but still some noise. Next set of pushes, first one with a slow count of ten, nothing. Second set, same slow count of ten, still nothing. Third push, slow count of ten…………. Still nothing! “Ok Joell go ahead and relax till your next contraction” the nurse states. Joell says, in the split second this all happens, “No we’re going again right NOW”! All the woman looked at each other in amazement and just started counting…..1.….2.….3.….4.….5.….6.….7.…. Ok ok stop pushing we just need some short grunts now, and relief. HERE IS YOUR BABY GIRL! If you where at the wedding you’ll remember this move, Joell raises her arm in the air with rock and roll quotes and screams “WOO!”. Once again the room is filled with laughter.
8:29 PM Summer is born. She weighed in at 6 lbs. 14oz., with a length of 18 inches. They start cleaning her up and tending to Joell. Joell at this time is belching louder then I’ve ever heard and the doctors decided to get in on the joking and says “I can beat that”. The only problem is that the belching is because her stomach is upset and she begins throwing up. This goes on for quite some time, but right in the middle of the worst of it Joell let’s out the belch of all belches. “Can you beat that” she says to the doctor, immediately continuing to throw up. I could only stand there and be proud of her. No matter what was thrown her way she was not going to lose her sense of humor. At this time the doctor, nurses, and doulas are just looking at each other with this look on their faces like does anything break this little girl. Nope not my wife!
Finally we can relax!
After all that we were moved down to our permanent room, 720. Both of us just completely exhausted, all we could think about was sleep. That didn’t seem as if it were going to happen with nurses coming and going. Summer had all her tests done and was brought to our room finally. When the nurse left her she had asked Joell if she needed anything, Joell replying “Just a glass of water”. When she had returned with the water I had asked her “Now I’m not sure if you’re the one I need to ask this or maybe you can point to the person I do need to talk to, but when is it exactly that we receive the manual for this particular model”. That’s right, now it was finally my turn to start telling jokes. The nurse got a good laugh out of it and told me she didn’t know if they made one for her or not. After another feeding Joell went to change Summer, for the first time. Not sure how it exactly played out because I guess I had dozed off, but I woke up by Joell telling me something was wrong. Of course I jumped to my feet to see what was going on. She looked at me and said “What is wrong with this diaper?”. After one quick glance, I informed her it was upside down. Another good laugh! A few more feedings and a couple of naps, the next thing we knew the sun was coming up and the next day was about to begin. We were sure it would be eventful with all the visitors we were sure to have.
Joell’s mother was the first visitor we were to have. Then shortly after she left I helped Joell to the restroom, when there was another knock at the door. I answered it to find a Lake County police officer and a St. Anthony security officer. “Are you John Drasich” the Lake County officer asked. “Yes” I replied. “Can you step out in the hall please sir”. At this time, tired from yesterdays events, confused, I step into the hall and ask “Can I help you”. “Where were you last night” the officer asked. “I was up here. My wife just give birth to our first child yesterday. Why?” He then began to explain to me that there had been some vandalism outside the front doors of the ER. I’m thinking in my head, and I’m sure my face expressed the same feeling, so why are you talking to me? “Did you ever leave the room sir?” “Yes I left to get our bags out of the truck” I replied. “What time was that?” I’m thinking to myself what does it matter and I really don’t remember, does this guy understand what my wife and I had just gone through? “Umm, I think she got her epidural at around three, I might have gone then, I just remember it was still raining.” He turns to me, gets a little closer and angrily says “You do know there are cameras all around the hospital, right”. “Yeah, ok, so what!?!?!?” my only reply possible. I’m beginning to feel threatened, nervous, anxious, pissed! “There were some vehicles that were broken into last night and let me remind you about the cameras” he said adamantly. Now I’m thinking, am I getting punked, is this a joke? It was the look in his eyes though that made me realize, no this is real, and then I just got really angry. “Well why don’t you go and look at your TAPES and I can GUARANTY THAT I’M NOT ON THEM” “Calm down sir, the only reason I ask is because a potted plant from in front of the ER was found in the back of your truck and you meet the description of the suspect.” Needless to say now I’m really pissed. Your going to come up to my maternity room, ask the nurses where to find me, because you found a potted plant in the back of my truck from the ER. My exact response, word for word, was “Why would I go down to the ER, grab a plant from there, put it in the back of my truck and come sit up here all night? What, cause I don’t have enough money to buy her flowers or something, so I’ll just get them from the ER. Don’t you think I would have waited till we were leaving? Yeah, let’s go down stairs and look at this video of yours, because I have two full gas cans, a dolly, and a case of Monster Energy drink in the bed and I can’t remember if I locked my doors in all the commotion.” “No No sir, there is no reason to make a mountain out of a mole hill. The plant is the least of my worries. You may want to check your truck though. There were some break ins last night.” I then proceeded back into the room to help Joell back out of the restroom that she was stuck in this entire time wondering where I was and I told her what had just happened. She then informed me she had been calling for me for about two to three minuets to help her off the toilet. After helping her back to the bed I told her I would be right back because I wanted to go and check the truck. When I got to the truck nothing was missing but there were a few leaves stuck to the side, probably because of all the rain. It was then, that for what ever reason something just snapped inside. I have never done anything wrong, I don’t break the law, all that is on my record is a seat belt ticket back from when I was sixteen. I continually seem to have the law interrogating me because someone else did something and I just happen to meet the description. So, I walked into the ER and asked the lady at the counter where I was to park where my vehicle would be safe and I wouldn’t be questioned, in the maternity ward over stupid stuff. Well, I guess I must have used some other choice words because she grabbed the phone and told me that there was no reason for me to talk that way in front of the patients in the waiting room and maybe she should call security. I apologized and explained I was tired from my daughters birth last night, turned around and left. As I walked out the door, in the reflection in the glass I saw my Lake County buddy, and a suspect. I could hear him talk to the guy about the plant escorting him out. Problem being, he was in his mid to late 40’s with long scraggily hair. I have a shaved head but I met the description? Turning around with both fist clinched and obviously a look that I was going to knock some ones block off, because I wanted to, the suspect turned to the officer and said “I don’t want him getting involved”. The officer looked pretty nervous too, considering he was half my size and the one my anger was focused at, but I let them pass. They put him in the car and took him away. On my way to get into my truck the officer did run over to me, apologize and ask if anything was missing from my vehicle. I responded with a no and continued to move my truck towards the main entrance. Back in the room I told Joell what had just happened and once again we had another good laugh. Of course, everyone who came to visit from then out was told the story. Only something this crazy could happen to me during my daughters birth.
The Last Night!
It’s our last day so I had to run home to install the infant carrier base. Now anyone who has installed one of these “latch system” models knows that it is pretty simple. After installing the base though, I started looking at the way it worked and thought to myself, I have hooks behind the seat and heavy equipment straps. Basically the same principle of the “latch system”. So, I ratchet strapped the thing in there and it’s even more secure now. I know, first time parent, but if I could figure out a way to weld that base in place, I would. I headed back to the hospital with an artic rush from DQ for Joell because that was one of her cravings towards the end. Of course Crown Point’s machine was down, so I had to drive to Merrillville to get one. In the last three months their machine has never been down, but today, of course. After a couple hours it was almost time to go home! All are paper work is done and we are just waiting for 8:30 PM because that is our 48 hour mark. My mother came back that evening to help load up the truck and help get us settled in at home. The nurse came in to get Summer so they could do their final check. Shortly after nine she was returned to the room and we were told that someone would be in shortly to take off the low jack they put on all newborns so that no one can take them from the maternity ward. A half an hour later the woman showed up to remove the low jack. We were then told that someone would be right up with a wheelchair to take us down to the truck. Now, a little after 10:30 PM we were all a little slap happy, giggling, sure that they must be making a wheelchair because all the other ones are damaged from that kid that was working the other day. Finally, we were taken down stairs, loaded up and were on our way home.
Home Sweet Home!
Now at home we all seemed to be much more relaxed. Summer is sleeping better and that means we are sleeping better. She loves her swing and we love that she loves it. After all we had been through I decided to write this because I just had to tell our story. Besides, when Summer gets older I’m sure she will get a kick out of everything Joell and I both went through the days of and after her birth. For updates on Summer’s progress and whatever shenanigans she decides to get into feel free the visit “www.j5inc.blogspot.com.”
You know with us something interesting is always happening! Check in often because I think the next time I get interrogated the first words out of my mouth will be, “What has Summer done now”!
As Summer progresses through life, I’m sure I will come up with many different ways to capture these precious moments. Look forward to more videos, books, and who knows what else. Remember to check the blogspot often for Summer updates. Our little girl has arrived!
SUMMER IS HERE!
Born
August 27, 2009
8:29 PM
6 Lbs. 14 Oz.
18 Inches
I think she’s coming!
11:00 PM August 26, 2009 Joell began to time contractions, having them every seven minutes. Looking back now she tells me, “Oh, yeah those were LIGHT ONES!” Of course, that night it was a different story. At around 6:02 AM we were sitting watching TV, still timing them at five minutes apart now, when Joell was wondering if she could eat something. My simple answer was “Let me look it up online”. So, I started up the computer and did a couple searches, but of course like everything else we have looked up the last nine months every woman is different with what they could and couldn’t do. I then turned to her and said “I’m sure toast will be fine”. Toast it was, and after making hers, that looked so good, I decided to make myself some. Well, just before mine popped up from the toaster, Joell had looked at me telling me that she thought her water might be breaking, running to the bathroom announcing that it had. I yelled back to her “Well my toast just came out, your just going to have to wait”, all the while grabbing her bag and taking it to the truck. As I started my way out the door the heavens opened up on me and the short run to the truck was a soaking one. I think that was the exact moment that I realized Summer was coming for sure. The entire way to the hospital it rained so bad I could barely see out the window. I sent out a mass text, that I had prepared a couple days earlier, to everyone I had an email or number for. Joell called the doctors office to notify them we were heading to the hospital.
6:49 AM, we arrived at St. Anthony’s Medical Center. I dropped Joell off at the emergency entrance so she could get checked in, parked the truck, grabbed the camera and ran for the door getting soaked again. Joell told me that the woman at the counter had asked if she could help her. Joell responded that she needed to check in because she was going into labor. The woman behind the counter replied “You don’t look like your going into labor”. Joell had the obvious response “Well I am!”. She called upstairs to get us an attendant to bring a wheelchair down to take us to our room. The attendant arrived with the wheelchair, loaded Joell up, swiped his card to open the employee only doors, rammed the left foot rail of the wheelchair into the side of the door and then continued to take us to the elevator. No apology, just continued silently to the elevator. Joell and I looked at each other shrugging it off and asked if he had ever seen the movie ‘Baby Mama’ quoting some funny lines from the movie.
Room 706 is ours, let the poking and prodding begin. As the barrage of nurses came and went, hooking Joell to this machine and that, sticking her with needles, and asking a thousand questions, I began to wonder if maybe we should have gone to some of those classes everyone talked about. I think we both just figured people have been giving birth for thousands of years, this is nothing new. One of the nurses had asked if Joell was going to want to use any pain relievers during the birth. Of course both of us got huge smiles on our faces, as we were surely thinking of ‘Baby Mama’ again. Joell told the nurse, jokingly, “Yes all of them”. I added that we needed the maximum legal limit of any cocktail she could come up with. Her response was just to ask us if we needed a doula. Our doctor had told us to get one so I guess so.
In comes Mary Ann our doula and Louise the coordinator of the doula program at the hospital. Both of them were very nice and started pampering Joell the moment they entered the room. The doctor had come in and checked Joell to see if her water had truly broke. After a few tests she said she was pretty certain that it was but, Joell was only 2cm and 80% effaced in station -2. So, Mary Ann began going over with us the different options we had to help her along. Of course, Joell being a runner and soccer player, when we heard that we could walk around the ward to help get Summer to drop, we decided to do that. Before we could begin doing ours laps though, the nurse wanted her to stay attached to the contraction monitor for 15 more minutes. Well in that time Joell’s contractions started to increase in intensity and right in the middle of a pretty serious contraction, the nurse had stopped back in and asked Joell how tall she was. Joell held her finger in the air to say please wait, and as soon as the contraction was over asked “What?”. The nurse repeated, “How tall are you?”. Without skipping a beat Joell responded “6‘-10“”. After the nurse and doula give her a funny look Joell laughed and said “5‘-2“”. Everyone got a good laugh and we were free to begin our laps. After a few laps, it was time to head back to the room for Joell to get checked for progress.
11:40 AM, 3 cm, 80%, -1 station. Things are starting to move along and we are going to try “The Ball”. The ball at this point is Joell’s best friend. She can sit upright and rock her hips from side to side, helping to get her through this next set of contractions that seem to be getting stronger by the minute. After sitting on the ball for only 20 minutes, which seemed like an eternity though, I swear Joell and I both looked at Mary Ann simultaneously and asked if she could get in the tub. During her pregnancy one of Joell’s favorite things had been the tub and this one had jets in it! Our doula, Mary Ann, checked with the nurse and we were off filling it up. This is where Joell stayed the longest and seemed to be the most comfortable. Shortly after Joell had gotten into the whirlpool tub, with jets raging, her friend Amber had shown up unexpectedly. This turned out to be a heaven-sent though because while Mary Ann and I helped Joell through contractions, Amber massaged her back, arms, and hands. It was a funny site to see us all hovering over this tub, in strange positions tending to her. With contractions still progressing Joell decided she had had enough of the tub, after almost two hours, and wanted to get checked again.
1:45 PM, 4 cm, 90%, +1 station. “Ok Joell you did say that you wanted an epidural, correct?” Joell’s immediate response “YES!”. The nurse then went on to explain how they would have her sit on the bed and how the procedure would go down. She explained to Joell that once her I.V. drained then she would get the epidural. Joell looked around at all of us and said “Can someone slash that bag”, all of us getting yet another good laugh.
2:45 PM, 5-6 cm, 90%, +1 station. Now that the epidural is in, Joell is able to relax a little and take a nap. I am so relieved that she is finally somewhat comfortable and I can relax just a little myself. The nurse came in about an hour later to check Joell again, but I was able to convince her to just let her sleep a little longer.
4:25 PM, 6-7 cm, 90%, -1 station. Well, Summer has retreated back into the womb just a bit, but we are still progressing along. Once again another funny event had happened before she had gotten tested again. I had told Mary Ann that Joell gets startled easily and maybe I should be the one to wake her up before they check her. When I did go to get her up, she woke up, looked at me and asked “Where’s John”. Confused for a second, because I was so tired I had to think about it, I replied “I am John, I’m right here”. She just smiled and the nurse instructed her that they needed her to turn to her other side.
5:30 PM, 7-8 cm, 90%, still -1 station. Well, at this point we’ve, Joell, myself, Mary Ann, and Amber, have been sitting around discussing the wedding, engagement and basically our history of how we met. Joell is still in good spirits and feeling comfortable with a little pressure. The doctor had come in and said something to Joell about a possible “C” section. Joell’s only response was “Look at this gorgeous body, I can’t have any scars”. Once again everyone getting another great laugh.
6:45 PM, 9-10 cm, 100%, 0 station. It’s time, Summer is coming. Things are being set up, lights are being turned up, instructions are gone over with Joell on how they are going to count for her during the pushing process. The only thing that wasn’t gone over was what was it that I could personally do to help my wife stay as comfortable as possible. No one reviewed anything with me. Had I disappeared? Wasn’t there some sort of instructions for me? I soon realized that there was nothing. Nothing at all that I could say or do. I was, for the first time in our relationship, completely useless. Moral support was all I could give and I just had to pray that it would be enough.
7:35 PM let the pushing begin. Now that everyone is crowded around Joell, they are ready to start what they are calling practice pushes. Three pushes, deep breathe and push for a count of ten. This process continues until……….. WOW, is that hair? Is that her head? YEP! Summer is coming, but she just keeps getting sucked back in and I know it’s got to hurt terribly bad. At this moment it is the first time that Joell has started to really make some noise. Only loud moaning, but still some noise. Next set of pushes, first one with a slow count of ten, nothing. Second set, same slow count of ten, still nothing. Third push, slow count of ten…………. Still nothing! “Ok Joell go ahead and relax till your next contraction” the nurse states. Joell says, in the split second this all happens, “No we’re going again right NOW”! All the woman looked at each other in amazement and just started counting…..1.….2.….3.….4.….5.….6.….7.…. Ok ok stop pushing we just need some short grunts now, and relief. HERE IS YOUR BABY GIRL! If you where at the wedding you’ll remember this move, Joell raises her arm in the air with rock and roll quotes and screams “WOO!”. Once again the room is filled with laughter.
8:29 PM Summer is born. She weighed in at 6 lbs. 14oz., with a length of 18 inches. They start cleaning her up and tending to Joell. Joell at this time is belching louder then I’ve ever heard and the doctors decided to get in on the joking and says “I can beat that”. The only problem is that the belching is because her stomach is upset and she begins throwing up. This goes on for quite some time, but right in the middle of the worst of it Joell let’s out the belch of all belches. “Can you beat that” she says to the doctor, immediately continuing to throw up. I could only stand there and be proud of her. No matter what was thrown her way she was not going to lose her sense of humor. At this time the doctor, nurses, and doulas are just looking at each other with this look on their faces like does anything break this little girl. Nope not my wife!
Finally we can relax!
After all that we were moved down to our permanent room, 720. Both of us just completely exhausted, all we could think about was sleep. That didn’t seem as if it were going to happen with nurses coming and going. Summer had all her tests done and was brought to our room finally. When the nurse left her she had asked Joell if she needed anything, Joell replying “Just a glass of water”. When she had returned with the water I had asked her “Now I’m not sure if you’re the one I need to ask this or maybe you can point to the person I do need to talk to, but when is it exactly that we receive the manual for this particular model”. That’s right, now it was finally my turn to start telling jokes. The nurse got a good laugh out of it and told me she didn’t know if they made one for her or not. After another feeding Joell went to change Summer, for the first time. Not sure how it exactly played out because I guess I had dozed off, but I woke up by Joell telling me something was wrong. Of course I jumped to my feet to see what was going on. She looked at me and said “What is wrong with this diaper?”. After one quick glance, I informed her it was upside down. Another good laugh! A few more feedings and a couple of naps, the next thing we knew the sun was coming up and the next day was about to begin. We were sure it would be eventful with all the visitors we were sure to have.
Joell’s mother was the first visitor we were to have. Then shortly after she left I helped Joell to the restroom, when there was another knock at the door. I answered it to find a Lake County police officer and a St. Anthony security officer. “Are you John Drasich” the Lake County officer asked. “Yes” I replied. “Can you step out in the hall please sir”. At this time, tired from yesterdays events, confused, I step into the hall and ask “Can I help you”. “Where were you last night” the officer asked. “I was up here. My wife just give birth to our first child yesterday. Why?” He then began to explain to me that there had been some vandalism outside the front doors of the ER. I’m thinking in my head, and I’m sure my face expressed the same feeling, so why are you talking to me? “Did you ever leave the room sir?” “Yes I left to get our bags out of the truck” I replied. “What time was that?” I’m thinking to myself what does it matter and I really don’t remember, does this guy understand what my wife and I had just gone through? “Umm, I think she got her epidural at around three, I might have gone then, I just remember it was still raining.” He turns to me, gets a little closer and angrily says “You do know there are cameras all around the hospital, right”. “Yeah, ok, so what!?!?!?” my only reply possible. I’m beginning to feel threatened, nervous, anxious, pissed! “There were some vehicles that were broken into last night and let me remind you about the cameras” he said adamantly. Now I’m thinking, am I getting punked, is this a joke? It was the look in his eyes though that made me realize, no this is real, and then I just got really angry. “Well why don’t you go and look at your TAPES and I can GUARANTY THAT I’M NOT ON THEM” “Calm down sir, the only reason I ask is because a potted plant from in front of the ER was found in the back of your truck and you meet the description of the suspect.” Needless to say now I’m really pissed. Your going to come up to my maternity room, ask the nurses where to find me, because you found a potted plant in the back of my truck from the ER. My exact response, word for word, was “Why would I go down to the ER, grab a plant from there, put it in the back of my truck and come sit up here all night? What, cause I don’t have enough money to buy her flowers or something, so I’ll just get them from the ER. Don’t you think I would have waited till we were leaving? Yeah, let’s go down stairs and look at this video of yours, because I have two full gas cans, a dolly, and a case of Monster Energy drink in the bed and I can’t remember if I locked my doors in all the commotion.” “No No sir, there is no reason to make a mountain out of a mole hill. The plant is the least of my worries. You may want to check your truck though. There were some break ins last night.” I then proceeded back into the room to help Joell back out of the restroom that she was stuck in this entire time wondering where I was and I told her what had just happened. She then informed me she had been calling for me for about two to three minuets to help her off the toilet. After helping her back to the bed I told her I would be right back because I wanted to go and check the truck. When I got to the truck nothing was missing but there were a few leaves stuck to the side, probably because of all the rain. It was then, that for what ever reason something just snapped inside. I have never done anything wrong, I don’t break the law, all that is on my record is a seat belt ticket back from when I was sixteen. I continually seem to have the law interrogating me because someone else did something and I just happen to meet the description. So, I walked into the ER and asked the lady at the counter where I was to park where my vehicle would be safe and I wouldn’t be questioned, in the maternity ward over stupid stuff. Well, I guess I must have used some other choice words because she grabbed the phone and told me that there was no reason for me to talk that way in front of the patients in the waiting room and maybe she should call security. I apologized and explained I was tired from my daughters birth last night, turned around and left. As I walked out the door, in the reflection in the glass I saw my Lake County buddy, and a suspect. I could hear him talk to the guy about the plant escorting him out. Problem being, he was in his mid to late 40’s with long scraggily hair. I have a shaved head but I met the description? Turning around with both fist clinched and obviously a look that I was going to knock some ones block off, because I wanted to, the suspect turned to the officer and said “I don’t want him getting involved”. The officer looked pretty nervous too, considering he was half my size and the one my anger was focused at, but I let them pass. They put him in the car and took him away. On my way to get into my truck the officer did run over to me, apologize and ask if anything was missing from my vehicle. I responded with a no and continued to move my truck towards the main entrance. Back in the room I told Joell what had just happened and once again we had another good laugh. Of course, everyone who came to visit from then out was told the story. Only something this crazy could happen to me during my daughters birth.
The Last Night!
It’s our last day so I had to run home to install the infant carrier base. Now anyone who has installed one of these “latch system” models knows that it is pretty simple. After installing the base though, I started looking at the way it worked and thought to myself, I have hooks behind the seat and heavy equipment straps. Basically the same principle of the “latch system”. So, I ratchet strapped the thing in there and it’s even more secure now. I know, first time parent, but if I could figure out a way to weld that base in place, I would. I headed back to the hospital with an artic rush from DQ for Joell because that was one of her cravings towards the end. Of course Crown Point’s machine was down, so I had to drive to Merrillville to get one. In the last three months their machine has never been down, but today, of course. After a couple hours it was almost time to go home! All are paper work is done and we are just waiting for 8:30 PM because that is our 48 hour mark. My mother came back that evening to help load up the truck and help get us settled in at home. The nurse came in to get Summer so they could do their final check. Shortly after nine she was returned to the room and we were told that someone would be in shortly to take off the low jack they put on all newborns so that no one can take them from the maternity ward. A half an hour later the woman showed up to remove the low jack. We were then told that someone would be right up with a wheelchair to take us down to the truck. Now, a little after 10:30 PM we were all a little slap happy, giggling, sure that they must be making a wheelchair because all the other ones are damaged from that kid that was working the other day. Finally, we were taken down stairs, loaded up and were on our way home.
Home Sweet Home!
Now at home we all seemed to be much more relaxed. Summer is sleeping better and that means we are sleeping better. She loves her swing and we love that she loves it. After all we had been through I decided to write this because I just had to tell our story. Besides, when Summer gets older I’m sure she will get a kick out of everything Joell and I both went through the days of and after her birth. For updates on Summer’s progress and whatever shenanigans she decides to get into feel free the visit “www.j5inc.blogspot.com.”
You know with us something interesting is always happening! Check in often because I think the next time I get interrogated the first words out of my mouth will be, “What has Summer done now”!
As Summer progresses through life, I’m sure I will come up with many different ways to capture these precious moments. Look forward to more videos, books, and who knows what else. Remember to check the blogspot often for Summer updates. Our little girl has arrived!
SUMMER IS HERE!
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