Adrian was due on Christmas, so we decided to call him Jesus (Hey-Seuss) while he was in the womb. That worked well since we couldn’t decide on a name. We finally narrowed it down to two names and figured we’d decide when he came out. Nichole was hoping he wouldn’t be born until her mom arrived on the 19th.
So, she was a bit bummed when she started labor on Tuesday the 16th. I left work early early and Liz came over to watch Sophie. Meanwhile, my parents rushed up from Fresno to take over for Liz. Nichole and I ended up heading to the hospital early Wednesday morning. But, we were a bit early, so we walked the halls of the hospital. Nichole was a bit frustrated that things weren’t progressing. It didn’t help that every other mother in Labor and Delivery delivered in a matter of hours, and the postpartum wing was full of crying babies. Eventually we went home when the contractions slowed considerably. Marla, Nichole’s mom, was the really happy one since there was a chance she might make it in time. Nichole claims she jinxed her.
Contractions started again at about 1am on Friday morning. This time they were stronger and Nichole was sure it was the real thing. But, her contractions were still pretty far apart so we stayed home until about 9am. At that time Nichole decided we had to go...now! I offered to warm up the car, but that didn’t go over well. Her response was something like, “Don’t warm up the f-ing car!” So, we jumped in the car and sped across the bridge to the Hayward Kaiser. Nichole wanted to push in the car, but fortunately didn’t.
When we got the hospital I ran in and got a wheelchair to push Nichole inside. Again she was justifiably a bit testy when I headed in the wrong direction. When we got to the nurses station in Labor and Delivery, Nichole blurted out, “I want to push” and they whisked us right into a nearby room, no triage this time. Nichole had to wait around for the midwife and nurses to get ready. Then, he was born, sunny-side up, about 30 minutes later at 10:26am on December 19, 2008.
Nichole, iron woman that she is, delivered for the second time with no drugs. He was in good shape, other than a bruised face that developed the next day. He weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces and was 20” long. Nichole was looking amazingly happy. With Sophie, her motivation to deliver at the end of her 24 hour labor was to go to sleep. This time she looked like she had just finished eating a bowl of ice cream. We finally decided on Adrian James as his name.
Nana and Papa Don, my parents, were the first visitors. Big sister had to stay in the car since she had croup. They were both excited to see the first Pickett baby boy in 30 years. Nonna and Papa Jim, Nichole’s parents, were supposed to arrive at the Oakland airport at 10am. It would have been just a little late for the birth, but 3 feet of snow delayed their flight. After a day of waiting at the airport in Spokane, they arrived at 10:30 Friday night. Straight to the hospital they went. Marla stayed the night with Nichole and Adrian while David and Jim went home for a good night’s sleep.
The next day Adrian had his hearing checked, blood drawn, was poked and prodded, and finally went home around noon. Big Sister was pretty excited to see Mommy and the new baby. Check out the videos and pictures below!