Emotion, Exhaustion, Exhilaration

For the last few years, the third Saturday in January would mark the first race of the season at Columbus Speedway. Yes, it's usually cold, however the race is during the day and a little sunshine combined with the sound of race cars and the smell of racing fuel seems to warm the air for me. In 2009, the race was supposed to have been held on January 22nd. Due to rain in the forecast, it was rescheduled for January 31st.

On January 31st, early Saturday morning, there were some folks that come by the house to look at Jeremy Kelly's racecar that we had lettered in my shop that week. It was a cool but sunny morning and it was good to be out in the shop and talking a little racing. After everyone had left, I called Ben Putt and asked him if he wanted to ride with Poppy and me to the races. Moma had told me that morning she didn't want to go since it was going to be cold and she wanted to get some shopping done in Tupelo. Being the great wife she is, she wanted me to go and have a good time. I called Ben back and made arrangements. In between the phone calls, plans had changed some and we were going to ride with him, Carroll Morton, and some more friends to the races in Ben's full sized Chevrolet van. What is a little unique about this is I never ride with someone else. I normally go in my own vehicle (always have). My theory is I can leave when I want to and how I want to without relying on someone else. But what the heck, we are going to the races and Knox is not due for another 4 weeks. Man, was I wrong! I really think God was telling me to stay home because this was the first of a long day of situations that just didn't line up with what was to be normal.

When they arrived to pick us up to leave for the races, I had the bright idea of carrying our golf cart to keep us from having to walk so much. We pulled the trailer out of the mud, hooked it up to the van, and commenced to load the golf cart. The only problem is the golf cart would not start. We tried everything we knew to do to get it to crank; however we were not successful. We had to unhook from the trailer and leave without it. (We really needed and still need the exercise so it wasn't a big deal).
With a group of men like this, you know we couldn’t go far without having to stop to eat. We stopped in Aberdeen at Wendy's when I receive a phone call from my boss. This is not a rare occurrence for a Saturday but this time was different. He is discussing layoff conditions at Caterpillar and the impact that would have on my immediate employees and all of the employees at Caterpillar. I spent the entire time from Aberdeen to Columbus on the same phone call. We arrive at the races and finally, I can hear the engines and smell that racing gas. The only problem is, every 30 minutes or so I get more phone calls from my boss, which in turn requires me to call supervisors that work for me to discuss the layoff conditions and employee issues. These phone calls lasted for around 5 hours as qualifying and heat races are going on. As you can tell, I hadn't enjoyed my "Winter Classic" very much to that point.

I had talked to Moma throughout the day to check on her and she had enjoyed her day in Tupelo shopping but I could tell she had gone overboard and was tired. She told me around 3:30 pm that she didn't feel good and was going to take a nap. I called her around 4:30 pm and she still didn't feel good. I begin to worry about her a little but we were just thinking she was very tired and needed to sleep. At around 5:00 pm, she called me and informed me she was in an extreme amount of pain. I convinced her to take a shower, in hopes of helping her relax. By this time, the pain had gotten so bad that she threw up. She went ahead and took a shower but still couldn't get any relief. When she got out of the shower, she called Nana (Moms always make you feel better). Nana came to the house and they got out the baby books to try to diagnose Moma’s condition. They couldn’t figure it out so they decided to call Moma’s doctor and friend, Missy Barnett. Missy told her it sounded like kidney stones and that she needed to go to the women's hospital in Tupelo. So Moma and Nana hit the road to Tupelo. While on their way, Moma called Jack and Kirk to get them to tell her jokes on the phone to get her mind off of the pain. During the phone call, Moma told Nana to pull over so she could puke. In normal circumstances, Nana drives 5 miles per hour under the speed limit with her hands properly positioned on the steering wheel at 10 and 2. However, due to the abnormal circumstances, Nana drove 80 miles per hour so Moma could get to the hospital for some relief.

By this time, I’m a nervous wreck and I didn’t know how she was doing. Reception at the Columbus racetrack is not very good and I became increasingly scared. Remember, I’m there with Ben and our buddies in Ben’s van. I receive a call from Wanda and she gives me the scoop of what Missy had told them and they were going to head to Tupelo. Of course, the feature of the night had just started and Ben’s car is in the race. Not only are they in the race, they are in the top 5 and it’s lap 9 of the feature. So I commence to tell Ben, "We've got to go, Tina’s headed to the hospital." Ben's face is priceless because I had not said anything to him or anyone else that Moma was having problems. He is telling me with his eyes, “I ain’t going nowhere, she’ll just have to wait!" I see that he’s struggling with this and before he could say anything, I asked him could Poppy and I take the van on to Tupelo and could they ride back in the motor home. He said that’s fine that he’ll get the van some other time. Ben handed me the keys and Poppy and I strike out. I’ll have to tell you, we blew the soot out of that van going to Tupelo. Poppy and I learned that Ben’s full sized van would go faster than 80 miles per hour. We made it to the women’s hospital in around 45 minutes, exactly 78 miles from the racetrack. (Side note on Ben. Ben is Moma’s “boyfriend” and absolutely loves Moma like a daughter. He would have left if I’d needed him to; however, he was proud I thought of an alternative solution.)

I get to the hospital and she’s in the emergency room. She’s obviously in a huge amount of pain. Boy was I proud to see her. It had been a long day for me and a longer day for Moma. The doctor’s perform some tests on her and found that Knox was fine and they weren’t sure about what was causing her pain. They gave us the choice to go home or to stay the night for them to observe her. We opted to stay the night to make sure she and the baby were going to be ok. I am very proud of this decision because the next three days were definitely a challenge.

Beginning on Sunday, the doctors performed more tests on Moma. Let me tell you, she was a handful. Every 10 minutes, she needed to go to the bathroom. Moma monitor, baby monitor, IV’s, automatic blood pressure machine, Moma, and myself had to make the walk to the bathroom EVERY single time. She’d get to the bathroom, sit down, and make at the most 2 drops. Then we’d make our trip back to the bed, get everything hooked up, get Moma back on the bed, rearrange 12 pillows, and get her “settled” in before we had to do this again in 10 minutes. Honestly, Nana thought this would be hard for me, so she called Pop to come on Sunday to give me some relief. Just as a side note, that Sunday was the Super Bowl and we watched the game from the bed, I mean, bathroom, I mean bed.

Testing continued on Monday and Tuesday. Still, there was no real diagnosis of Moma’s continued pain, however they were assuring us that the baby was fine and that he was not at any risk. Even though Moma was having contractions off and on during our stay at the hospital, the doctors also insisted that he was not going to be born at this time because he was still three and a half weeks away from his due date.

On Wednesday, February 4th, Moma was supposed to have a minor surgery to try to correct the problem she was having. The test had revealed a blockage, causing her right kidney to be enlarged, which was most likely due to a stone. At around 4:30am, Moma called the nurse. I was asleep on the “very comfortable” cot in the room. Even to this day, Moma claims I was snoring but I think she was still in so much pain that she was imagining things. When the nurse arrives, Moma told the nurse she had peed in the bed and that she wanted to get it cleaned up before I woke up. Before this task could be completed, I woke up and begin to listen to their conversation. Our nurse that night was a sweet lady from Hamilton, Al. About the time I was awake enough to understand what was going on, she made the following statement in that Hamilton, Al voice: “Honey, your water broke”. What? That’s not right! My water didn’t break! I’m not ready for Knox to be born!

The poor nurse had to do a test to show the patient that her water really did break and that she didn’t pee on herself. By this time it’s 5:00 am and we just found out we are having our baby! The thought had not entered our mind about him being born that day. The doctors had been telling us all along that the baby would not be born and that he’d most likely go full term. Obviously, we had a huge change of plans and we just had to realize we are on God’s time and not our own.

We called our family and close friends to tell them that we would be having a baby instead of having surgery. At around 8:30 am, the anesthesiologist came in for the epidural and I went to the lobby to hang out with Jeremy. Jeremy had went to Connie’s chicken to bring me a chicken and gravy biscuit and blueberry donuts to help me cope with the situation. I appreciated Jeremy being there with me as well as the great breakfast.

Around 30 minutes later, I was able to go to the room to see Moma and she had the happiest look on her face. She was finally able to relax from the pain she had been experiencing. While writing this, I’ve made light of the pain she had dealt with and even told her to “suck it up” a time or two during our stay at the hospital. However, my baby girl had been in some tremendous pain for several days and there was nothing the doctors or myself could do about it. She was miserable and I totally gained a lot of respect of her tolerance for pain during this time.

At this point, time goes by very quickly. Before we know it, she had dilated to a full 10 cm and it’s time for Knox’s arrival. Missy comes to the room along with other nurses and begins transforming the hospital room into a delivery room. Missy is a great coach and has to remind Moma to look at her and to concentrate on her breathing. A time or two Moma was too busy gazing into my eyes and she forgot that SHE WAS GIVING BIRTH TO A BABY! (LOL) Dr. Kennedy comes in like Superman with his arms stretched out. Nurses put a robe on him, gloves, and he comes in for the delivery. By this time, Knox’s head is starting to show and the doctor is there just as a formality. Knox has a bunch of hair. That’s my first words when I see his head. Moma pushes two more times and he’s coming out. Things are really happening fast by now. Dr. Kennedy reaches for his head, twist him around and pulls (I can barely stand it because he seems so rough with Knox but I hang in there). At 11:05 am, our baby boy is born. Ten fingers, ten toes, definitely a boy, and a head full of hair. He’s perfect! Dr. Kennedy raises Knox in the air to show Moma what a wonderful piece of art that she and God had built. What an awesome experience and blessing from God! Missy and the nurses take Knox to the warmer and begin to clean him up. I hug Moma and tell her our boy is perfect. I go to check on him and of course, he’s not ready to wake up. In the words of Missy, he’s just being lazy because he didn’t want to cry. I think he just wanted to be left alone but everyone was messing with him, cleaning him up, measuring him, weighing him, and wrapping him up. 7lbs. 14 oz., and 18 ¼ inches long. Finally, they are finished and Moma gets to hold her baby for the first time. There’s nothing like the glow that a mother has while holding her newborn child the first time. This is a real experience that I am proud I got to witness. I was so excited, I couldn’t wait to go to the lobby and tell everyone that Knox had arrived. I go to the lobby to tell the good news and of course everyone wants to go see him. I told them they’d have to wait because we wanted Peyton to be the first one to see Knox besides Moma and myself. Just as God would have it, Peyton and Poppy pull into the parking lot at the very moment I explained to everyone what we wanted to do. Peyton was so excited when I told him he would be the first one to see Knox and he wanted to be sure to give him his first money. Of course, Daddy had to loan Peyton the money to give to Knox. Peyton did pay me back later.

Peyton was so happy and excited when we got to the room. We enjoyed our moment as a family together, a moment I will treasure for the rest of my life. There’s nothing like having your family together during times like this because there are no distractions, just you and your family. After our moment together, it’s time to let everyone else see Knox. The room was full of our family and friends. Again, this is another moment in which both Moma and I will treasure.

After the delivery, Knox is carried to the nursery and Moma had to endure more tests for her kidney stones at the main hospital. Again, another example of God’s timing because from that point until this day, Moma has not had any pain or side effects from kidney stones. After being gone for quite a while, Moma returns from her tests and we were moved to another room so the doctors could continue monitoring Moma to make sure she was fine. By this time, most everyone had gone home and we were there with Knox in our room. It was time for Knox to eat and we asked Erin to stay and help with the feeding. The breastfeeding process went very well for the first time but the only problem was Knox did not want to eat. He seemed like all he wanted to do was sleep, but little did we know this was not the problem. During this time, we noticed Knox’s nostrils were flaring in and out but we were not alarmed by it. He just wanted to sleep and we let him. The nurses came at around 11:00 to check on him and we told them he was not eating and we asked them to carry him to the nursery to see if they could get him to eat. With such a wonderful day and the Emotion, Exhaustion, and Exhilaration we had experienced in the four days prior, Moma and I went to sleep. But, as always with children, this was just the beginning of our journey.

Knox, you are a true blessing from God. Thank you for coming into our lives. Words cannot express the love we have for you. Moma, Daddy, and Peyton love you with all our hearts.
Happy First Birthday lil man!