When we found out that Tracy was pregnant it was clearly shock. Although planned, we had no idea we would conceive in 1 month. But it was a pleasure. We seem to be one of those couples that goes through life always waiting for things and for once we got what we wanted and rather quickly. Needless to say, we were ecstatic. Tracy and Ed were going to have a baby.

Tracy had her mind made up that day that she was going to the midwife's. Her niece just went through a pregnancy and couldn't recommend them high enough. It didn't make a difference to me. If she was happy with them then I would be. After all, she has to go through labor, not me and if the situation is comfortable for her, then its the best decision.

The first visit was a lot different that I would have expected. She didn't take her clothes off to dress into a hideous hospital gown, she didn't wait in a room for 45 minutes, she didn't even get any shots or blood taken. She talked with the midwife about her pregnancy - period. No technical terms, no lengthy forms, just talking. But after she left, I knew a good bit of her questions were answered and she felt a lot better. Hey, I thought. This is going to be a good pregnancy. Little did I know how much would change over the next 9 months.

We were given a due date of February 18, 2000. It seemed like she began growing immediately and was out of her cloths in two months. I was just trying to play catch up with her wardrobe so she wasn't wearing the same over sized sweatshirt for weeks at a time. I figured I couldn't do anything about her sickness, which occurred nightly around 8PM, so the least I could do was to get her some clothes that would fit.

The months passed by rather quickly and she began to grow more and more. We decided to find out the sex of the baby after dodging the sonogram temptation twice and found out we were having a girl. We were riding on adrenaline alone for what seemed like weeks, but when all calmed down, Tracy's back was still hurting, her belly still growing and the anxiety reaching all time highs.

When we made it to February, Tracy and I decided she could no longer continue working a full time job and because part time wasn't an option, she started her maternity leave early. I remember the calls I would get at work during this time, waiting for the BIG news, but was always greeted with what was in the mail, or what position the dog was laying in. Tracy was never a sit around the house type of person and not working was really getting to her, but we only had a few weeks left.

When we went to the midwives one week before the due date, we were pleasantly told by Gretchen that Tracy had already dilated to 2cm. WOW! This could be any day now. I began preparing for the long leave for myself at work and trying to get the last minute duties done in the house for the new arrival. One week later, still no baby and Tracy was getting at her wits end. Her back hurt, she slept very little die to her size and worst of all, she couldn't get an answer when the baby was coming.

The due date came and went and we were in bed on Thursday night after getting our usually pro - wrestling fix and decided like would go on and we weren't going to be held back by the wait any longer. We planned a long weekend together with a lot of activities to get our minds on something else.

February 25, 2000 at 3:16AM her water broke. For some stupid reason, I had to know the time and place I was so I opened my groggy eyes to glare at the clock on the dresser before calmly getting up and getting dressed. Tracy was surprisingly calm, but I knew something was different because her contractions were really hurting her this time. This was the real deal.

We arrived at the hospital 1 hour later and the rest of it seemed to last 15 minutes, but was actually much longer. Tracy was in labor for roughly 2 hours and pushed for another 2 hours. Everything happened so fast. She didn't get any pain killers, but she never thought of it. A few times I had to hide my face from her because I was crying. She was in so much pain and I felt helpless. At 8:39am, Nikole Pauline arrived into our lives at a lovely healthy 8lbs 14oz. once again, I couldn't help my tears, she was here.

A few hours later, we were told by the doctor that Nikole was having some breathing problems and the pediatrician had to see her before we could hold her. No big deal, we thought, Doctors need to check out babies to make sure they're ok all the time. How could ours be any different. It was very different. We were told after the pediatrician visit that she inhaled waste into her lungs during delivery and may need to go to Children's hospital the next day if she doesn't breathe better. All I could do was sit and stare are her. Couldn't hold her or caress her hair or baby talk to her, just stare and pray everything will be ok.

The next day, she improved immensely and I was able to hold her. Because Tracy was breastfeeding she was able to cuddle with the bundle of joy later that night. She was well worth the wait though and I was never so happy since the day I married Tracy. I was officially a daddy!

It wasn't over through and we didn't live happily ever after, not yet anyway. Nikole was born on a Friday and it was Monday and Tracy still couldn't pee on her own due to the pregnancy. We were told this was no big deal and that it would come around soon enough. We went home with out new friend, the catheter, almost expecting the golden fluid to flow the next day. It didn't, infact, it didn't for days.

This was worse than the wait for the baby. What if this lasts for months? What is she loses control forever and has to wear adult diapers? What is she never goes again? How horrible. We were sitting on the couch one week after the baby was born at home on a Friday afternoon, getting ready to call a home visiting nurse because she still didn't go. The pressure was really getting to us. All we wanted was to relax and enjoy our new family but as long as Tracy was peeing we couldn't. She went upstairs to try to go right before we made the call, when from the top of the stairs she bellowed, I'm going I'm going! The feeling resumed and all was well. Tracy was peeing, the baby was healthy and we had the rest of our lives to look forward to the day whe we would finally be able to laugh about this.

Oh yeah! and we lived happily ever after.... and still are.