We were just going to a doctor's appointment.
On Monday, August 28th, my first day of classes here at school, Jess and I headed off to her regular doctor's appointment. She had been having check ups every 2 days due to preeclampsia. Preeclampsia is a pregnancy condition that raises the mother's blood pressure significantly, and in really bad cases can cause seizures in the mother. This particular morning, Jess's blood pressure was off the charts, and Silas (then known as "the baby") had not been moving around a lot. This concerned Jess's doctor enough to send us to the hospital for more tests.
At the hospital, Jess was hooked up to machines and monitors and had blood drawn. None of the tests were looking that wonderful. They told us that we would either be inducing that day (since we were only a few days from being full term), or Jess would stay in the hospital for the rest of her pregnancy. More tests happened then: an ultrasound (not much movement from Silas) and an amniocentesis, in which they check the amniotic fluid for signs of lung maturity (Silas' lungs were deemed mature.) At this point, the decision was made by our doctor to induce labor.
That evening, Jess was given a medication to begin the induction. About 20 minutes later, Jess and I had the scariest moment of our lives. We noticed that Jess was having a large contraction that, at that point, had lasted for 6 minutes (that's a lot). Also, Silas' heart rate was dropping down to 50 or 60 (Silas' normal heart rate = 150-160.) We alerted the nurses, and soon 5 nurses burst into our room frantically shouting orders to each other. Without time to really explain to us what was happening, they yanked out all Jess cords and tubes from the wall and rushed her in her bed off to the operating room. I was told I could not go in and had to wait in the hall, pacing back and forth, having no idea what kind of danger my wife and baby were in, and listening to the nurses attempt to find a doctor to perform an emergency C-section. About 5 minutes later, a nurse came to get me, telling me that they were both okay, and that I could change into scrubs and go into the O.R., where they gave Jess an epidural, just in case a C-section became necessary.
Jess and Silas were back to "normal" again, and we returned to our room for more monitoring. In about 1/2 hour - hour, Jess' doctor told us that she was very concerned about Silas' lack of movement, and that it was time for a C-section. (I should mention here that Jess had planned on a natural birth)(Didn't quite happen).
So it was off to the O.R. again, where this time, I got to be in the room and was able to witness the birth of our beautiful boy! When they lifted him up, I saw that it was a boy and sort of looked around the room, thinking, "On T.V., doesn't the doctor make some sort of offical sounding "It's a boy!" announcement? Oh, well." And I blurted it out myself. "IT'S A BOY!" Then I glanced around the room again, to see if I had gotten it right, and no one corrected me. They cleaned him off, and, even though they had cut the cord, they let me cut a part of it, too. Then they brought him to Jess and she got to hold him while she was on the operating table. And we all bawled with joy.
All that to say, Jess and Silas are doing great, and though we are really, really tired, we are overjoyed to have a brand-new healthy son.
Silas and Grandma Sara
Silas and Aunt Erica
Silas and Grandma Bratsch
Silas and Grandpa Bratsch
Silas and Uncle Joel
Silas and Uncle Phil
Until... 
