Cameron Dale Rex

Welcome our newest member. Cameron Dale was born at 8:52 this morning. 2 hours and 15 minutes earlier I was awoken with a kink in my neck. As I dazedly gazed out at my clock trying hard to make out the "06:37" Judy told me, "I think I might be in labor, but I don't know because the contraction wasn't very hard..." So I got some pain meds for my neck and laid back down, telling her "let me know as soon as you know for sure, I'm going to try and get rid of this headache."
Luckily the drugs worked quick, because there was no way I was falling asleep after the long awaited for labor seemed to be upon us. By 7:00 all three of us were up and I was frantically getting myself and Kimball some breakfast while coaching Judy trough contractions. She could still talk through them, so I thought we had at least 4 or 5 hours before we might be getting our new baby boy, but by 7:40, I knew I needed to call my sister to come get Kimball. Char got there within 15 minutes, and we were grabbing the last of our stuff together to get out the door. At this point, the contractions started getting pretty bad. It was probably 8:20 when Judy turned to me and said, "Maybe I'm a wimp, but I already want an epidural." You women who have gone natural will know that when you get to that point, it's already too late.
At 8:26 we were able to get Judy to the car, and I screamed out the window to our neighbors (who were still in bed...their window is right by the driveway) "Ferrels, we're having a baby!" as we peeled out the driveway. At 8:30, halfway to the hospital (University and 7th North for those who know Provo and UVRMC), Judy exclaims "I'm feeling like I really have to push." Encouraging her strongly not to push, I speed off out of the intersection and only stop at red lights long enough to know I can make it through without getting us hit. I pull up into the drop off zone, all painted red, jump out of the car and run to the entrance where I spied a few wheelchairs. Screaming in contractual pain, Judy lets me help her into the chair and as I rush her towards the entrance, she expresses her gravest concern of the moment, "Honey! You're going to get a parking ticket!"
"Honey, I'm sure they are used to this kind of thing."
Labor and Delivery is on the 5th floor here and there was someone already in the elevator. "Floor 5 please" I gasped as I wheeled her through the doors and whispered words or encouragement and patience to not push just yet. Coming off the elevator I grab the big red 'only if you are in labor' phone and scream to have the doors open. We get in and the secretary takes one look at us and realizes birth is eminent. I explain that she's been feeling pushy and Judy tells her she's starting to feel tingly. The effect was as though we'd stuck a hot iron on her as she jumped to the phone demanding a room immediately and tearing through her filing cabinet to find our pre-registration.
8:39 was our official check in time. By 8:42 we'd managed to get Judy, who couldn't move on her own anymore, up and into the bed and a nurse checked her and told us what was so clear...fully dilated and the baby's about to come out. In the next few minutes I watched in astonishment as 6 different nurses rushed in and out of our room to get it all prepped for the baby to come. They kept on telling Judy, who was screaming in agony as they did so, "Don't push yet! Don't push yet!".
8:49 Dr. Broadbent made his entrance. Luckily he was already at the hospital from another delivery. He quickly got into position and Judy pushed once as he finished breaking the water, and in another minutes time Judy starts screaming again as all the nurses tell her to hold her breath and push. Finally getting the drift she gives a good hard push and stops. "No, no, no! Just a little more, we almost have him."
8:52 my cream cheese covered little friend pokes his head all the way out and waves hello to the world as his mother collapses exhausted on the bed.
Now that was an intense 15 minutes at the hospital, but I much preferred this to Kimball's drawn out 8 hour labor with an hour and a half of pushing. Much more entertaining. Little baby Rex weighed in at 7 lbs 11 ounces (really it was 10.5, but they rounded up) and 19.5 inches long. Some tufts of blonde hair appeared as they cleaned his head off, and a few minutes later, presto! Judy's got a baby in her arms. A perfect human specimen with the usual coney head, but not nearly so bad as Kimball head at birth, was owing to the short labor (In the picture his left hand looks a little funny, but there's nothing wrong, he's just waving to the camera so his hand is a little blurry).
Judy finally turned to me and reminded me of that which I had totally forgotten "Don't you need to go move the car?" I decided I better give the firemen their lane back, just in case, and quickly made the trip in time to take my as yet unnamed son down to the nursery for further poking and prodding, and finally, a bath.
The most enjoyable part of all this was the bath as his fair skinned body turned a deep red. Not just his face, like some little league baseball coaches get, but his entire body. Like a tomato. I wanted to take a bite...not really, but you get the idea. At last baby and I were escorted to mommy's room, and after some good discussion we finally decided on the name Cameron Dale Rex.
Cameron was a name we both liked. Also as a senior in high school I had a great friend named Cameron. We played trumpet in band together, and he is going on with some great talent into the musical profession (unlike me, I got my music degree and decided I needed to go learn how to be a lawyer, talk about a verical shift down!) Any how, Cameron and I were so close that people started calling him 'Chip' like the rescue ranger chipmunk.
While I would like to claim that Dale was inspired by such a great and wonderful man as myself, it wasn't. It was really in honor of my father and uncle, Dee and Dale. See, Kimball's middle name is Dee, just like my dad. My dad is the oldest and his next sibling was Norman Dale, who went by Dale. Dale died of cancer a year before I was born, and as he and my father were as close as any brothers could be, I was blessed with his name. As I contemplated the relationship my father and uncle had before my sojourn here, recalling the many stories of my father and his brother up on their ranch, it was the relationship I wanted my two little boys to have. They learned how to do everything together: ride horses, harvest hay, herd sheep, cuss, pray, everything. Not to mention my late uncle Dale's wife, Aunt Janet, has been a great friend as I've been here at BYU (she also lives in the area). So, since Kimball got Dee, Cameron gets Dale after his great uncle, just like his daddy.
Now we've got that settled, we're all ready for a nice long nap, so I'm going to sign off now. That and we have to get Cameron ready to meet his older brother and hopefully best friend, Kimball.
Thanks to all who have been a great support through this pregnancy. Especially my sister Char who has our other little pride and joy, our neighbors who, unsuccessfully, helped me try to convince Cameron to come a little earlier, and many others who have helped, but for fear of omitting one or two, I will stop here. Most of all, however, I am indebted to a loving father in heaven who has blessed me to help bring two wonderful little boys to this Earth.