Cohen Spencer Tiek

Here's the story . . . I was rudely awoken from a peaceful sleep early Monday morning by someone yelling at me, "Steve...Steve....STEVE!, What time is it!" I was so confused, usually Allison doesn't need to know the time when she pees in the middle of the night. Allison was in the bathroom, asking me more questions, none of them I could hear or understand due to the fan and the early hour. "It's 2:15, why?" "I ding ma war broge!". . . "What, what do you want?" I was getting a little frustrated. "I think my water broke!" This got me to prop my head up. "What, really, are you sure, are you having any contractions?" "No" "Well . . . , let's just go back to sleep and see what happens in the morning." For some reason I didn't believe it was actually happening. It didn't seem possible. Allison felt the same way because she called her doctor, her dad, and told him what happened and of course he said, "Yeah, you should go in to the hospital and check it out." "My dad says we should go in." "Really . . . , right now, are you sure?" Then Allison really tested my weakness, when she said, "you can just stay here and sleep, I'll just go by myself." I am sad to admit that I actually considered this. "No . . . I'm getting up." This was exactly two weeks before Allison's due date, so we were totally unprepared. The book even said we should start packing hospital bags at 4 weeks, but we ignored it. As you know Allison's parents are leaving for Nigeria on the 26th to serve as mission presidents. They will be there for 2 years. Because of their departure 4 days before our due date we had been praying for the little guy to come early, so he could meet his Mogo and Pop pop (his Jones grandparents). We probably should have shown a little bit of faith by being ready to go 2 weeks early. We weren't really sure what to pack. I slowly got my bag and started filling it with things I'd take on an overnighter. We grabbed the car seat, baby blankets and baby clothes just in case.

As we were driving away from our house at 3 in the morning Allison saw that we left our bedroom light on. "Steve, turn around! We left the light on!" "You think your water broke and you’re worried about the light." Bless Allison’s heart. The whole way to the hospital Allison was worried that they were just going to tell us to go home because it's just pee. I was worried too, how embarrassing.

I picked up the phone behind the security door to the labor and delivery desk. They asked how they could help us to which I responded, "Yeah, my wife thinks her water broke . . . uh . . . we just want to get that checked out, please." Instead of Allison being offended by my insincerity she nodded her head verifying my request. A nurse tested Allison for a few things and then started telling us her stats, how far along she was, etc. We interrupted her with the question we came for "So . . . did my water break?" The nurse apologized, "Oh, sorry. Yes, your water broke; you're not leaving here without a baby. " She must have realized how skeptical we were cause she told us in 3 different ways we're having a baby. And then the reality settled in. Wow, we're having a baby! You would thing that 9 months of pregnancy would make it seem real, but it really didn't. Not until the nurse told us 3 times that we're having a baby.

We tried to get rest in the delivery room; it was only 4:30-5:00 at this point. Allison brought up a hot topic of debate that we just couldn't agree on, "So . . . what are we going to name him?" "Let's not talk about that now, let's get some rest." "Are you serious?!" Al says, "I think we need to have this conversation, since we're starting to call him 'He who must not be named'." I wanted Cohen Stephen, she wanted Mason Spencer, so we compromised, isn't that sweet? We decided Cohen Spencer Tiek. I think we agreed mostly to stop talking about it and we really couldn’t think of anything else we really liked.

Long story short, literally, at 10:00 the nurse came in to check, again, on Allison. She said “Ok, looks like you’re ready to start pushing.” The doctor came in 15 minutes later, he saw how far along Allison was and started grabbing trays, tables, scales, etc. and the nurse started preparing needles, ankle tags, etc. and then it hit me again that this guy is really going to be here. Cohen was born at 10:47am weighing 7lbs 9oz and 20 inches long (we measured at home and he was 21 inches).

When I first saw Cohen he looked so familiar to me, I felt like I recognized him or maybe myself in him. I think it helped that he came out with curly light brown hair. It was really cool and very spiritual. All you dads probably know what I’m talking about. It was amazing. And Allison was amazing. Birth truly is a miracle not just for the baby but for the mother, they go through so much and then can heal so well.

When Allison and I held our new little baby for the first time we wondered if he looked like Cohen and we both weren’t sure . . . but after the first couple days of calling him Cohen it started to grow on us. And then it was time to fill out important documentation, i.e. birth certificate, we needed to be decisive so we started trying other random names like Luscious, Maximus, Broham, Brosph, etc none of them seem to work so we stuck with Cohen.

We brought him home Wednesday at noon and he has unfortunately been under photo-treatment for his jaundice, wa-wa-waaa. It stinks but he seems to actually enjoy it, he’ll just lay there with his legs propped up on the blanket like he’s tanning.

We love the little guy. He has been so awesome. So far he enjoys sleeping, eating and pooping. And we are loving every minute!