One of the beautiful perks of my faith is that I feel that I am never alone, and although my wife and I were taking on this new adventure at the hospital knowing that family would not be arriving, it was comforting to know that they were just a phone call away.
Right after my wife had announced her "pop" and gone to check it out in the restroom, I immediately called sister 1, no answer, sister 2, no answer, sister 3, no answer. Honestly, when I am having my moment, they are all snoring away! LOL So, I did what I knew would wake them up and I called the house phone which echos all throughout. My Dad answers, "Alo," and I respond, "Dad, I don't want you to worry, but I am pretty sure that my wife just went into labor, she started her contractions and we're going to head to the hospital soon." My Dad responds, "Oh, ok, well, you know that happens, her contractions will start getting stronger and stronger and you'll have to go to the hospital. Let me get your sister." My Dad cracks me up all the time because he is the knower of all things, including labor and delivery. "Dad, don't wake them up, I already called them and they are all sleeping. When they wake up, let them know that we will be at the hospital and that I will keep them posted, but remind them the reception is not the best there." My Dad replied, "Ok, be careful, and may God bless you."
It was 2 a.m. when I sent the screenshot of the contraction timer in the family chat. Shortly after that a young doctor came in, cracking jokes with nurse F, asked a few questions and began her cervical exam. He determined that she was about 2 cm dilated and that it was thin enough to admit us for the night. Now it was all about waiting for the cervix to dilate further naturally.
Then, the anesthesiologist arrived and they let me know that I had to step out for this procedure, and nurse F walked me to the empty visiting room and let me know that it would take about 10-15 minutes and she would come back and pick me up. So there I was in the visiting room, alone, thinking to myself and talking to God and saying, "wow, I can't believe this is actually happening." I snapped a few shots of the room to have record of it and I snapped a picture of the clock approximately 2 minutes after I arrived when I remembered to take pictures.
3 a.m. I smiled. 3 a.m. is the hour that I have been waking up at for the past year, on the dot, without being able to go back to sleep for about 2.5 hours. I had shared with my wife that I thought God was training me on purpose by waking me up at 3 a.m. so that when JJ was here, I wouldn't be as tired and would be able to take my turn caring for him. Here is what I have heard about 3 a.m. spiritually:
Church teaching says nothing about the time of 3 a.m. However, in popular culture it has become known as the “devil’s hour.” This is because Gospel tradition reports that Jesus died at 3 p.m., and so—because the devil likes to mock God—the inverse hour of 3 a.m. is considered the time the devil chooses to manifest most forcefully in the world. Some also claim that due to the large amount of sin committed at 3 a.m. the Communion of Saints often awakens individuals at this time in order to prompt them to pray for others.
Sure enough, it has become my new normal to wake up at 3 a.m. and I indeed pray. Usually, I read the Gospel, which I have started to do from the Old Testament, then I watch a movie on my Netflix phone app about Jesus, his Disciples, etc., and then by the time I get sleepy I start to pray, and that usually does the trick for me. There is something comforting to me about falling asleep thinking about Jesus.
What's interesting is that I recently spoke to my cousins who are also believers and they all wake up at 3 a.m., too! Crazy! As well as my sisters, ever since my mom passed away in November 2015. The cousins who are not necessarily believers, said they all wake up later...LOL . Coincidence?
So right on time, Sister C calls me when I was in the visiting room to check in. We laughed about how they were all asleep and I let her know that I would text her later. Nurse F had come to pick me back up.
It was 3:23 a.m. when my sister C texted me to see how the Epidural had gone, the following is our chat conversation:
Sister C: Good morning, how is she doing?
Me: All the updates are on PhotoCircle
Sister C: Okay
Me: They are about to put her catheter in, pobrecita, she's snoring right now, she was in so much pain, but she's been researching all these breathing techniques and massaging that I could do during her contractions, and it helped her. Doctor told her that he was impressed with her techniques. She was like, "YouTube" lol
And all the way here, every time she had a contraction, I prayed the Our Father and Hail Mary's until it was over, that kept us both calm
Sister C: That's good, I am praying for a speedy delivery and for you too. The hospital looks deserted. I am sad we can't be there. 😥
Me: Me too, but we will be home soon
Sister C: Remember to ask for pampers and take all you can from the hospital (Sidenote: I call this the Latino Poverty Syndrome-you gotta take all that you can when it's offered, LOL)
Me: Yes, I will. There is this baby who was just born across the way and he/she was screaming like crazy lol. It's very surreal.
Sister C: I know Sister I is off this week, she can go help you if you guys need her
Me: ok
Sister C: How many pounds is JJ?
Me: We don't know yet but he's at least 7 pounds
My wife woke up, I asked her how she was feeling, and since the Epidural kicked in, we decided to read to JJ his Angel Prayer book, had the angel Gabriel lead us in the Our Father, both languages, and I blessed my wife and the baby with the holy water Sister M had acquired for me to keep handy ever since my born-again moment, almost one year ago. Then, we rested for an hour.
Right after my wife had announced her "pop" and gone to check it out in the restroom, I immediately called sister 1, no answer, sister 2, no answer, sister 3, no answer. Honestly, when I am having my moment, they are all snoring away! LOL So, I did what I knew would wake them up and I called the house phone which echos all throughout. My Dad answers, "Alo," and I respond, "Dad, I don't want you to worry, but I am pretty sure that my wife just went into labor, she started her contractions and we're going to head to the hospital soon." My Dad responds, "Oh, ok, well, you know that happens, her contractions will start getting stronger and stronger and you'll have to go to the hospital. Let me get your sister." My Dad cracks me up all the time because he is the knower of all things, including labor and delivery. "Dad, don't wake them up, I already called them and they are all sleeping. When they wake up, let them know that we will be at the hospital and that I will keep them posted, but remind them the reception is not the best there." My Dad replied, "Ok, be careful, and may God bless you."
It was 2 a.m. when I sent the screenshot of the contraction timer in the family chat. Shortly after that a young doctor came in, cracking jokes with nurse F, asked a few questions and began her cervical exam. He determined that she was about 2 cm dilated and that it was thin enough to admit us for the night. Now it was all about waiting for the cervix to dilate further naturally.
Then, the anesthesiologist arrived and they let me know that I had to step out for this procedure, and nurse F walked me to the empty visiting room and let me know that it would take about 10-15 minutes and she would come back and pick me up. So there I was in the visiting room, alone, thinking to myself and talking to God and saying, "wow, I can't believe this is actually happening." I snapped a few shots of the room to have record of it and I snapped a picture of the clock approximately 2 minutes after I arrived when I remembered to take pictures.
Church teaching says nothing about the time of 3 a.m. However, in popular culture it has become known as the “devil’s hour.” This is because Gospel tradition reports that Jesus died at 3 p.m., and so—because the devil likes to mock God—the inverse hour of 3 a.m. is considered the time the devil chooses to manifest most forcefully in the world. Some also claim that due to the large amount of sin committed at 3 a.m. the Communion of Saints often awakens individuals at this time in order to prompt them to pray for others.
Sure enough, it has become my new normal to wake up at 3 a.m. and I indeed pray. Usually, I read the Gospel, which I have started to do from the Old Testament, then I watch a movie on my Netflix phone app about Jesus, his Disciples, etc., and then by the time I get sleepy I start to pray, and that usually does the trick for me. There is something comforting to me about falling asleep thinking about Jesus.
What's interesting is that I recently spoke to my cousins who are also believers and they all wake up at 3 a.m., too! Crazy! As well as my sisters, ever since my mom passed away in November 2015. The cousins who are not necessarily believers, said they all wake up later...LOL . Coincidence?
So right on time, Sister C calls me when I was in the visiting room to check in. We laughed about how they were all asleep and I let her know that I would text her later. Nurse F had come to pick me back up.
It was 3:23 a.m. when my sister C texted me to see how the Epidural had gone, the following is our chat conversation:
Sister C: Good morning, how is she doing?
Me: All the updates are on PhotoCircle
Sister C: Okay
Me: They are about to put her catheter in, pobrecita, she's snoring right now, she was in so much pain, but she's been researching all these breathing techniques and massaging that I could do during her contractions, and it helped her. Doctor told her that he was impressed with her techniques. She was like, "YouTube" lol
And all the way here, every time she had a contraction, I prayed the Our Father and Hail Mary's until it was over, that kept us both calm
Sister C: That's good, I am praying for a speedy delivery and for you too. The hospital looks deserted. I am sad we can't be there. 😥
Me: Me too, but we will be home soon
Sister C: Remember to ask for pampers and take all you can from the hospital (Sidenote: I call this the Latino Poverty Syndrome-you gotta take all that you can when it's offered, LOL)
Me: Yes, I will. There is this baby who was just born across the way and he/she was screaming like crazy lol. It's very surreal.
Sister C: I know Sister I is off this week, she can go help you if you guys need her
Me: ok
Sister C: How many pounds is JJ?
Me: We don't know yet but he's at least 7 pounds
My wife woke up, I asked her how she was feeling, and since the Epidural kicked in, we decided to read to JJ his Angel Prayer book, had the angel Gabriel lead us in the Our Father, both languages, and I blessed my wife and the baby with the holy water Sister M had acquired for me to keep handy ever since my born-again moment, almost one year ago. Then, we rested for an hour.
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