A New Hope

It’s 1:02am on November 12th, 2020, and I’m just now opening my laptop for the day. Overachiever? Nope. I mean, I’m just now opening my laptop from yesterday. Normally, I would have had my laptop open this morning and would currently be nestled in bed next to my wife. Today though… Well, that’s an entirely different story. I awoke this morning and took a shower as normal. I didn’t have a particularly busy day planned for today, so I took some extra time to actually wake up and take the dogs out and just enjoy the morning. I got in the shower as normal and noticed my wife come in the bathroom. I peeked out of the shower curtain, ready to say something obnoxious but stopped dead in my tracks when I saw her. She clearly wasn’t feeling well.

“Are you okay honey?” I asked her

“Yeah, just having contractions.” She replied , clearly in pain.

“Should we call the doctor and see if they want you to come in?” I asked

“I already did, she said to come in.”

Okay. Lightspeed engaged. My mind whirled. This is our 4th child so I wasn’t really unprepared in the traditional sense. More so, I was scared shitless. We have had to have C-Sections with our children and this baby wasn’t due to arrive until 11/16. That’s almost a week away! WTF.

So, we get things together and get in the car to head into the hospital. A quick stop to drop off our youngest with the sitter (thanks dad!) and we’re off. Everything is mostly fine, I can tell the contractions hurt, but she’s in good spirits. The hospital is about a 30-minute drive, so we’re chatting and talking about our latest YouTube addiction (Good Mythical Morning with Rhett and Link) and I’m actively trying to keep my wife distracted from the pain.

My plan mostly works, we get to the hospital and get her checked into registration. Everything is going well, no one is running around like the place is on fire, so I take that as a good sign. That being said, I can’t relax. I’m stressed to the max. I’ve never loved anyone the way that I love my wife and the thought of anything happening to her seriously scares the life out of me.

Eventually, the doctor comes in and checks her over and declares that this little baby has decided that her birthday is going to be today. We’re having a baby! They give us roughly 2 and a half hours to prepare for the surgery. I talk it over with my wife and we decide that it’s probably best if I run home a food delivery to my dad and the kids and grab a few essentials that we didn’t think we would be needing from the house.

On my way home I try to call and update family members and other important people in our lives and do my best to keep everyone in the loop. I get home, and as I’m pulling in, I get a text from my wife that reads” Hurry up honey, they’re bringing in surgery stuff.” Okay, I’m literally running into the house, things are flying into the overnight bag that I had planned on packing this weekend, and just like that I’m out the door and headed back to the hospital.

I made it back with about 15 minutes to spare, and shortly after arriving, we were whisked away into the OR. I sat by my wife’s head, softly stroking her hair, while the doctors got to work taking the baby out behind a blue curtain. The fact that my wife is awake for the whole procedure is still crazy to me, but as I sat there looking at her, I broke down. Honestly, nothing to do with the baby coming, but I started bawling anyway. I was so worked up and worried that something was going to happen to my wife that it was all I could think about. A few minutes later, I hear the doctors laugh a then a baby start crying. My little girl was here. All of the stress and worry and fear just drained out of me. I thought everything is going to be fine. And, so far, it is. We’ve spent the last several hours taking turns snuggling, kissing, and feeding our new baby girl. And she is absolutely perfect.

The whole day not once did I think about work… The goal is to build an empire, and what’s the key to a lasting empire? A strong family. No crazy drama, nothing weird to report, but today is one of the best days of my life and it had absolutely nothing to do with the company that I lost, the impending foreclosure of my shop, the businesses that I’m trying to launch or the empire that I’m attempting to build.

So. When the walls feel like they’re closing in when it feels like a gust of wind could blow everything away and all of your hard work could be for nothing; do me a favor and take a long, hard look at what’s really important in your life. Work isn’t going anywhere. Your business will still be standing tomorrow. The world won’t stop spinning if you take a day off. But, and I promise you this, you will truly regret missing the important stuff. So, don’t miss it.

And on that note, I’ve got some work to do before I turn in. Please make sure to follow me and check back often to see what's going on with the Empire!