Ian Thomas Nance
Ian was born May 18, 1980 the same day that Mount St. Helen blew. Only time will tell as to whether it will be Ian or the volcano which will cause the most destruction. All right, my stab at humor is finished. We are quite proud of Ian. He graduated top of his high school class and will be graduating in May from California State University at Fresno, where his major is English. He'll be the third generation to attend the University.He's a bright young man who we know will succeed at whatever he puts his mind to. On the day he was born, I wrote in my journal:
5-18-80
At 10:30 P.M. on Saturday 5-17-80, as I rested in bed, Dalene came to me and said she'd had a bloody show. Since this was one of the signs of impending delivery, I set aside a pair of shoes, socks, underwear, shirt and pants, then went to sleep waiting for more signs. At 12:00 A.M, Dalene woke me and said she believed she was having contractions. We decided to call the doctor (Dr. Long) about 12:15 and he told us to go to the hospital immediately.
After checking the dog's (Wookie and Vader) water and food, and forgetting the cat (I found Screwball in the garage when I finally returned from the hospital) we left for the hopstial and at 70 miles an hour arrived at about 1:00.
The contractions become stronger about 2:00 and continued getting stronger and longer. Around 2:30 Dalene was given a shot to calm her down. The pain remained. The night was long with many contractons leading to tears and even vomitting three times. The doctor arrived at 7:00 Sunday morning and checked Dalene's dialation which was 5cm by then.
The pain continued as did the dilation. Around 10:30 she showed not sign of progress and Dr. Long called for a C section. Because another woman was delivering, Dalene had to wait until about 11:00 before she could be prepared. I said goodbye as they wheeled her controted with pain into the operating room.
After many cigarettes and three cups of coffee, I was met by Kathy (a former C section mother and a big help with Dalene) at 11:30. "You have a boy." I walked in a daze into the nursery to see Ian freshly cleaned lying naked under the heat lamp. As with all babies, he was beautiful. Pink, soft skin, blue hands and feet, matted hair. Scrunched up eyes and a smug of blood over the left one. Pug nose. Toothless mouth opened wide and crying. Skin so soft covered in a flakey, natural, white lotion. What a big boy though: 8lbs 15oz. 22 inches long. He had a good grip and finally stopped crying after I rubbed his back.
Dalene didn't return until 1:00 P.M. Since the pain killer hadn't worn off, she wasn't able to hold Ian, so I ended up another 30 minutes of bonding with my boy.
Although she saw the boy earlier, it wasn't until 3:00 that she was able to hold him. My eyes swelled when I saw her and our boy.
I watched Dalene hold Ian until 5:00. He was a beautiful baby.
He's grown quite a bit since then, but he is just as dear to us today as he was on the day he was born.