THE NIGHT THAT CHANGED MY LIFE AND CAREER FOREVER

There was no doubt in my mind since I was a young kid that I wanted to become a sports play-by-play broadcaster, but little did I know that the job of Mr. Mom would trump that career and become a new challenge in September 2019.

There aren’t a lot of days that you can remember down to the second, minute or even hour but the night of Thursday September 19th, 2019 is one that I can remember down to the very minute detail.

I was assigned to cover a girls’ volleyball game at Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln High School as the Red Raiders were taking on the SPASH Panthers. I needed an extra set of hands with the computer work, and my wife, Lindsay, even though she was very pregnant, decided to come with and help.

When it was time to head over to the fieldhouse I packed up the equipment and my almost 39-week pregnant wife. Once we got there everything went smoothly. Lindsay and I enjoyed the game even though SPASH beat Lincoln in the match. After the conclusion of the match we packed up the equipment and headed home so I could put together my highlight and Lindsay could take part in an Usborne online book party.

Everything was going well I was just about to press publish on my highlight when Lindsay calmly asked me to meet her in the bedroom. She had just gotten off the phone with her mom when I walked in and she nervously said, “Steve I think we need to go to the hospital, my water just broke.”

She called her OB to ask if all the signs pointed to her going into labor and within the next 30 minutes we were roomed at Aspirus Riverview in Wisconsin Rapids ready to have a baby.

Earlier I had mentioned that I can remember everything down to the second, but after we arrived at the hospital the next set of events were a blur. Concern for my wife’s pain, trying to figure out how to be supportive and not knowing exactly how to help had be feeling very out of my element. Before we knew it though, the labor was over and Lindsay was ready to deliver our baby daughter.

Only 4 short hours after arriving to the L&D floor, Josephine Elaine Maves was born at 2:36am. We had no idea what we were in for, everyone told us what to expect but we didn’t know how to process that information until we were actually experiencing it. We now had our own little bundle of joy that we were responsible for.

I was supposed to go to a football game that night, September 20th, but knew it was out of the question to leave my wife and new born. When I came to that realization that I had to miss Friday night football and a few games the next week, I knew that my life and my career had changed forever. Sharing priorities with not just my wife and career, but now our child.

The first night that I had to leave Josie and Lindsay at home to go work a game I didn’t realize how hard it was going to be. I loved my career, but now I had this great love and commitment for my family. On top of that, Josie had a lot of colic and there were moments both Lindsay and I were at our wits end. Those long hours of trying to get our daughter to stop crying took a toll on Lindsay in a way I haven’t seen before. Leaving was hard. Thankfully, we have an amazing support system and my mother in law was able to add extra support and company on nights I was not home.

Between September 20th and March 12th, I worked a lot of late nights and long days in the career that I loved. I’ve had passion for this line of work ever since I was a kid, but now I could not get my family out of the back of my mind. I would wonder if there was something that I was missing or something I could be helping out with to relive the stress on Lindsay. I felt torn.

Winter was approaching and basketball games, wrestling matches, and hockey games were next on the docket, as well as Lindsay going back to work. This meant I was officially about to take on the role of Mr. Mom during the day and sports broadcaster at night. It was a joy to have Josie all to myself at times, but I’m not going to lie, I looked forward to getting out and going to my sporting events. It released some of the stress of taking care of a little human all by myself, something I never imagined I could do on my own. Balance. I learned that being able to do both is possible.

The winter season was coming to an end and then COVID-19 showed up. On the night of March 12th after the conclusion of the boys’ basketball sectional semi-finals the WIAA announced that they were suspending all high school sports for the rest of the winter and most likely the rest of the school year. This meant no boys basketball state tournament, no softball, baseball, girls soccer, boys golf or track & field. Also meaning no work for me during that time.