This article is a continuation from Premature Labor - Dealing With the Unexpected

I got to the hospital shortly after 11:00 a.m. Since it was a Sunday, the only entrance open was the Emergency Room, so I asked the attendant nurse if she knew where I should go to find Lori.

“I haven’t seen any pregnant women come through here all day,” she said.

“Well, I just talked to her on the phone, so I know she’s here,” I said. “Is there someone else I can talk to about this to find her?”

She directed me to the security desk. The gentleman at the window typed in Lori’s name, asked for my license, gave me a security pass and directed me to the Labor and Delivery ward. I guess Lori must have skipped the Emergency Room and went straight to L&D.

I ran down the corridor, like it would make a difference if I got there 2 minutes earlier (especially after waiting at the house for over an hour, and then driving 20 minutes to get to the hospital). The nurses pointed me to Lori’s room, and I threw the door open. It was like a scene from a movie when a dad comes bursting into the delivery room, only I wasn’t wearing a mask, scrubs or booties and Lori wasn’t screaming profanities at me…yet.

“Hi honey!” she said, with a big smile on her face. “You look a little winded.”

“How’s it going? Are you OK? How’s the baby?” I said. I always tend to ask multiple questions in a row when I’m nervous or excited.

“Everything is fine - I feel good,” she said.

“Has the doctor come in to see you yet? What did he say? Is this for real?” I asked with anticipation, still kinda hoping that this might be a false alarm.

“Yep - it’s baby time!” she said.

“Alright, well, where ‘re we at - how far apart are the contractions - are you getting the epidural - are you in pain - what do you need me to do?” I said, as if the baby were going to jump out and do a little dance for us at any moment.

“Easy big fella,” she said, “Pull up a chair and relax, I have a feeling that this could take a while.”

I sat down, and we just talked for about an hour. A nurse came in to see us a few times, but for the most part, it was just me and Lori. We were excited, and at the time, we didn’t really feel much stress or worries about the baby, or the situation of having only reached the 34th week of the pregnancy. Most reference sites state that anything prior to 37 weeks is premature birth.

So, since this was classified premature, and most premature births happen for a reason that is typically not good, we got to speak with one of the doctors from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) about the strong possibility that our little girl would have to spend some extra time at the hospital. Most preemies spend time in the NICU to ensure proper development of vital organs and absence of ailments, such as lung disease, infection or some other common issue associated with preemies.

There wasn’t much the doctor could say until the baby was actually born, so she just told us about the process and what would happen immediately after Caitlin arrived. It was the same doctor we had when Ty was born, so we asked if there would be any way possible that Lori could see the baby briefly before being whisked away like our son was right after birth. The doctor said, of course, but that it would depend on the baby. Now, we were starting to feel a little stressed.

Late in the afternoon, Lori’s contractions began picking up. They were getting closer together and stronger, but she claimed that the only thing she was feeling was minor discomfort in her lower back. The doctor recommended that she make a decision about the epidural before things progressed too far; however, he also didn’t want to slow things down, which is what happened when Lori got the medicine during our son Ty’s delivery.

After a few hours of “minor discomfort” combined with increased cervical dilation and effacement, Lori asked for the epidural. The only time Lori cried during the entire labor was when the doctor had to insert the catheter near the spinal cord. She rested her head on my chest and squeezed my arms while the doctor completed her work, and I know it sounds bad, but I was glad that I was finally able to do something to comfort her.

Unfortunately, while the epidural completely eliminated all pain, it also did slow the delivery down again. Her contractions went from two minutes apart and strong to four minutes apart and weak. After several hours of no progress, the doctor finally decided to administer pitocin to get things back on track. Previously, our son was born about two hours after pitocin was administered; however, this time, we had no such luck.

At around 10:00 p.m., we were finally “talked” out, so I turned on the TV and Lori tried to get some rest. The nurse came in every thirty minutes or so to up the does of pitocin, but it didn’t have the same affect as before.

I watched four hours of repeats of the Ultimate Fight Challenge, while Lori read magazines, slept and begged me for food and drinks. She was starving because they wouldn’t let her eat until after the delivery was over.

Finally, at around 4:00 a.m., the nurse did an internal examination and said, “It’s time. Finally! I’m going to go get the doctor.” The doctor came in, took a look and instructed the nurse to get everything ready in the room, and then start the process of pushing. He said to call him when the baby’s head crowned slightly.

Well, I helped the nurse get everything set-up, and we repositioned Lori’s limp legs to begin the process of pushing. The nurse gave Lori a few tips, then she grabbed one leg and I grabbed the other. We both lifted them apart like we were pulling on a wishbone, and the nurse told Lori to PUSH!!!

Ten seconds and one push later, the nurse said loudly, “Stop! Stop! No more pushing!” The top of Caitlin’s head was already sticking out, and the nurse asked me to watch Lori while she ran and got the doctors.

It only took three pushes for Caitlin to come out, and she was officially born at 4:41 a.m. She weighed 5 pounds 6 ounces, and she was 19 1/4 inches long. Even though she looked a little small, everything seemed to be completely normal. I cut the chord, and then the neonatalogist took her over to a special bed to clean and examine her.

Unlike with Ty, the doctor did not rush Caitlin out of the room; instead, she gave her to me to hand to Lori, and the two of us were ecstatic and overwhelmed in that moment.

After two or three minutes of snuggling with our new baby girl, the doctor needed to take her over to the NICU to begin the full evaluation and testing process to ensure that she was happy and healthy.

Little did we know what we were in store for next…

Again, I’ll share more about our story tomorrow. In the meantime, feel free to get caught-up by reading the initial article and see pictures of our baby girl Caitlin Arielle.

Related Posts:

Premature Labor - Dealing With the Unexpected
Introducing Baby Caitlin
Sorry Folks - Quick Change of Plans

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