This article is a continuation from Premature Birth - Not Quite the Joyful Experience

First, I need to back-up just a bit from where I left off yesterday, and set the scene a little more vividly.

Have you ever taken a long hard look at a placenta? It’s not a pretty sight, but without this organ a baby would not survive. It is their primary source of nourishment and waste disposal while in utero. Even though I was present at the birth of all of my children, I never remembered seeing all of the stuff the doctor did after the baby came out.

This time was different though; this time, I was stuck between the bed, the window, the doctor, his equipment and the placenta. There was no way for me to get to the baby, unless I wanted to hop over the umbilical cord or crawl under the bed. Somehow, I didn’t think Lori or the doctor would appreciate either move.

So, I watched; I cringed; and, I probably should have looked away, but I didn’t. It was like that scene from the movie The Wild when the lion is about to eat the hyrax and the giraffe says, “Oh, I can’t bear to watch…but I have too!” As you can tell, my entire life can now be referenced to a Disney movie or some other animated film.

It was another part of the miracle of birth that I was glad I didn’t have to personally endure; and, it was an experience that added further to my respect for Lori and her ability to cope with extraordinary situations.

After the doctors were done with their initial exam, they let me and Lori spend a couple of minutes holding Caitlin and soaking in the joy of the moment. Everything seemed to be fine, but they needed to take her to the NICU to do a full exam, run some tests and get her on some antibiotics, as a precautionary measure due to the premature birth.

Once Caitlin left, the delivery room was a flurry of activity, with the nurses and doctors making sure Lori was doing alright and everything was getting put back into its proper place.

Lori asked me to help her move her legs around some, so that the numbness from the epidural would wear off faster. I doubt it did anything, but she asked so I complied.

The nurse told us that I could go down and see Caitlin after about 20 minutes, and then Lori could come down once she got her room and the pain killer wore off a little more. I watched the clock like a hawk, while I lifted Lori’s legs up-and-down and side-to-side. I’m sure if we were on a hidden camera it would have been quite amusing to watch.

As soon as that clock hit the 20 minute mark, I gave Lori big hugs and kisses - mwah, hug, mwah, hug - “Do you need anything?” It wasn’t really a question, but I wanted to be polite.

“Can you hand me a drink and my magazine?” she said.

I handed them both to her, gave her another kiss, told her that I was proud of her, and then I bolted out the door. Our nurse was standing at the edge of the ‘command center,’ so I made a beeline straight for her.

“OK, twenty minutes,” I said, in as nice a voice as possible, “Can you take me to see my baby now?”

She said yes, and we began the power walk over to the NICU.

If you’ve never been inside of a NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit), then be thankful. For those of you who have been inside of one, then you’ll know what I mean when I say that I’ve never washed my hands and arms so many times in my life. It’s good that they’re strict about it though, because a lot of the babies are extremely susceptible to germs and bacteria.

I was lead back to an open incubator, where there were several nurses and the neonatologist working on Caitlin. It was amazing to see how quickly they were able to perform their jobs and get her situated.

Like many preemies, including our son Ty, Caitlin was having a little bit of trouble adjusting to the outside world. In particular, she needed help maintaining body temperature and blood oxygen levels. When I went up to her side, they had already inserted the intravenous line into her arm and began giving her some fluids and medicine. She was sleeping, so they asked me to let her rest and only touch her hand.

I stood by her bedside for about 30 minutes while various activities happened around me. Some of the nurses recognized me from when Ty was there two years earlier, and they tried to encourage me by saying how cute Caitlin was and asking about Ty.

Just as things started to calm down, Lori came trucking around the corner, walking on her own and heading straight for me and Caitlin.

“What are you doing walking so soon?” I said, in absolute disbelief.

“Well, I wasn’t going to just sit there and let you have all of the fun,” she said emphatically.

“Alright, well at least sit down, so they don’t kick us both out of here,” I said, as I pulled over a chair for her.

Each of us held one of Caitlin’s hands, and we both inspected her from top to bottom trying to reassure ourselves that everything was fine. This was the first time that Lori really cried during the whole experience, and it seemed like tears of both joy and apprehension.

Caitlin looked little, especially when we have Ty the Tank as a comparison; however, everything seemed to be aright. She had all of her fingers and toes, and the machines monitoring her only went off a couple of times.

A few minutes later, the nurses informed us that they were getting ready to do a shift change, and then the doctors were doing rounds, so they needed us to leave for a few hours. It’s always hard to walk away from your child and leave them in the care of someone else when they are so new to this world, but we smiled and complied.

I helped Lori walk slowly back to the room, and I tried to reassure her that everything was going to be just fine. When we got back to the room, we took a moment to hold each other, and then we started making phone calls telling friends and family the news.

The next few hours were calm and relaxed for us, but unfortunately, it was not the same for baby Caitlin….

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

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