| Had anyone tried to make a bet with me this past Thursday July, 13th at my summer work party that I would be checked into the hospital and on my way to becoming a father the following morning, I would have taken it. The odds clearly would have been in my favor and what would I have to lose after all. Well, as it turned out, a lot of sleep and my non-parent status.
The day started out innocuously enough. Kate had had some braxton hicks contractions (or as we had been affectionately calling them ‘the Toni Braxtons’) all night and woke up with some untoward in the basement, if ya know what I’m sayin’. So, we responsibly went to the Emergency room at the Winchester Hospital. In the back of my mind we would go to the hospital, Kate would be told to go home and get some rest, and we would watch pay-per-view- not a bad Friday. That was all about to change.
Kate was processed at Winchester and we were sent up to the Labor and Delivery room. I escorted her there but was instructed by a nurse to return to the lobby to complete the registration process. I left Kate in good generally good spirits telling her that I would be back shortly. The scene that I returned to, however, was as about as far away as you could get from what I just left.
As I entered her room, the two nurses looked at me as if they had both seen a ghost. I instinctually knew that something was not quite right, but felt somewhat comforted by the fact that Kate’s doctor had quite luckily happened to be on call at the hospital and was at her side. She introduced herself and informed me that Kate may be going into Labor but that she wanted to check her cervix to be sure.
‘Labor?’, I thought to myself. ‘Surely she’s not talking about Kate.’
‘6 centimeters.’, I heard the good doctor say as she came up with a noticeably worried look on her face.
That sent the nurses scurrying about the room, with one of them quickly giving Kate a shot of steroids to the backside.
‘This will help to mature the baby’s lungs.’ said a nurse.
That was somewhat shocking for both Kate and I to hear as delivering a baby was pretty far out of our minds. After all, his due date wasn’t until mid-October, 3 months from now. Kate began to cry and I think I went numb. It’s safe to say that we were beside ourselves and moving quickly away from our relaxing day on the couch watching movies. This was reinforced by the arrival of the paramedics, shortly thereafter. They were to take us to Beth Israel Deaconess hospital in downtown Boston. It became clear that the staff at Winchester, although completely qualified in their own right, wanted nothing to do with us. They explained that BID was much more capable of dealing with pre-term labor than they and that we would be in good hands. There was that word again- ‘Labor’.
‘What could they be talking about?’, I thought to myself. ‘Kate is just entering her third trimester and couldn’t possibly deliver.’ But, the look on everyone’s face as we departed for the ambulance assured me that she could, and most likely would deliver- just hopefully not on the ride to downtown Boston (which we were not reassured would not happen).
What a ride it was. The ambulance driver was cutting through rush hour traffic like a hot knife through butter. He was good at his job and clearly enjoyed this particular aspect. I will admit that as concerned as I was with Kate and her condition, I was momentarily transfixed as I watched the lanes of traffic parting like the Red Sea before us.
We made it to BID in record time (no baby yet, thankfully) and Kate was taken to what would turn out to be her delivery room by the paramedics. We were greeted by a team of doctors and nurses who tended to Kate with the precision of a NASCAR pit crew. They had obviously been through this type of drill a hundred of times before and quickly had Kate hooked up to all sorts of wires and tubes, all the while rattling out the kind of language that you’d hear on ER.
They were doing all they could to stabilize her, injecting her with Magnesium Sulfate to relax her muscles and ultimately delay or even hopefully stop her contractions. The doctor explained that they would hold off Labor as long as they could but the fact that she was dilated to 6 centimeters all but assured that she would have the baby sooner rather than later. When, no one would say. In typical doctor fashion, he was masterful at telling us everything and nothing at the same time. It’s an art form that I would come to appreciate throughout the rest of the day and ensuing night.
It was at this point that the family calls starting coming in and going out. It was not quite 9am, but already the cavalry was on its way. John was on his way from Syracuse and Chris and Linda were on their way from The River. I found out shortly after this that Vicki was also on her way to the Orlando airport.
And then, suddenly after everything that had just happened, things got quiet. It was now turning into a waiting game. Kate was becoming stable, and we were starting to buy a little time back. We sat in the room with the TV off and just kept quiet and still, hoping to hold off Labor for as long as possible all the while waiting for family to arrive. John was first. He got in somewhere after 3pm with Linda and Chris right on his heels. Needless to say, Kate was very comforted by having them there. She was quite settled, her contractions had moved from one every 3 minutes upon arrival to one every 10 minutes. We were starting to feel that perhaps we were going to postpone or perhaps even reverse Labor. It was a nice thought- Kate would be on bed rest for a couple of months and everything would be fine. No problem.
No problem until Kate’s new OB doctor came in with the new rotation. Apparently, she had some other ideas. She checked Kate’s cervix upon which we were told that her dilation was now 8 cm. The doctor explained that while the Magnesium had slowed things down, Kate was continuing to dilate and there was no turning back. She suggested that we stop the Mag drip and bear down for delivery. It was tough news, and shattered our unrealistic dream of Kate being on bed rest for three months, but I think everyone understood what was going on. Kate and I were given some quiet moments together. We gathered our strength, said some thoughtful prayers and prepared for what was to come.
We were soon joined by Vicki sometime after 9pm. To our pleasure, Bunky had come down from Maine and picked her up at the airport. After a little tussle with the nursing staff, we were able to clear the way for Vic in the delivery room, but Bunky, bless her soul, was confined to the lobby for the remainder of the delivery.
It would be a period of time before Kate entered the final stages of labor, but in the interim her contractions slowly but surely began to increase in both intensity and length. The entire family took turns tending to her, feeding her ice chips and wiping her down with cool wash cloths.
After midnight, Kate became fully dilated. It was go-time and there was no turning back. This was apparent with her unyielding contractions and the army of nurses and doctors began to set up shop. In all, there was a staff of 10. Some were there for the delivery and some were there for the post care. It was impressive to watch them work. Everyone knew their places and waited patiently for Luc to arrive.
Kate was in ‘delivery mode’ for approximately 40-45 minutes. I can’t tell you enough how awesome she was, not only through the entire process, but particularly through the final moments of labor. She took no drugs, had had no type of training at all, but handled it like a champ. She attributes this to ‘A Baby Story’ on Discovery, but I know better. She was, in short, an animal.
Linda and Vicki took posts holding Kate’s legs as she pushed, while Chris and I were charged with managing a constant flow of cold wash cloths and the occasional ice chip all the while shouting words of encouragement.
After an effort rivaled only by Herculean archetype heroes that you tend to read about, Kate knuckled down and gave the final push that brought our wonderfully tiny baby into the world. And, he did not enter sheepishly as the doctor had forewarned might be the case, but with several loud and undeniable screams. He was here and he wanted everyone to know. He was small, but his presence loomed large. Luc Beckstead Hebert had entered the world Saturday, July 15th at 1:08 a.m.
He was quickly whisked under the lights by a separate set of doctors, cleaned up and stabilized. I can’t even begin to describe the emotions that I was feeling, not only at the site of my son for the very first time, but also at how proud I was of my beautiful wife. The moment was upon us, we were now a family.
It was without a doubt the longest and yet most rewarding day of both of our lives. Kate and I knew that the three of us would have a long road ahead of us, but we would be traveling it together as a family. And for that moment in time, everything was perfect. Absolutely, perfect… |
Day 1 started abruptly at 2am with an in-room visit from the nurse practitioner. She informed us that Luc was experiencing a heart murmur and that he was being treated with some medication. This was the condition that she had mentioned was to be expected in a preemie of Luc’s age just be fore we went to bed. She assured us that everything was fine and that we should get some rest. We took her advice as we were completely exhausted as I think we collectively had 4 hours of sleep between us.
Luc received his first weigh-in since the birth. It was quite an ordeal and he was kicking and screaming throughout. I am impressed with his fortitude. It was good to see him stripped of all of his equipment. He’s a handsome little fella with an unbelievable little head of hair. He’s lost a little weight (about 100g), but that was to be expected as he is losing much of fluid that he was carrying in utero. Kate changed her first diaper during the process as well as took a temperature reading. She’s was understandably nervous handling the little guy, but really did a great job. She is going to be a great mama.
Everyone is quite tired today to say the least. We all made it to bed around 4am and none got much sleep. Kate and I were up early to see Luc’s first ‘Cares’. During this time, the nurses changed his diaper, took his temperature, readjusted some of his monitoring pads, and rotated his head position to avoid what the nurses affectionately call ‘toaster head’. This happens every four hours.
All in all it was a good day. Luc was resting nicely. It’s comforting to see him resting so quietly. He is impressive at the strength he exhibits for his small size. All of the nurses seem to comment at his feistiness given that he is only 1 day old. We have much hope and are cautiously optimistic at this point.