The Story of Palmer's Birth (the long version)

Your birth came as a bit of a surprise to us. Obviously we knew you would be coming soon, but we certainly didn’t expect to come home from my 39-week check-up with an induction scheduled for the following morning.

I spent the rest of Halloween packing a bag for the hospital, packing a bag for your big sister and getting other things done that should already have been done (like setting up your bassinet). Your daddy needed to get some important work items finished before your arrival, but I think he spent more time e-mailing our friends about your impending arrival. (NFD, Note From Dad, not true)

I didn’t sleep well at all that night. I think I woke up every hour thinking about the day ahead.

Thursday morning, November 1, 2007, we were off early to fight rush hour traffic to get to the hospital in time. We arrived surprisingly early and were asked to wait in the waiting room until we were called back to our delivery room. We met the nicest family in the waiting room. Several grandparents and other relatives were waiting in front of the nursery window for twin girls to arrive. We got to share their first moments with their little ones as we peeked over their shoulders through the glass.

We were settled into our delivery room (coincidentally it was the same room your sister was born in), hooked up to monitors and IVs, filled out oodles of paperwork and waited. I actually got pretty bored until the Pitocin kicked in. By the time I got around to requesting an epidural, I was in a good amount of pain. It took a lot longer than they estimated to get the epidural, so I labored hard for a couple of hours, going from 3 cm to 9 cm sans epidural.

Nonny Jeannie changed her travel plans so she could be here for your birth. She took an early morning flight from Kansas City and took a cab straight from the airport to the hospital. I was so glad she was there. Your daddy let me squeeze his hand as hard as I needed through the contractions, while your nonny rubbed my back. The epidural was a little weak, so the anesthesiologist gave me another shot of magic juice and I was finally feeling nothing.

Next thing I knew our nurse said it was time to have a baby. There were about a half dozen people scurrying around the room setting up for the birth, and they all wanted to know if you were a boy or girl. When we told them it was a surprise to us, they got really excited. Apparently they don’t get many surprises. Your daddy learned that he was charged with telling everyone in the room if you were a boy or girl, which I thought was really cool. I pushed through three or four contractions and then next thing I knew, you were here.

So now comes the really cool part that was followed very quickly by the supremely scary part.

You came out so quickly that I hardly had time to comprehend that you were now separate from me. I remember seeing the doctor hold you up so your daddy could see you, and I remember thinking that I needed to look at your daddy to find out whether you were a boy or girl. I don’t remember hearing your daddy say “boy,” but I somehow figured out you were a boy. There was a lot of activity in the room, but everything went silent for me. Dr. Meritt put you on my chest. The first thing I noticed was that you were kind of blue. You were on my chest for just a couple of seconds before the pediatrician whisked you away to be cleaned up.

The next several minutes play like flashes and sound bites in my memory. I saw the pediatrician put the oxygen mask over your mouth. Several people in scrubs came rushing into the room. Someone said “not breathing.” Someone else said “three,” which I somehow figured out was your Apgar score. Dr. Meritt was working on me and inquiring about what was going on with you. No one around me seemed to know what the problem with you was, so I got a little scared. Your daddy could tell I was trying to hold myself together and began giving me a play-by-play of your actions, reassuring me that everything was okay.

Finally things started to take on a less harried pace, and I knew things were fine when your daddy started taking pictures of you. The pediatrician brought you over to me and informed me about your emergency. Apparently the umbilical cord was wrapped around your neck a couple of times and you weren’t breathing well on your own. The pediatrician manually pumped oxygen into your lungs until you took on the task of breathing for yourself. Your heart never stopped beating and the quick response of the pediatric team ensured you got oxygen to your blood, so there aren’t any long-term issues to worry about.

The pediatric team took you to the nursery, and your daddy and nonny followed. Cleanup from the birth was complete, and my delivery nurse had just left the room. It was 4:40 p.m., and I sat alone in the delivery room trying to comprehend the fact that I had given birth to you just 30 minutes earlier.