Melissa and her team of doctor’s and nurses left room #60 heading for the operating room and I stayed in the room for a while not knowing exactly what to do. I had felt my phone buzz but it took me a while to think to look at it. I heard a statistic that 90% of text messages are read within 7 seconds of receiving them. Our phones can ring and we just ignore it but there’s something about our text message tone that says, “read me now...I’m important.” It took me a bit longer than 7 seconds, but I think something inside of me realized that I wasn’t alone; someone had contacted me. It happened to be one of our great friends Katie Gosney. Her text simply said, “I’m in the waiting room. I don’t want to bother you all, but thought I’d let you know. So excited!”
Now I’ve hard several sermons over the years about being in the waiting rooms of life and no statement was ever so true. Before the doctor’s rolled Melissa away I was told it would be 60-70 minutes tops before I would see her again. An hour is a long time, but I knew that they would have Charlotte out in 10-15 minutes no matter what. Katie had no idea what had been happening in room #60 behind the tightly secured labor and delivery floor. The timing aspect of it all was amazing when later I found out that Katie had been in the waiting room for about 30 minutes before deciding to text us. And the timing of her text message couldn’t have been any more on time. So I gathered up our cameras and other valuables remembering a waiver we had signed about the hospital not being responsible for lost or stolen items and I left everything else we had brought in the room.
I walked down the long corridor to exit from the locked down labor and delivery unit, which was now a ghost town being that most of the nurses were assisting in the operating room and not at their normal stations monitoring screens and charting away. I made my way around the last corner and exited to find Katie sitting in the first section of chairs in the waiting room. I’m not sure what kind of look I had on my face, but anyone who knows Katie knows she has a great spirit and brings happiness to everyone she’s around. I set down my bag, told her everything that had just happened, she gave me a hug and we waited. About 7 minutes later someone came out to tell me that Charlotte had been born at 5:45. I asked about weight and length, but they still were in the process of cleaning her up and bringing her down to the nursery. I was told that Charlotte would show up in the nursery in a few minutes and we could see her through the glass.
I took a few minutes to call both sets of parents to fill them in. I admit that I held back a little bit of the information as to not cause worry. I told them about a simple c-section and told them I’d call them later on when I heard more news. While I was on the phone someone motioned me over the glass windows separating the waiting room from the nursery and for the first time I saw Charlotte Gray Hess. We knew we were having a girl, but I didn’t know that we were having such a beautiful girl. I heard someone say that when parents see their babies for the first time, it’s the only true case of love at first sight.
While laying in a little plastic bin the neonatal nurses went through their checklist of tests and observations, writing vitals on their gloves and measuring and weighing and checking and checking. I took some time to take some video through the blinds and captured a few pictures. Katie and I stood there for 20 minutes or so while they gave her an overall inspection. At one point towards the end one of the nurses gave us a big thumbs up and man did that feel good. One of my girls was out of the woods for now and that is one of the “thumbs up” that I will remember forever.
Another nurse appeared to give me a report on Melissa and let me know that I could now head back to room #17 and as soon as Charlotte was ready, she would be brought down. So Katie and I made the trip down down the same halls I had come from just minutes earlier. It doesn’t make sense number wise, but on that floor room #60 comes before #17, so we stopped in for a second to grab the bags I had left from before. The machines that were beeping when Melissa was swept away to the operating room had been silenced, but a few drops of blood still remained on the floor.
One part of me was still scared of the unknown, while one part of me knew that just minutes from now I would spend time with Charlotte for the first time ever.
Katie and I set down my bags and waited a while until a nurse came down to let me know that it wouldn’t be long now. We heard something with wheels coming down the hall and Katie said, “go see”. It turned out to be a warming device that I was told Charlotte might need if she got cold. Knowing that they roll babies around on carts my ears sharpened waiting for the sound of wheels coming down the hall again, and that’s just what happened. We have video, thanks to Katie, of me as their wheeling Charlotte in and my face is filled with anticipation, with just a pinch of nervousness. I had never imagined that this is how things would be. I had plans to take video of Charlotte right after she came out. I was going to cut the cord and bring her over to Melissa’s chest, but none of that happened.
What did happen is something that I wouldn’t trade for anything else. I ended up getting to spend the next 4 hours with Charlotte, just me and her...and Katie of course, which was great. I carried her around the room and rocked her in a chair. They took her away for a while to give her a bath and when she returned I think my paternal instincts kicked in because, by this time it was now about 8:00 and I was thinking that Charlotte hadn’t eaten anything yet. Another plan we had was to have Melissa breastfeed Charlotte shortly after her birth, but that wasn’t possible. They told me that I couldn’t give her any formula until she was 4 hours old, so they told me that at around 9:45 someone would come by to show me what I needed to do.
So until then I held her and looked at her and Katie and I just sat there and talked. Several times dr. powers came by to update me on Melissa. For those of you who caught on, if Charlotte was born at 5:45 and it was now 8:00...8:15...8:45...9:00...9:15...9:30...9:45, the 60-70 minutes I was told about had expired 3 times over. I’ll tell you more about all of that later. The nurse came down and showed me the formula I could give Charlotte and explained that I would need to burp her. I was also told not to give her any more than 10ml of formula. The whole bottle was only about 50ml. We actually have video of this and it’s funny to watch because I put the bottle in Charlotte’s mouth and the nurse was talking to me and by the time she left and I looked down at the side of the bottle, 30ml were missing from the bottle. My first responsibility as a dad and I blew it. I burped her and she never spit anything up so apparently she could handle it.
I asked Katie what she thought about me sending Charlotte to the nursery for the night. I still had no idea when Melissa would be back and it had been a long day already. I convinced Katie to go home, thanked her and called for the nurse to come and get Charlotte. She brought me some pillows and blankets and I made my nest for the night on the couch/bed thing. I changed my clothes, turned out the lights and lay my head down. I was laying there for just a few minutes when I heard the faint rolling of wheels coming down the hall. A sound that had brought one of my girls down the hall, so as I listened and as it grew louder I wondered...is this just another warming device, or is it my girl...
to be continued...
Around a year ago we decided that we wanted to start trying to get pregnant. Like most people know, when I set my mind to something I get slightly obsessive. Combine that with always liking a good set of rules and you have my distorted eating habits for the past year. Pre-pregnancy I cut out alcohol and caffeine, which was not that bad expect for when we had a girl night or book club and I did not get to enjoy a nice glass of white wine. The caffeine was a little different with a group of forty five spring infused ten year olds, but once I got over the main addiction I was okay. 
