I sat on my stool holding Sue’s hand trying to say things that would take her mind off of what was going on on the other side of the curtain. As the doctors worked there were moments where she started squeezing my hand tighter and tighter. At one point a nurse asked us to stop holding hands because Sue’s squeezing was making one of the sensors on her hand read as though there was something wrong. The doctors kept working and vocalizing some of the things they were doing. Occasionally, Sue’s body would sort of be pulled from one side to the other as the doctors positioned her to get a better look at what they were doing.

One of the nurses that was on our side peeked over the curtain. He then asked us if we knew what we were having. We told him it was a boy and his reply was, “Yep, it’s a boy and there he is!” Then we heard a tiny little squeak that I can only liken to a tiny kitten. It was our baby boy. I felt relieved that the delivery appeared to have gone well. I felt a little fear well up in me because I was about to meet my third son eight to nine weeks too early. How small is he? Does he have all his fingers and toes? Is he ready to learn how to mow the grass? I’d be lying if I said I only thought rational things.

After about fifteen minutes after they removed Luke one of the nurses came over and asked if I would like to see him. “Yes!”, I said sliding from my stool. “I want you to realize that he is much smaller than you are used to seeing, so you are not caught off guard.”, the nurse said as she led me over to where Luke was being cleaned. When I looked at him I was actually surprised at how big he was. In my mind I was thinking he’d only be as big as my hand. He certainly was not the brute that my second son was but he was not that teeny tiny either. Maybe about two or three handfuls. Still, he was a scrawny little guy that just seemed like putty in these skilled nurses hands. I quickly counted his toes and fingers and looked for any possible issues that may be visible since he was so early. I could not see one thing wrong with this little boy. He looked perfect…just small. His skin was a pinkish red, he had some both dark and light hair on his head and he wiggled like a worm. To bring myself down to earth I asked the nurses if we are “not out of the woods yet” and they seemed to understand and rattled off things they will have to keep a lookout for since he was a preemie.

I got to take a few pictures of Luke just before they bundled him up. “Lets take him to see mommy”, the one nurse exclaimed. Carrying Luke like he was a football the nurse made her way back into the delivery room to the good side of the curtain. She held out Luke for Susan to see. It was a very intense moment. Sue gave him a kiss and off he went to the NICU. I hung around for a little while with Sue as the doctors stitched her up. They turned on a classic rock station and started talking about various unrelated things while they worked. A few times they would stop their conversation and call out all the tools they used to ensure all of them were accounted for…thankfully they did not leave anything inside Sue. One nurse realized I was still there and ushered me out saying that she thought I left with the nurses. Before I left Sue told them that she did not hear her lullaby. At this hospital, every time a baby is born they play a little snippet of a lullaby over the intercom all throughout the hospital. No matter where you are in this hospital, except in the delivery room apparently, you know when a new baby came into the world. The doctors said they will make sure they play it again when she is in the recovery room.

Back out in my comfy chair I waited for them to bring Sue out. I sat there rehashing some of what had happened in my mind. I looked at the pictures I took and marveled at that precious baby. Oh crap! I forgot my mom was still here in the waiting room. I dutifully left my chair and made my way out to where everyone waited to hear the news of their new baby. I told her everything went well and showed her the pictures. After she left I resigned to make a number of phone calls to inform everyone of the baby. The great grandmothers were first to be told and they both prepared to call everyone they know. It was kind of therapeutic making each call and letting them know everything was alright. When I was done I finally made it back to the recovery room where Sue was waiting. She still did not have any feeling in her legs and there were other things they look for before moving her to a room. While we waited, we looked at the pictures I had taken and talked about our experience. The nurse informed us that when they felt Sue was ready they would first wheel her to the NICU to see Luke before we went to her room.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 28th, 2010 at 1:48 am and is filed under Daily Life, Family, Preemie. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.