We slept in on the morning of Danni’s birth. Sarah couldn’t eat or drink for 8 hours before the surgery, scheduled for 1:30 that afternoon. We decided to try to sleep through as much of those 8 hours as possible, and so went to bed late and got up late. After my shower I, being a last minute packer, threw a bunch of clothes, books, and toiletries into my bag. I ate a large breakfast because I knew I wouldn’t get to eat again until dinner. Sarah was upset because I ate and she couldn’t. When we were ready to go we picked up Denise and proceeded to the hospital.
At the hospital parking was a nightmare. We ended up having to park all the way up on the roof of the parking ramp. Denise and I grabbed all the bags and the three of us took the long walk to the maternal assessment center (MAC). We got checked in at the MAC and proceeded to wait. And wait. And wait. Sarah was in a big recliner while Denise and I alternated sitting in the one other chair. Nurses occasionally came in to take blood and put in the IV and some other things. I, being a restless sort, took frequent walks down to the nursery and back to kill time. Eventually, almost 3 hours later, they said they were ready. By this time I was in scrubs and Sarah was prepped and ready to go. They took Sarah to the OR while Denise and I waited in the waiting room. Denise made a few phone calls, one to Jack and one to Father Joe, to see where they were and when they would get there. It turns out that Father Joe and my parents were down the hall in the other waiting room, waiting for us to show up there. They came down the hall and joined us and about 10 minutes later the nurse came and brought me back to the OR.
I walked into the OR and Sarah was lying on a table with about 6 people around her. Off to the side I could see nurses from the NICU waiting to take the baby into the little side room to perform some tests and attach some lines. I sat down in the provided chair next to Sarah’s head. There was a sanitary sheet up about boob level, so we couldn’t see what was going on down at her stomach. Within a minute or two the doctor announced that he was beginning cutting. After that Sarah and I just sat and talked for what seemed like an hour. In reality it was a few minutes later when the doc said that he was at the uterus and the nurses could begin to push. The anesthesiologist told me that I could stand up and look over the sheet; that I wouldn’t see anything gross. I wasn’t going to but then I heard several murmurs and exclamations of excitement, and then a baby started crying. Hearing my baby cry made the decision for me and I had to see her right then. I tentatively peeked up over the sheet to get my first look at my baby girl.
She was a small thing, small and grey. Still covered in the amniotic fluid, she was mostly grey and her hair was matted to her head. I could still tell she had a ton of dark hair. The doctor lifter her above the sheet so Sarah could see her, and at that point I couldn’t stop the one or two tears from coming. All too soon the NICU nurses had to take her into their little side room. Sarah and I sat and talked about what we had noticed about her all the while trying to sneak peeks through the door’s window. She was hard to see because of all the nurses in there, but we managed to get a few more glimpses of her. The whole time we could hear her crying too. She managed to be heard by us even through a soundproof door and walls. I imagine she wasn’t too thrilled about being pulled from her cozy, dark, warm place and brought into the open air and the light. I felt like we should have been there to comfort her and make her transition easier, but I knew there was nothing we could do at that point. Eventually the nurses finished and I got to go in and see her. They wrapped her up in a blanket and put a hat on her and let me take her into the OR to see her mom for the first time.
During the whole 12 foot walk to Sarah’s bedside I couldn’t take my eyes off of Danielle. I am actually kind of surprised that I didn’t trip or stumble or anything. I walked up to the side of Sarah’s head, set Danielle down where Sarah could see her, and introduced Danielle to her mom. Sarah was enthralled. She couldn’t take her eyes off of her. The nurses and I took several pictures of Sarah and Danni, and then the nurse took a few of the three of us. Before we knew it the NICU nurses came and said it was time to go. I kissed Sarah goodbye and watched as they put Danni into a plastic covered cart. I followed as they wheeled the cart down past the waiting room towards the elevators.
At the waiting room everyone was ready to see the baby. We stopped there for a minute or two as my parents and Sarah’s parents peeked through the covered cart at their new granddaughter. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house. When the nurses said we had to go, Jack and Denise opted to stay with Sarah in the recovery room, and my parents came on the long walk with me.
The walk was about 10 minutes through a tunnel that went under the street and over to the other hospital. During that time I couldn’t take my eyes off of Danni. She was mostly obstructed by the clear plastic covering, but I could see her face, if a little distorted. By this time she was done crying and just content with lying on the bed and looking out the little peephole. I don’t think she knew what to make of her new surroundings, but I think she was content to sit and wait until she figured it out. I spent a good portion of the walk talking with my mom, mostly about babies and in particular me and my siblings; nothing new or earth shattering, but just idle conversation to pass the time. At the end of our journey we arrived at the NICU and were led to Danni’s new room.
In Danni’s new room the nurses had things to do, so I was content to just wait and watch and talk to my parents. The nurses took her weight and length measurements, which I wrote down so I could remember to tell Sarah, and attached some lines into her belly button. I was able to sneak in for some pictures and got a few good ones of her crying. She didn’t like what they were doing to her, and really who could blame her. Almost as soon as the nurses were done she settled down and just watched her surroundings again. I talked to her and got a few more pictures so I could bring the camera back to Sarah, and then my parents told me they had to go, they had a dinner with my grandpa to get to. I spent about five more minutes trying to get good pictures of Danni’s toes because Sarah really wanted to know if her second toes were longer than her big toes like mine, or if she had normal toes like her. The NICU nurse came and updated me and told me that they had to echo her heart, and that the process would take about 45 minutes or so, during which I could be in the room if I wanted, or I could go back and check on mom. I opted for the latter.
The walk back was a lot quicker than the walk there had been. I went into Sarah’s room and found her sitting up feasting on ice chips. I shared Danni’s weight and height, and then handed over the camera and let her look at the pictures. I talked with Sarah’s nurse and was told that we could all go over to the NICU in about 45 minutes, if Sarah was up to it, which coincided exactly with the heart echo being finished. I passed the time sharing pictures and info with Jack, Denise, and Father Joe. The 45 minutes dragged on and on forever. I was really excited and anxious to get back over to the NICU to see Danni. I could tell that everyone else was as well, but we had to wait on Sarah’s recovery. Finally the moment came when the nurse said that Sarah was ready to travel, and so we made the journey over to the NICU to get Danni baptized.
Jeff was waiting for us over in the NICU. He couldn’t get in to see Danni, so he was waiting at the front desk. We all piled into Danni’s room to visit with her and baptize her. It was crowded in there with 7 people, one on a hospital bed. With everyone present we proceeded to baptize and confirm Danielle Joann Theresa Gibson. The ceremony was nice, if a little awkward. We couldn’t hold her so we had to do everything with her lying on the bed, which was fine, just a little hard to do with so many people and so little bed space.
After the ceremony I had to use the bathroom. When I came back all the men were standing outside of the curtain to Danni’s room. My first thought was of her safety; that something had happened to her and they were kicked out to let the nurses work. I approached Father Joe, who was nearest, and he told me that everything was okay, Sarah had just thrown up. Well, she had been sucking down ice chips on an empty stomach right after major abdominal surgery. She ate too much too fast and ended up throwing up. Her nurse took her back to her room to change and rest while the rest of us decided to go to dinner. Father Joe had to leave, but Jack, Denise, Jeff, and I all decided to walk back to Abbott outside instead of through the tunnel. We were going to head to the cafeteria, but on the way we passed the McDonald’s. We just decided to eat there because it was there and easy. After dinner we went back up to Sarah’s room where we sat and visited for a little longer. Eventually Jack, Denise, and Jeff all left and Sarah and I crashed. The couch wasn’t too comfortable, and nurses kept coming in to do tests and check on Sarah, but I was tired from a long day and so fell right to sleep.
