Birth Story Part IV.....

Nurse Hatchet...or Wratchet.....take your choice, was a middle aged woman in a purple nursey looking outfit. She was short with short hair and she probably had a little case of short woman syndrome but she meant business. It didn't appear that she made her money being nice and sweet and all cuddly....she told the family to scat and I feared that I was going to be asked to leave as well.

This was the nurse that sort of looked at Kim like she had four ears when Kim asked for more pain killer in the epidural drip. The thing was practically empty and Hatchet wanted to debate as to whether Kim was really in pain with that stupid little one to ten chart with smiley faces on it. One being just a walk in the park and ten being the worst pain you've ever felt in your life....what tripped me out was that the little smiley face man wasn't wailing in pain right under 10. He has a few tears and a troubled brow but that's about it....not what you'd expect from a near death #10 experience. But I digress....

Our sweet, fun-loving, and super nice nurse Tiffany was busy down the hall delivering the "rude mother's" baby. Tiffany bragged on how good Kim was doing and I guess more to the point that we didn't try to tell her how to do her job but rather asked questions because we're a bunch of rookies at this....Yeah...she was tied up so Hatchet was it and a trainee who was heading back to school on Monday. I guess they run some trainee periods so that nurse wanna-be's get to see the real world before they're thrown into the mix. Hatchet was over there showing the trainee what to do and how to do and so on...little did Kim or I know or understand Hatchet was just showing her stuff....not prepping her on her role in this delivery. Small shivers pulsed through our bodies at the sight of a trainee handling our daughter in an emergency situation.

Oh yeah...the emergency situation...When the nurse broke Kim's water, we found that meconium was in the fluid and there was a high likelihood that Reese could have ingested some of this "poop". The idea is that the nurse would make a determination at the time of delivery and keep Reese from crying so that she didn't immediately suck down some poop into her lungs. They called in a respiratory therapist/specialist to have right there to suck out her lungs and nose and all would be well.

So...Beth (midwife) shows up, she coaches us through some pushing. Three counts of 10, deep breaths in between, push until was say stop...all of this coincides with the contractions. Dad! they all yell...Grab Kim's leg and push it toward her chest. Nan....hold her head up so she can really breath and get good pushes....Rookie nurse...hold the other leg. Hatchet....well, she actually turned into a nice lady during this stretch. Tiffany....she made it! She came to count and relieve Nan from hold Kim's head up. We all had a job. Daddy! They yelled...come look at this! You can see her head!

I had been pretty adamant that looking at this was going to challenge me a little. I didn't know if I could handle that whole image of Reese and my wife's privates all mingled into one view. The first time, I sheepishly looked and all I could see was this little white/yellow spot in "there" and they told me that was Reese's head. It wasn't all that bad....I could handle that. Whew! Done looking! Nuh uh...DAD!! Look at this! You can see her hair!! So I peeked again....sure enough, I could see Reese's hair. DAAAAD!!! Looky here! So finally looking became OK with me. It wasn't easy at first but I was sort of able to disassociate from Kim's body to more of Reese's body. It was strange but amazing at the same time. I was glad that I looked in the end....anyway I stayed in my position of leg holder and took tasteful pics when Kim didn't need me.


We had fun in there. Beth was a cut up, Tiffany and I found that her husband and I play on the same Flag football league, Nurse Hatchet wanted to know all about it because her son wants to play flag football too and what do you know, almost two hours went by of pushing, counting to 10 and breathing. At one point, the banished family members sent poor Celeste back to make sure all was well. I guess two hours seems like an eternity when you're not counting, pushing, and talking about flag football!

Finally Reese was slipping beneath the pubic bone and she was essentially "crowned". This portion of her head looked so small. We were convinced that this was going to be a little 7-ish or 8-ish pound baby...her little head was just sitting right there. Kim pushed a couple more times and Hatchet told Kim to cough a little....that would do it. So Kim coughed. But not like a good cough, like a cough when you're afraid something is about to pop out of you. Heehh. Kim sounded out this pitiful whimper of a cough. Nothing...they all said no, no....Cough like you're going to clear your throat. And so she did.

Reese was facing down toward the floor and then Kim's cough turned her head from right to left sideways....her body followed and Reese was born at 7:15pm. Beth grabbed her and cut her cord long so as to allow quick work on her by the respiratory therapist but Reese took a deep breath and Beth went into serious doctor mode getting Reese over to be cleaned out. I walked over to check on her but come back quickly to be with Kim. I believe that sideways turn caused Kim to tear. She was bleeding badly and Beth was quick to call for Dr. Windham. Apparantly he can sew up a balloon with out busting it so she called for his steady hand. I went back to check on Reese.....

I looked at her in amazement. 10 fingers...10 toes....the doctors all commented on her color, they cleaned her out pretty good from anything that might have been ingested, they patted her back to loosen up any gunk in her lungs...and she just calmed down after the heating element came on.

I started welling up with tears. Our little girl was ok....she didn't have a mark on her. She was just perfect. Back and forth I checked on Kim and then Reese. Kim then Reese...Kim was toasted. Completely exhausted and now shaking uncontrollably from the medications and the trauma of what her body had just done...She was physically spent but our little Reese was finally here.


One of the nurses put Reese on the scale and we all sort of did a double take....9lb 9.6 oz. (they round up) 9lb 10 oz. Dear Father....Kim had a nine pound baby?!? What the?

I was satisfied that Reese was in good hands and was going to be ok so I started staying with Kim for a while. She was nauseous, cold, shaking, tired, and just plain exhausted. In every way, she was a patient and recovering from trauma. I was so worried about her. We were told that everything was fine but I still worried about her. It broke my heart to see her in pain and the shaking was more than I could bear....I started welling up again for her. I look up...and the family is coming in...and the nurse is handing me our baby girl.........

PART V....the recovery room and sleepless nights in the hospital...