Meriel's Birth Part II

So instead of calmly walking downstairs, I was moved into a wheelchair and wheeled into the elevator to L&D. I used my cellphone to call Philip and let him know he should hurry and to please call the midwife again. I was wheeled straight into a room. My amniotic fluid had not been clear, meaning that the baby had a bowel movement already and was perhaps in some distress. Before I had a chance to get on the bed, I felt that the baby was coming. I didn't really care where I was; I was ready to deliver squatting on the floor, but the nurses were not comfortable with this. Several of them lifted me up onto the bed.

Meanwhile, Philip had not arrived; neither had the midwife. My fellow first year resident Evans was in charge of L&D that night. He was calmly sitting outside the room. Suddenly, the nurses were telling him he had to come in and deliver my baby. He was shocked. He had previously been physician in Kenya where nurses routinely deliver babies, as long as no complications arise. The nurses quickly informed him that this was not the case here, and he better get in there and catch this baby. In the room, the nurses were telling me not to push. This baby was going to arrive speedily whether I pushed or not.

Before I was emotionally prepared, my second little daughter was born; I named her Meriel Rebecca. She was beautiful and healthy, but like her older sister breathing too quickly. I had a chance to hold her, and then while she was being examined, I called Philip. "Where are you? We have a baby girl!" I was nearly sobbing. He was in the lobby and had gotten stopped to fill out some paperwork before he could rush to my side. Don't hospitals understand that paperwork can wait? Then the midwife arrived. By this time, it had been decided that Meriel would need to go to the nursery for observation. For the second time I was separated from my newborn; for the second time I was so exhausted I had to rest before I could join her in the NICU. This time the exhaustion was not from a grueling labor but from working for 16 hours.

Philip stayed with Meriel to make sure that she was ok and that our preferences were followed. Because the hospital had no intermediate nursery, she was put into the NICU with very sick babies. The NICU protocol is not designed to manage babies that are mostly healthy but just need to received antibiotics and observation as a precautionary measure. I had to fight for my right to breastfeed her instead of pump and bottle feed. I was willing to pump and bottle feed if the physician could prove to me it was medically necessary; I knew how to breastfeed and how to tell if she was getting milk. A nurse observed for the first feeding and quickly concluded that I did indeed know what I was doing and that Meriel was in good hands. From then on, the NICU staff worked to get Meriel home with me as quickly as possible. When all the 48 hour lab work and x-rays came through, the neonatologist called me to look at them on the computer. Everything was perfect! He filled out the discharge paperwork, and we were home Sunday morning bright and early. Another less than ideal birth with a delightful homecoming.

The story doesn't quite end there. Upon entering the house, I noticed that the refrigerator was in the family room. During the whole time Meriel and I had been in the hospital, Philip had not informed me of what was awaiting me at home. He had been in the middle of redoing the kitchen floor as a surprise for me when I called him to hurry to the hospital. He planned to surprise me when I came home the next day at noon. I was surprised alright!