How It All Went Down, Part 4

It felt like as soon as Dr. Cosentino left the room, 5 new people came flooding in to get us ready for the c-section. They pulled me away from Kim and instructed me to get into a pair of scrubs, complete with a mask a hat, and even booties to put over my shoes. In the mean time, they began prepping Kim for her trip to the O.R. Even with the good that came out of it all, I don't think I'll ever forget watching helplessly as they instructed her to drink something to settle her stomach that actually made her throw up immediately. She looked so scared, and so tired. And all I could do from the other side of the room was to fake a smile and to mouth the words "Everything's ok." The truth is I didn't know that for sure, I had never been so scared in my life - but there really was no time for fear (not yet anyway).

Once we were ready to leave the room, I finally got back to Kim's side. I put my hand on her arm and kissed her forehead. As the nurses began to wheel Kim's bed out into the hallway, it occurred to me that all of our family was out there waiting - and we weren't even sure if they knew what was going on. I made a quick decision that I wouldn't look at any of them, I was afraid I would totally break down. So we exited the room, made a hard right and proceeded down the hall to the O.R. I wanted to look back, but instead focused my attention on Kim. Soon we were at the double doors to the O.R. and the nurses told me I would have to have a seat and wait while they took Kim back and got her prepped.

Now there was time to fear. I spent the 10 longest minutes of my life on a loveseat outside one of the O.R.s at Seton Medical Center. If I had known that was coming, I would have asked my dad or my brother-in-law to sit with me. And to make matters worse, I could now see all of our family walking through a door down the hall and into a waiting area. I called out to them, but no one heard - and I wasn't going to leave my post right by that door in case Kim needed me. I began to cry uncontrollably, you know those big breathy weeps that make you feel like you are going to suffocate. I had never felt so alone. If a hospital janitor had sat down by me at that moment I would have buried my head in their chest and cried. I worried that one or both of the most important people in my life were about to die. I'm someone who prays fairly often, but I prayed more fervantly than I ever had before. And then, when I was exhausted from crying and didn't know what else to pray, I just sat. I sat and I waited peacefully and quitely, for there was nothing else that I could do.

Finally the door swung open. "Mr. Myrick, you can come back now. Please put on your mask." I followed the nurse back into one of several small rooms where I saw Kim laid out on an operating table with 8-10 people all around her. The anesthesiologist and her assistant were right behind her head. Dr. Cosentino and another surgeon were standing near her stomach. 3 nurses or pediatricians (I'm still not sure) were huddled in one corner waiting for the baby that would soon come out. Nurses scurried back and forth between the 3 groups, calling out numbers and words that we didn't understand. I was focused on Kim, I had no desire to look over the sheet at what was going on. Her arms were pulled out to her sides and tied down, like Jesus on the cross or Mel Gibson at the end of Braveheart. I sat down right behind her head and kissed it again. I think we were both so relieved to see each other again that a lot of the fear we had worked up individualy gave way to peace.

Everything happened pretty quickly once I got in there. Kim had been medicated enough to not feel any pain, but she still felt the pressure and the movements. And that was a weird thing for me to see, her facial expressions as they cut through her 7 layers and began to move things around from the places that the good Lord had always meant for them to be. Kim says she felt someone push down on her abdomen and force the baby up and out, and then we heard the most wonderful sound in our lives - Ada screaming at the top of her lungs. We looked at each other just like they do in every tv show or movie you've ever seen about birth and just totally lost it. We began crying tears of joy, we began giggling, and kissing each other. We could tell that they moved her over to the corner to check on her, and that they were running different tests and trying to get all of the fluid out that would normally be pushed out during labor. So we spent several minutes just waiting to meet her, while hearing her scream and cry. A nurse finally brought her around to us, where we touched and kissed her head. Little bits of blood and other goo were still on her, but we could not have cared less.

The nurse told us I would need to go with Ada to the nursery while they finished up with Kim. It was hard to leave her again, but we knew the hardest part was over. I walked in with Ada to the nursery, where all of our family was waiting on the other side of the glass. We all watched as they weighed her, measured her height, cleaned her off, and gave her the Vitamin K shot. Dr. Cosentino came in to tell me congratulations and to explain to me what the problems had been. Once he got in and found Ada, he discovered that her umbilical cord had been wrapped twice around her neck and that it was a very thin and weak one. Each time Kim had a contraction or pushed the cord was simultaneusly choking Ada more and giving her less blood and oxygen. We would have done it all exactly the same over again, but it felt good to know the c-section had been necessary.

The 2 weeks since have been a blur of sleepless nights, crying, breastfeeding, dirty diapers, smiles, burps, family visits, friends' visits. And we'll do our best to keep you updated on all the changes a exciting things that occur. But we felt like a good start would be for us to let you know... how it all went down.

The end (which is really the beginning).