Your heart’s steady thumping fills an otherwise quiet delivery room. The lub-dub, lub-dub is a bit faster than you might be used to hearing. One ten, one thirty, one fifteen. The monitor lets us know that you are doing alright in there. Four fluid bags feed into the IV pump. The magnesium keeps your mother from having a seizure from her pre-eclampsia. The penicillin is for you. The Pitocin is for you both, but neither of you is in much of a hurry. Aside from the patterned hospital gown, Kayla wears reminders of those she loves most: two silicone bands in place of her wedding rings and a white gold charm around her neck with a “G” outlined in small diamonds. The charm is new as you might have guessed.
Today should be the day we get to meet you though it’s hard to know for sure. Kayla likes the date: 06/09/21. All divisible by three. It’s a better day than yesterday. Groggy with the excessive levels of magnesium in her blood and nearly no sleep, Kayla looked at me with tears in her eyes and exhaustion in her voice, “how am I supposed to push a baby out today?”. I had no answer besides a hug and nervous back rub. Sleep and a more balanced set of medications make the journey ahead at least a bit less daunting.
Gigi arrived a little after 7 yesterday morning. Her comfort navigating hospitals let me take my guard down a bit for the parade of medical professionals throughout the day. Thank God for the nurses here. Their confidence and comfort build our trust that we are in good hands. They are trying everything they know, much of which is more detail than you want to hear about your mother, but there is less progress than the nurses and doctors would like to see.
As the sun comes up, I can hear the hospital come to life. We wait for the rounding clinicians to give us our plan for today. If you haven’t moved, George, and Kayla has not progressed, we will start to talk about a C-section. Whichever way you come into this world, it’s your health that matters most. Not much has gone according to plan so far, but maybe you can surprise us today. We’ll have our answer in just a few hours.
I already love you more than I knew I could. I can’t wait to hold you in my arms.