The Arrival


“Oh! Ewwwwwww!” came the cry from the living room.
“Misty what’s wrong?” I asked.
“I think my water just broke.” She replied.
I ran from the kitchen, my breakfast preparations forgotten. I skidded to a halt in front of the couch; a rather large wet spot was forming under her. My heart was racing; I began to shake all over. Water broke, water…. broke, hospital…. must get to hospital now!
“Ok ok ok ok, I’ll get the bags.” I said as I ran to the bedroom.
I bounced off the doorframe on my way in. Bags, where are those bags. Found them, I sprinted back to the living room.
“Ok! Got the bags let’s go! Why are you on the phone?”
She held up her hand to quiet me, “Yes my water just broke and we will be headed there in just a minute. Uh-huh, Milne, that’s right. Ok thank you bye.”
She looked at me, “You need a shower.”
I stared at her.
“We are not going till you take a shower and get dressed.” She said.
“Hospital…Now.” Was all I could get out.
She stood up, took the bags from my hands, turned me around and gave me a push in the direction of the bathroom. “Shower…Now.”
I must have set a speed record in there, not sure if the water even touched me I was in and out of the shower so fast. I threw on some clothes and ran back to the front door.
“Ok, let’s go.” I said.
I turned to see where she was. ”Why are you on the phone again???”
“Yeah my water just broke so we are headed down to the hospital. Jim is losing it I think. He keeps running around here like a chicken with his head cut off. Uh-huh we’ll see you there.” She said into the phone.
Finally she set down the phone and got up, “Ok let’s go!”
“Not until after I have taken a shower and gotten dressed.”
I stared at her, “Honey in class they told us, ‘If your water breaks, get to the hospital right away’.”
She just walked off to the bathroom without a word. I picked up the bags and stood there by the door. This shouldn’t take her too long, I thought. I stood there, and I stood there, how long could one shower take? After what seemed like an hour, probably only 10 minutes really, she emerged from the bathroom.
“Why didn’t you take the bags to the car while you were waiting for me?” she asked.
I hadn’t thought of that. I jerked my head in the direction of the door, “Hospital. Go. Now.”
“Go take the bags to the car.” She replied.
She shook her head back and forth in disbelief. “Usually you’re the calm one.”
I grabbed the door handle and nearly tore it off the door before I realized the deadbolt was still locked. I unlocked it and hurried out to the car with the bags. I ran back in the apartment to find her dressed and on the phone. Again!
“Hi Irma, it’s Misty...Fine how are you? Oh my water broke so Jim and I are heading to the hospital…Yeah he is going crazy.” She laughed. “Just thought we should call you and let you know…Uh-huh, love you too…see you soon.”
“Alright let’s go, are you going to be ok to drive?” She asked me.
“There is a phone in the birthing suite you know.” I said.
She just glared at me. I took her arm to help her to the car.
“I can walk just fine thank you.” She told me.
I ran ahead and opened the car door for her. She grabbed the front of my shirt and shook me gently, “Calm down.” Then she gave me a quick kiss. “Everything is going to be fine.” She patted my chest.
“I’m sorry,” I replied.
She sat down in the car and I closed her door. I walked around and got in on my side. I managed to control myself all the way to the hospital, my initial shock starting to wear off. We pulled into the parking structure at Providence Hospital, found a spot on the second floor, and parked the car. I sat in the car for a second thinking, this is it I am going to be a father. Misty looked over at me, “You ok?”
“Yeah I’m fine.” I smiled back at her.
I grabbed the bags from the trunk and we headed inside. We made our way to the elevator and went up to the maternity floor. The lobby of the floor looked like we were entering a fancy hotel. There was a smattering of paintings on the walls, which were painted a creamy tan color. A large rug was in the center of the entranceway; plants decorated the corners of the room. Several couches lined the walls and there were two televisions on the walls as well. The receptionist’s desk was straight ahead from the elevator.
“Hi,” I said to the receptionist as we approached. “We have a suite reserved under Milne, my wife called a few minutes ago to let you know we were coming down.”
“Yes we have you all set up, why don’t you get one of those wheelchairs for your wife and I will have a nurse show you to your room.”
A nurse dressed in lavender hospital scrubs came out of the back and led us through a door. We walked by the nursery on the way to our room and I peered in to see all the babies there. Three nurses were inside the room tending to the babies. My son would be in there soon. My son, my head began to spin again with the thought. I am going to be a father! Just a few feet farther down the hallway was our room. It was the same color beige as the lobby, a couple of art prints on the walls, a small dark green couch that pulled out into a single bed (for the father to sleep on), and a small television hung on the wall facing the other end of the room. A large hospital bed occupied the east end of the room. Next to it was the entrance to the bathroom, complete with Jacuzzi tub.
“If you need anything just push the buzzer next to the bed, I will check back in with you in a few minutes. The doctor should be here to see you in a little while.” Said the nurse, and with that she left the room.
I threw the bags down on the couch and helped my wife to the hospital bed, “Can I get you anything?” I asked her.
“No I’m fine dear.” She replied.
The doctor poked his head in through the door, “Knock Knock.”
He was wearing that green surgery getup that doctors wear. Tall, around six feet, and a slender build, his dark hair was going slightly gray at the edges.
“So, how are we doing?” He asked.
“I am doing fine.” Misty replied.
He walked the rest of the way into the room, “How far apart are your contractions?”
“I haven’t felt any yet.”
The doctor’s eyebrows shot up, crinkling his forehead. He stepped closer to the bed, “None at all?”
“Nope, nothing.”
The doctor placed his hand upon her stomach, pushing slightly here and there. Suddenly a rush of liquid came out of my wife, soaking the bed.
“Look’s like some of your water was still trapped in there, I’ll go get a nurse to clean this up.” he said.
I went into the bathroom to look for some towels, when I came back into the room a nurse was entering through the door with bed sheets in hand. Misty got up from the bed and went to the bathroom to change her clothes. The doctor returned with a large machine. It was yellow, about three feet tall and 2 feet wide, it had wheels on its base and several wires hanging from the front of it. Misty came back out of the bathroom dressed in a hospital gown.
“Let’s get you hooked up to the monitor here so we can see what’s going on.” He said.
“What does that thing do?” I asked him.
“It monitor’s your wife’s contractions and tells us how strong they are.”
My wife climbed back into bed and I moved over to hold her hand as the doctor began hooking up wires to her. Once he had gotten a couple of them attached he reached over and turned on the machine. A small screen lit up on the front and it began making intermittent beeping noises.
“There.” The doctor said, “That’s a contraction. But it’s a very small one.”
My wife squeezed my hand and smiled up at me.
“So everything is ok?” I asked him.
“Well as long as those contractions get stronger soon everything will be fine.”
I felt a pit growing in my stomach. Was something wrong? My wife’s grip on my hand increased. My mind raced with all kinds of imagined problems, something was wrong I could feel it.
“Now relax you two, everything is fine. I am going to go for a while and when I get back we will see how those contractions are doing, in the meantime I am going to send in a nurse to see if you have dilated any.” And with that he left the room again.
“Honey why don’t you go get something to eat, I know you never finished breakfast.” Misty said.
“I’m not hungry right now.” It was the truth, regardless of what the doctor had said I couldn’t shake the feeling that something might be wrong.
A nurse knocked on the doorframe and then walked in. She was dressed in a green outfit much like the doctors. Her brunette hair was pulled back into a ponytail.
“How are we doing so far?” she asked.
“We’re ok.” I replied.
She came over and sat on the edge of the bed, “I am going to check to see if you’ve dilated any, ok?” she asked Misty.
Misty nodded her head, the nurse reached under her gown with her hand.
“Well looks like you are at about two centimeters.” She said.
Another knock on the doorframe heralded the entry of Marilyn and Donald, Misty’s parents. Marilyn is slightly taller than Donald at five foot six; they both have dark brown hair and wear glasses. Donald spoke in that booming voice that belies his smallish frame. “Well where’s my grandson?”
“Not here yet.” Misty replied. “Donald would you take Jim and make him go eat something? He hasn’t had anything all day.”
“I’m not hungry.” I said, again.
Donald looked at me, “You do realize it’s nearly one already.”
One o’clock already, didn’t we just get here? I allowed Donald to lead me out of the room and take me to the cafeteria. When we returned to the room my parents had arrived. I take after my mother for the most part; her hair is nearly black like mine. She is only five foot two however. My dad is six foot four with sandy blond hair. Stout is something of an understatement when describing my family; he is the shortest of five. My mom came over and hugged me as I entered the room. The doctor was back, looking at the readout from the monitor. The nurse was here as well taking notes in a chart.
“Well Misty, I think we are going to try petosin. That’s a drug that will help stimulate your contractions and hopefully get things moving here.” The doctor said. “Now that also means an I.V. but it will be on wheels so you can get up and walk around. It might also help if you walked around the halls for a while.”
It wasn’t long after the I.V. was in place before my wife began to really feel the contractions. Her face became contorted, and she began to moan with each one. A couple of short trips around the maternity ward was all that she could manage before the pain got to be more than she could bear. We returned to the room to find my dad on the couch, flipping through the channels on the television. I helped Misty to bed and she buzzed for the nurse. It was a couple of minutes before she arrived.
“How’s everything going?” The nurse asked.
“I am in a lot of pain.” Misty grunted.
She came over and began hooking up the monitor again. This time even I could see the contractions when they came, the small screen’s little green line bouncing around like a seismograph during an earthquake.
“Well that looks pretty good,” she said. “Now if I can get everybody to leave the room for a minute I’ll check to see if you’ve dilated anymore.”
Our parents filed out of the room rapidly at this. The nurse checked her once again.
“Feel’s like you’re at five centimeters, I’ll go tell the doctor.” She smiled at my wife, and then left the room.
I looked at my watch, five o’clock. When had all this started? Seven? Eight? I felt worn out already. I reached over to give my wife’s hand a quick squeeze. OW! OW! Ok, that was a mistake, “Um honey, my hand.”
Next time I’ll take a quick look at the monitor before I try that. Hours went by, the doctor would come in and check to see if Misty had dilated any further, then leave. Finally around ten p.m. and what seemed to be the hundredth dilation check, he shook his head.
“You’ve only gotten to eight centimeters Misty, I am afraid this is taking too long.” He said. “Looks like we are going to have to do this cesarean.”
“At this point I don’t care, just get this child out of me.” She said.
He turned to the nurse and whispered a few words to her, she left the room.
“Ok Jim let’s get you into a surgery outfit, the nurse will be back in a minute to prep Misty.”
After I had dressed in green, they led me to the surgery room. A couple of nurses wheeled Misty in on her bed. This room was all business, stark white walls, bright lights, and all sorts of hi-tech equipment. Everyone had their masks on, I managed to pick our doctor out of the group when he spoke.
“Misty we are going to use a local anesthetic for this. You won’t feel any pain, but you might experience a pushing sensation from time to time.”
A small curtain was erected just below my wife’s chest so she couldn’t see the operation in progress. One of the nurses brought me a stool so I could sit next to her head. I smiled down at her before I realized that with my mask on she wouldn’t see it.
“Everything’s going to be fine honey. Our son will be here soon now.” I told her.
She nodded her head and then reached her hand over to hold mine.
“Ok, here we go.” Said the doctor.
Misty’s hand was trembling in mine. I did my best to try and exude confidence, but my hand was shaking as well.
“Here comes the head!” one of the nurses exclaimed. “Do you want to take a look?”
“Do you want to try picking me up off the floor?” I asked without looking up.
Misty giggled at that. I squeezed her hand again, tears beginning to well up in my eyes. I placed my head right next to hers, I was dizzy. My god this is it. My son is being born right now.
“He’s out.” Said the nurse.
“Is he ok?” Misty asked.
There was a pause, and then he started crying, great big loud screams. The most beautiful sound I had ever heard in my life. That was my son there. Misty and I started crying and laughing all at once. I looked up and saw the nurses huddled around a small table; my son lay on that table as they measured and looked him over. He sure had a pair of lungs on him. After the nurses had taken all the measurements they needed, one of them wrapped him in a blanket and turned toward us. She walked over and placed him in my hands. I was trembling so hard I worried that I would drop him for a second. His face was red, his eyes closed, and he was so small. He was all bundled up, only his face showing from the blanket. The bottom of the blanket became wet and warm all of a sudden.
“Well hello to you too son,” I laughed.
Misty looked at me, her eyebrows furrowed.
“He just pee’ed in my hand.” I told her.
We both started laughing again, tears streaming down our faces. I held him where his mother could see him.
“Would you like to go show him to your family?” one of the nurses asked me.
The doctors were still in the process of sewing Misty back up.
“Go ahead honey,” she told me.
I thought about it for a minute, “No I think we will wait until all of us are ready. We will leave this room together as a family.”
A family, we were a family now and our son would meet his grandparents with both his mother and father. Misty nodded her head in agreement.
When the doctor’s had finished with Misty we all went back to our room. The nurses wheeled Misty’s bed in first and I followed with Corey in my arms. Marilyn and my mom started to cry and both wanted to hold him right away. After they had both gotten the chance to hold him I took him back to his mother. My mom produced a camera from her purse and took the first picture. I sat down on the edge of the bed and just stared in amazement at my son. Misty nudged me with her elbow and then nodded towards the back of the room. I looked over to see my father standing in the back corner. Were those tears on his face? My dad didn’t cry. I had never seen him cry. Misty handed me Corey and gave me a push in his direction. I walked over to my father; he reached out with his hands. Large hands, gnarled from years of hard work. He took Corey from my hands and held him gently.
“Dad, meet your grandson Corey”