Since Carliegh’s birth exactly one year ago, I’ve been meaning to write this post. At the time, life was a bit hectic and I didn’t get the time to put into words exactly what happened that day. I’ve wanted to do it, but have kept putting it off. Now that she is one year old, I figure I’d better get it done or risk having the details of that day slip from my mind (more than already have). If you are reading this and are expecting children soon, do yourself a favor and put down into words, on paper, on a napkin, whatever what happened that day and how you were feeling, because I can tell you first hand it is way to easy to get caught up in all the excitement of a new arrival. The problem being that when you go back to relive that wondrous event ten, twenty, thirty years later, you will find that your memory just isn’t what it used to be.
First let me set the stage about what was going on around that time. I was working on finishing my last two classes in my Master’s program at Walsh. It seemed like the timing was going to be perfect. Carleigh’s due date was September 20th (or around then) and I was due to be done with my Master’s Degree before the end of August. Everything was going to work out timing wise because I would be good and done with school and would have time to get all the stuff we needed for Carleigh and to do everything else we needed to do before her arrival. The Brewster garage sales were August 10th and 11th. April had a garage sale here and put in a lot of work setting it up beforehand. They had a pretty good day on the 10th and closed up expecting to sell more stuff on the 11th.
Saturday, August 11, 2007 – About 6:30 AM
I had to go to my last Saturday class for my 758 class. We were giving our presentations on the last part of our project. I got up and got my shower and got all ready for class. I think I needed to be there around 8:00, so I was going to leave around 7:30. April had gotten up sometime while I was in the shower. About 7:15 or so, she told me that she thought her water had broke. I was kind of in shock for a minute or two, as I wasn’t quite convinced I was going to end up with a daughter at the end of the day. Looking back, I was apparently pretty naive about how those things work, as once the water breaks, the baby is coming whether she likes it or not. April was fairly convinced it was indeed her water that broke, because it was all over the stairs and what not. I just kind of gathered my thoughts thinking of everything that needed to be done that day; class, Carissa’s cheer leading pictures, mowing the yard, that kind of stuff. Then it hit me that we needed to be heading to the hospital. Fortunately April had already packed a bag to take because we knew Carleigh would be coming early, just not this early. At first I was kind of in a rush, throwing cameras and other things into a backpack, but April was relatively calm, and that helped me calm down. She wasn’t in much of a hurry, so I slowed down a bit.
We called April’s parents and told them we were on our way to the hospital and asked if they could take Carissa to get her pictures. We loaded up in my car and headed to drop off Carissa. On the way to drop her off, I called my Dad and let him know that her water had broke. After we dropped her off, we headed for Dunlap Hospital in Orrville. That is where April’s OBGYN was and where we were planning on having the baby. I don’t remember speeding, but I’m sure I wasn’t exactly driving slow either. April may correct me later on the speeding part however. We arrived at Dunlap, and they sent us directly up to the Labor/Birthing (whatever they call it) department. They put us right into a room and April’s doctor was soon in. They poked around and tested the fluid to see if it was indeed her water breaking. I remember at one point they wanted me to get April’s underwear for them to test it too. I remember being weird about grabbing them and handed them to the nurse with another piece of her clothing. Looking back that was pretty dumb, but I probably did a lot of dumb things that day. The tests were positive, it was her water that broke. Carleigh was on her way. Dunlap is not equipped to handle premature babies, and since she was six weeks early she was defiantly premature. They informed us they were going to send us to Aultman, but since she was already admitted to Dunlap, she would be traveling to Aultman by Ambulance, which since she was technically in labor was probably a good thing because anything could have happened on the way up there. She wasn’t feeling any contractions, but they hooked her up to a contraction-o-meter (i’m sure it has a more technical term), and were registering contractions. As they wheeled her out I kissed her good bye and quickly gathered up all our stuff and headed to my car. They must have taken their time getting to the ambulance and loading up because I was in my car and sitting at the ambulance bay waiting for them in no time.
This is where time begins to slip away from me. The only real definite time I have from this point on is Carleigh’s birth time, so everything else will be pretty much a guess. I would guess we left Dunlap around 10:00. The ambulance was speeding the whole way up 30, I think he averaged about 75, but they weren’t using lights and sirens. I kept up pretty well considering I don’t usually like to go above 70. The whole way up there I was calling people like crazy. April had already called a bunch of people and told them we were having the baby at Dunlap. Well I had to call everyone, her parents, my dad, and everyone else and thll them we were now on our way to Aultman. Trying to follow an ambulance at 75 and figure out how to find phone numbers in someone else’s phone is not a recommended practice. We probably arrived at Autman in about 20 minutes, but I don’t really remember. I remember being rather calm, but rather distracted all morning. I think it was a mixture of excitement, nervousness, and being scared. I would say I was just in my own zone, off in center field as some might say. I quickly found a parking lot at Aultman. I wasn’t terribly concerned if it was the correct place to park at that moment, but as it turns out, it was the correct place to park. I remember getting a front row parking spot. I quickly went in to the ER department and told them they were bringing April in to have a baby. They sent me up to the fourth floor. I walked for what seemed like forever and finally found the elevators. Once up on the fourth floor I found my way in and located a phone where I could call the nurses’ desk and get more information. I told them they were bringing her in, and they directed me to a room number. I don’t remember the room number off hand right now. I found a picture that has the phone number for the room (which conveniently enough ends with the room number). We were in room 423 which was right below and to the right of the helipad. I recall hearing the life flight helicopters coming in and out the whole time we were there. I went straight to the room, and I walked in just after they had pushed April in. Apparently the ambulance drivers weren’t familiar with the new Birthing wing at Aultman and got lost on the way up.
They soon had April hooked up to all kinds of gizmos and buzzers and whatchamajags. Dr. Gill came in to talk with us. We were glad to find out that Dr. Gill was on call that day because we had talked with him before when we went to the genetic counselors, and were very happy with him. They decided they would induce labor to try and have the baby naturally. They gave April this drug and that one, quite the cocktail I suppose. Once everything settled down a bit they let us know that it would probably still be a while before we saw any action. My Dad came up (I’m guessing it was about 12:00) and since it was going to be a while he took me to lunch. We ran into Dr. Gill in the cafeteria and Dad bought his lunch for him. I wasn’t all that hungry and I wasn’t all that comfortable leaving April, but I knew I should eat so I forced myself to do so, but I quickly became antsy to return to her room.
Upon my return I found that there really wasn’t much change. I’m sure quite a bit happened while I was in there, but don’t remember much of it. I recall being asked to leave the room while they gave April her epidural because the contractions were becoming more painful. As the contractions began getting stronger Carleigh’s heart rate started falling. You could tell everyone was starting to get concerned. They started adding fluids to the womb to try and cushion her during the contractions and tried a few other things. It wasn’t long before I figured out where the baby’s heart rate was on the monitor and what kind of numbers they were wanting. (Interesting to me, but no one else I’m sure, they were using remote desktop to view the monitors). There were several more sharp decreases in her heart rate but they still carried on. About 4:00 or so, there was a drastic decrease in her heart rate. We first noticed it on the monitor, and it wasn’t but a few seconds later that several people rapidly came into the room. Dr. Gill came in and informed us that they were taking the baby now. They couldn’t wait any longer. The next few minutes were quite a blur. Someone handed me scrubs and I had no clue what to do with them. Luckily Cousin Ashley was there and got me dressed up in no time. They quickly wheeled April down towards the operating room and I followed. They had me wait outside until they were ready. As I sat there waiting I remember being very scared and very anxious. The most predominate thought in my head, however, was what was she going to look like? I had no concept of what my daughter was going to look like. About 4:15 they came out and got me and sat me down beside April. It was very cold in there. I had the option to watch everything, but chose not to watch much of it. They gave April a bunch of morphine and it made her sick. Since they had her all strapped down, the nurse had to help her throw up. She tried to look for some stuff to prevent nausea, but there was none in there, so someone had to scrub out and go to another OR and get some. They gave the stuff to her in her IV and it fixed her right up. Dr. Gill quickly made the incision and pulled Carleigh out. I do remember watching him pull her out, and seeing this blue blob emerge out of April’s stomach. He pulled her out at 4:19 PM He handed her off to the team that was waiting to tend to her while he went back to tending to April. I remember being very scared and not wanting to watch what they were doing to Carleigh. It seemed like a very long time but I’m sure it wasn’t, but before long we heard her cry. I was quite relieved once I herd that. The team working on Carleigh cleaned her up and bundled her up and handed her right to me. I was not expecting that at all. All of a sudden she was just in my arms. She was so small and so light. 3 LB 5 1/2 OZ. I remember looking at her face and thinking how perfect she was. There she was… my daughter. Now I knew what she looked like. The nurses informed us that she only had one club foot, whereas we thought she was going to have two from what the ultrasound was looking like.
I tried to hold her so that April could see her, but it was kind of hard with how April was tied down. A few seconds later they took her back from me and wheeled her off to the NICU. They began the process of putting April back together. The really weird part was watching them staple her up. It just seemed like a regular old staple gun (I know it wasn’t), just having at it with her stomach. Before they closed her up they did a count to make sure everything was out of her. They counted all the tools and everything, like three times. The most surprising part was that they kept track of every gauze pad, etc. They knew how many they started with and they laid out each used one on the floor. The ones left over plus the used ones had to match perfectly to the number they started with before they would close her up.
Once they had her closed up, they took her to the recovery room. We sat there for probably 45 minutes to an hour, before I realized that everyone waiting in April’s room hadn’t been informed of how everything went. I asked if I could go tell them and the nurse said sure. I tromped down in my scrubs and all and gave everyone the good news that April and Carleigh were both doing well. I went back to be with April. We were probably in recover for like two hours total. Once April was doing well and Carleigh was safe and sound in her isolet, the nurse asked if we wanted to go see her. Naturally the answer was a resounding yes. She even said we could bring her mom, dad, and sister in with us. I went back to the room and said “This is probably a long shot, but, does anyone want to see the baby”. Everyone jumped up and followed me to the recovery room. We rolled April’s bed into the NICU and into Carleigh’s room. There she was, in her little isolet. She was so tiny. April got to hold her hand, and I think her mom and dad did also. I don’t remember if I did or not, but I don’t see why not. Before long it was time for us to leave, and we rolled April’s bed back to her room. Around 8:00 or so, my dad came back. April was feeling pretty good so we wheeled her down in a wheel chair with us to the NICU so my dad could meet his granddaughter. That was the first time I had to go in through the front door of the NICU and say Carleigh’s number so I could get back in. I will probably never forget saying “Chris Belloni for Baby Casto, 61654 since I said it several times a day for the two weeks she was in the NICU.
The rest of that night is pretty much a blur. I stayed the night at the hospital. I slept in the chair next to April’s bed. It was the most uncomfortable thing I have slept in for some time. After seeing pictures of Kurt sleeping in Melanie’s room on the fold out couch, I recall that our couch folded out too, but I’m not really sure why I didn’t or wouldn’t use it. It was really tough to sleep with the nurse coming in to check on April every so often and lots of actvity in the hall. I believe someone coded that night too, so we got the “Code Blue” over the PA. There may have even been a “Code Pink” (baby coding), but i don’t remember if that was that night, or some other night.
Well there it is… Everything that I remember about the day that my little girl was born. As I re-read this from time to time and remember more details, I will add them. I don’t remember a whole lot about the next day, except on Sunday night, I went to be with Carleigh by myself because April wasn’t feeling up to it. I got to give her her first bottle that night, and then the nurse wanted me to burp her. That was the most awkward thing I have ever done, trying to get this 3 LB 6OZ baby from my lap to my shoulder without breaking her and without losing any of her tubes, cords, and everything else. After a few more attempts I became pretty comfortable with handling her and the fear of breaking her eventually went away. Soon after I fed her, my dad, aunt, uncle, and grandma came up to visit and they brought April down with them.
One of the best days I have been able to share with you!