A birth story... as told by the doctor

After finally deciding on names last night, we gave sleep our best attempt. Fortunately, it came for an hour or two before I woke up in a panic and reached for my smartphone-- back to my old ways, I am. It was around 4 a.m. and there was a health status email from SCI. It read as follows:

1. Both the babies are on ventilator with high ventilation require.
2. One dose of survanta given.
2. Both the babies are on N.P.O (Nothing by Mouth)
3. Both the babies are on IV Fluid.
4. Both the babies are sick.

I wish I could say that I handled this with strength and grace. I wish I could say I used the laugh when all you can do is cry technique I seemed to master throughout our infertility journey. I wish I could say I did not crumple up at the bottom of the stairs, sobbing to nobody in particular, pleading out loud for my babies to be healthy, piercing the air with my cries that I NEED these babies to be ok.

But I can't. 

I called SCI's office and had a run around conversation regarding the "sick" part. Me trying to figure out if the babies had come down with some type of infection and SCI reassuring me that of course they are "sick" as they are needing breathing assistance due to their early arrival. Sometimes this happens when two different countries communicate by email. Ok. I am feeling a bit better. I already knew the breathing assistance part.

To follow up, I called the NICU hospital where Scarlett and Hayden are staying. After a brief who's who-- yes, we are parents of the babies born yesterday, 31 weeks? well more like 29... oh, ok 30 weeks? yes, yes, the baby girl and baby boy--- I received news that their ventilator levels were still high but they had been decreased from yesterday. Hooray for a bit of positive news! The doctor I spoke with suggested I speak with the pediatrician later in the day.

I called the pediatrician number. This time I introduced myself by identifying my surrogate. Bingo! Shaved a good five minutes off the conversation already. Lucky me, the doctor who answered had delivered Scarlett and Hayden. Before I could say anything he told me he would tell me about their birth:

Your surrogate, she began having abnormal very painful contractions and she was taken to the hospital for an emergency c-section. Contractions were very irregular. The baby girl came first at 6:42 p.m. At first she was ok, she almost cried, then she began to show signs of distress about 2 minutes later. She was intubated. She was about a 7,8,9 [I assume he means apgar scores] more of a 9 but then she has the distress.


Now, I will tell you about the boy. The boy, he was very very sick. He was born at 6:44 p.m. He was very very limp. Very limp and no reaction at all. His heartbeat was 20-30 beats. It should be 120. We started the IPPV with a mask. We gave him chest compression to increase circulations. About 45 seconds later he started crying. The baby boy, we resuscitated him. 

OUR baby boy, they saved his life.