06.13.08

Friday, June 13th, 2008
Friday the Thirteenth...
Friday the F-ing 13th...

We shoulda just stayed in bed.

If ever I had a legitimate excuse for not posting pictures after suggesting I might then ladies and gentlemen, may I present exhibit A... our Friday the 13th, 2008.

Not to go all storybook on you but it really did start just like any other day. It was nice, if not a little warm out, and the wifey and I were planning on hitting up the stores and getting some dinner out since it was a nice Friday night. So, rather than take two cars and me have to drive home before we went out, Katie just dropped me off at my office in the morning on her way in to the school.

The rest of the day was uneventful. That is, until about ten minutes of five...

I was watching the clock expecting a call in the next 15 minutes or so from Kate letting me know she was parked outside so I could wrap things up and we could go. Instead I got a call from Kate at 10 minutes of; hysterical and crying, to the point that I didn't understand anything she said the first time around. So I had her take a deep breath on the phone with me and asked her to repeat herself. What she said next almost stopped my heart right then and there.

"I fell."

I can say with absolute certainty I've never been more scared in my life than I was at that moment. Those two words hold the possibility for so many bad things to happen that I didn't want to consider going there. Instead, I asked her to take a few more deep breaths and explain what happened.

"I don't know. I just fell. I tripped. Outside. On the sidewalk. Face first. I couldn't catch myself."

Remember at this point that I don't have a car to get home. That's when the real panic set in. Face first? Couldn't catch yourself? The bad thoughts were beginning to creep in and there was nothing I could do about it.

Thankfully, a friend at work was able to give me a ride immidately and we pulled in front of the apartment building within about 20 minutes. During this time I spoke with her on the phone a few additional times, making sure of how she was feeling and finding out if she was able to get a hold of her doctor. By the time we got there she was sitting up on the front stoop. She had calmed down considerably, but neither of us were exactly what I would call "cool as a cucumber" at that point.

She had a knee that looked like it had been rubbed a half-dozen times across an industrial-size cheese grater and a right cheekbone that was taking on the color and puffiness of what was bound to be a shiner for sure.

I got her to the car and we headed straight for the hospital. On the way, her doctor called her back and told her if she could, to head to the hospital and call ahead to the Labor and Delivery Ward to let them know what was going on (check and check). By the time we got there, 15 minutes after we left (a record for Philly traffic on a Friday at 5:30) they were already expecting us.

Our biggest worry? Over the course of that hour Katie hadn't felt the baby move at all. We knew it could be because he was sleeping (which he does much more of during the day), or maybe because in her hyper-active state she wasn't able to feel any more subtle movements that may have been happening.

The hospital's biggest worry? Apparently much different than ours. For the first twenty minutes we were there they kept asking her the same questions over and over: "Where did you fall?", "Did you trip over something?", How long did it take you two to get here?", What time did you fall?", "Was your husband home when you fell?".

Hospitals ask a lot of questions when a pregnant woman comes in, saying she tripped and fell, with a bruised eye and skinned knees, and there are no "scuff marks" on her hands where she might have tried to catch herself. (Side note: there were scratches on her hands, but that would have prevented this particular nurse from getting as fired up as she was; really helping nobody in the process.)

(Side note #2: I can certaintly understand the need for the questions considering the society we live in today; but don't you think it more appropriate to ask the questions AFTER the patient is treated, calm and stable? I'm just sayin'...)

So the inquisition is over and they finally get her in a bed in the Labor and Delivery section of the hospital. The plan at that point: a 24-hour observation to make sure everything is OK. If at any point the situation changes... well, again something I didn't want to think about until if we had to.

So for the next 24 hours they draw blood twice to make sure there is no internal bleeding (a sign the placenta is seperated from the uterus), hook Kate up to a fetal heart-rate monitor and a TOCO monitor (don't know what it stands for- I only know it measures any contraction the mother may be having- another sign of early labor) and finally, an Ultrasound to make sure everything appears as it should.

Once they got her out of triage and into LDR the remainder of the staff was more than plesant and accomodating. They even brought me a cot to sleep on next to her and ignored the visitation hours for me so I didn't have to leave her that night. They brought toothbrushes and toothpaste for us so we could get cleaned up Saturday morning, and never rolled their eyes even once when Kate asked for assistance getting up to use the restroom (since each trip required someone to disconnect and then afterwards re-apply all the baby-belly monitors).

After 24 hours and a few chewed fingernails the doctor finally let us know: everything was fine. There was no indication of internal bleeding, the fetal heart-rate was strong and steady, he was moving again, and there were no signs of early-labor contractions.

Whew.

*Epilogue- After we got home that night and had dinner we got a good night's rest and got up early the next day. Why? We had to go back to the hospital. Weeks ago we had scheduled ourselves for a day-long birthing class that ran that Sunday. So, one last much more plesant and relaxed hospital meal, and a bunch of great lessons later we took the tour of the LDR with the rest of the expecting families in attendence. Needless to say, we didn't need the tour at that point. We did however, get to see some of the nurses that were back on shift the next day and were able to thank them for their help. Who knows, maybe we'll get to see them again in about six more weeks?

*Epilogue #2- Normally this is the week Kate would be at Disney with the Freshman girls. Since flying is considered dangerous at this late stage in the pregnancy everyone thought it best she stay home. You know, since it's safe and all...