The Back-Story

For those who can't be with us in Boston, I thought it might be nice to share the story of why we ended up rushing to Beth Israel 16 weeks early.

This past Tuesday (January 6), Kelly started feeling some heavier "cramps" as well as having frequent spotting. To go back even a bit earlier, the day after Christmas we spent an afternoon in the triage for the same issue. The nurses seemed to think the spotting was due to a cyst on Kelly's cervix. Our doctor, Dr. Baker, also met with Kelly this past Monday and confirmed that both her and the baby were doing just fine.

Fast forward to 2am on Wednesday night (Thursday morning). The cramps were back, only this time growing more severe by the minute. Not thinking anything serious was going on, I fell asleep and hoped she would feel better in the morning. It's a good thing Kelly listens to her body and not her tired husband because she noticed that the cramps were coming regularly at about 5 minute intervals. That definitely got me worried so we finally left a message for the on-call doctor around 3am. While we waited for the call, Kelly's cramps, which we now know were contractions, became more painful and the spotting more frequent.

The on-call doctor that night happened to be Dr. Baker, which was a relief. She told us to get in the car and head over to Beth Israel. The nurses checked out Kelly in the triage room and announced that we needed a labor and delivery room immediately. The placenta had separated from the uterine wall. As you can imagine, this snippet of information threw Kelly and I into an instant panic. As we rushed to the delivery room, Dr. Baker explained that we may need to deliver Brooklyn that night and, if so, there could be complications due to her being only 24 weeks old. The room grew small and I almost fainted.

The nurses tried to stop the dilation using a magnesium IV but Brooklyn would have none of that! At this point everything was a blur. The nurses told Kelly not to push; the NICU team hadn't arrived yet. Brooklyn was on her own schedule as Kelly dilated faster and faster. At 6:28am Brooklyn headed (literally) out still contained in her placenta -- it looked like a little oval alien pod! Within seconds Brooklyn was surrounded by the NICU team, where we heard her give her first little "hello" cry before the oxygen mask was placed over her mouth. The NICU respiratory therapist asked if dad (whoa, that's me) wanted to touch her. I'm getting teary just typing this...WHEW...okay I'm better now. She was beautiful. Fully formed and kicking like mad. I was scared to touch her because her skin was so delicate, so I gently put my index finger against her palm. She instantly latched onto it with her slender fingers and I knew at that moment that Brooklyn was going to live.