I had taken the last part of the week off work. For no real reason other than a hunch that the baby might come this week. Ironically, she was born during a drug raid that I would have been team leading if I had not taken the week off work.
Cristal began feeling 'strange' Wednesday night at about 10 PM. By 11:30 she was convinced the 'strange' was labor contractions.
We were prepared for this moment; but didn't anticipate everything. We had two bags packed with a sign that read 'IN CASE OF BABY GRAB BOTH BAGS'. They were strategically placed near the door. I religiously checked the fuel and maintenance of the vehicle.
What we didn't anticipate was Sam's sleepiness. Sam spent the third trimester absolutely prepared for the impending birth. However, anybody that knows Sam, knows he has one speed - Hardcore - from when he wakes to when he crashes. Because of this, he sleeps very deep. When I woke him to go to the hospital, he wanted to know why we needed to go to the hospital to have a baby. He wanted to stay in bed. In fact, I got him dressed and to the door, turned around for a minute, and Sam snuck back to his bed.
We arrived at the hospital by about midnight. Sam had pulled himself together. Alex was giddy with anticipation. Cristal was the calm cucumber she always is. And I was doing combat breathing exercises.
The ER spent no time directing us to Labor and Delivery...I felt more like they were directing us anywhere away from them; who can blame them, it's a big responsibility to deliver a baby. When we arrived at Labor and Delivery we had to push a button to get through the doors. A kind voice asked what we wanted - my response was likely a bit sarcastic - 'WE'RE HAVING A BABY'. I remember thinking, 'why else would anybody be here at midnight'.
The nurse, Jodi, made us comfortable in room #3. The floor was quiet. I made it a point to look in the other rooms to see if others were there too; nobody else was having a baby just then. We explained Cristal's speedy prior deliveries. She was receptive and paged the doc. I was annoyed when we were told the on-call doc was not Cristal's doc. However, I was too busy timing contractions to worry too much about who the doc was.
Any male who says he understands labor and delivery is a liar. It was scary for me; and I kick in doors of guys with guns for a living. So I went to my happy place...the chronograph on my watch. I timed everything; breathing, contractions, blinks, everything. It gave me a job, which gave me comfort.
Sam and Alex were troopers in the delivery room. They monitored the contraction charts, figured out the fold out beds, found the warm blankets, and found outlets for the all important iphones.
As expected, the contractions increased in frequency and intensity very quickly. At about 1:30 AM Cristal began to question her decision to not have any medication or epideral. At about 1:50 AM I think she was about to ask for an epideral when she announced to me, 'MY WATER JUST BROKE'.
My first thought...WHERE THE HELL IS THE DOCTOR! Then I pulled it together and went and told Jodi. She and the two other duty nurses came into the room and began the preparations.
I paid very close attention to the nurses actions. They continually asked re-asked each other if the doctor had been paged. The affirmed he had, but he was certainly not present.
Nurse Jodi did an examination and proclaimed, 'she's coming'. Cristal was in intense pain at this point. Obviously any medication option had passed; it was all natural from here on out. Sam and Alex gave their mother an assurance touch and stood back to let the miracle of life happen.
The nurses helped Cristal to control her breathing and her urge to push. Cristal told the nurses in more ways than one that she needed to push. The nurses continued to calm her. Cristal continued to scream. I just stayed focused on my watch...
At 2:07 AM (Thursday 8/2/2012) baby Abigail entered the world. She came out calm and quiet, but quickly fixed that and let everyone know she was there.
The first embrace Abigail received was from Cristal within seconds of her first breath. Cristal's joy was obvious; the same I had experienced with her when Alex and Sam were born. Baby 'no-name' had finally blessed our lives.
I was finally able to stop looking at my watch. Sam and Alex embraced their mother with their new sister. I fumbled for a camera and started snapping photos; most of which ended up being photos of my thumb. And the nurses high fived each other with their eyes...I saw it...even if they tried to hide it.
Yes, Abigail Grace was born without the doctor present.
A resident strolled into the room about 5 minutes after the birth and said 'what's going on here'. The kid was barely older than Sam and had the 'deer in the headlights' look. The poor kid just kept looking around trying to figure out what to do next. I almost gave him my watch to look at.
About 5 minutes later a doctor showed up. He helped focus the resident and they began to care for Cristal. The kids and I were consumed in examining every part of little Abi. Ten fingers and and toes and everything else seemed right. We got her foot print on each of our arms.
After a brief stop at the nursery, we were off to our room, 148. Where Abigail slept through the night. Alex slept on a chair, and Sam and I found a way to make a single fold out cot into a double.
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