We visited my sister in Hilton Head on the weekend, then three days of doctors appointments, and by Wednesday night Cathie was exhausted. She began to feel very uncomfortable. And we still had another appointment on Thursday, and our first prepared childbirth class on Thursday night. When we visited our family doctor on Thursday, she said go home and REST - don't do ANYTHING!

So, we were bummed out about not getting to go to the class, and I made supper that night. When I helped Cat out of her chair, she stood up and said, "Oh no! Now I've lost control of my bladder!!!" She was standing in a puddle - her water had broken. From then on it was straight out of the movies. I was running back and forth, thinking I might lose them both. Cathie, who had been reading up on the subject, unlike me, knew that she had made it almost to 30 weeks, and that our baby had an excellent chance of surviving, even though she would come 10 weeks early. She said to me, "We're going to have our baby tonight! Then, I knew everything would be ok. I know I drove over 100 mph on the way to the hospital, with Cathie on the car phone first to her parents, then to mine. We made it there - to Lexington Medical Center. I don't remember anything else until we were settled in a nice "home-style" maternity room where we would spend a very long night.

We were as comfortable as we could be under the circumstances. Our nurse was very pretty and nice, and checked on us regularly. Cathie was fitted with a uterine monitor, and we could watch the baby's heartbeat. She was doing fine. Cathie was given a steroid injection which was supposed to help the baby's lungs develop rapidly and prepare her for the next step. The doctor wanted to put off delivery as long as possible, but he indicated to us that he did not think they could hold her off for very long. We finally settled in for the night, and about 11pm the nurses changed shifts, and we met our new nurse, Denise. Denise was very capable, but she was different - she had a facial difference - which I do not remember the name of - which we got used to seeing, quietly checking on us during the night. We lay there, not speaking, each letting the other sleep, each knowing that the other was wide awake. Watching the monitor, all night.

The contractions started in earnest about 5 am. Denise came in, made sure the monitor was ok, and began timing Cathie's contractions. By about 6, the doctor had been called, and Denise told us that our baby was ready to come! Cathie told her not to forget her epidermal, and Denise said, "it's too late for that - she is coming now!" She rushed Cathie into a surgical delivery room, throwing a pack of sterile clothes at me and telling me to get dressed and HURRY! When the doctor arrived about 7, Cathie yelled at him for being late, and then he told her to push. Denise held one hand and I held the other, and she whispered intently into Cathie's ear, telling her things I'll never know, things which soothed her. When the next pain came, Cathie screamed loud enough to wake the whole hospital, I think, and he told her to put all that energy into a push next time, and she did, and our baby was born.

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