How I Became Your Father Pt. 4

It was every bit of 3 am when we embarked on that journey to WVU Children’s Hospital.

The drive from Beckley to Morgantown is very much what you would expect when you think of West Virginia highways. Its hilly and its curvy. As someone who grew up in West Virginia, it doesn’t really phase me. Your mother, on the other hand, is not used to it. It was quite the experience for her, an experience not at all helped by all the wires she was hooked up to.

From my perspective the trip was mostly uneventful, save for some sort of alarm that was beeping for what seemed like at least 80% of the ride. I tried to get a least a bit of sleep, and even though I drifted off a few times, I never really got any good sleep.

The trip from mom’s perspective was much more anxiety inducing. From the back of an ambulance, she could see the numerous cars that nearly rear-ended us while speeding through the dark curves. The ambulance, too, seemed as if it were speeding, though it still took forever to get to our destination.

It was around 6 am when we pulled into Morgantown and onto the campus of WVU. It had been a few years since I was last in Morgantown (the last time was for a football game with Uncle Matt and Uncle Chris, the time before that was for the Morgantown Marathon with Uncle Caleb), so I was excited to drive past the Coliseum (where WVU plays basketball) and Milan Puskar Stadium (where WVU plays football).

We drove onto the medical campus and neither of the medics where too sure of where to take us. You see, there are two hospitals next to each other — Ruby Memorial and WVU Children’s.

We first drove to Ruby’s (this is the main hospital) and pulled up to the ambulance bay at the emergency room. We all unloaded from the ambulance. I grabbed my things and noticed that my pill box had spilled out all over the floor of the ambulance. I rushed to get all my pills together and meet mom and the medics at the back of the ambulance.

We started to make our way in the hospital when the staff informed us that we needed to go to the other hospital.

We made our way to the other side of the medical campus to the Children’s hospital emergency entrance. We were met by a hospital security guard who escorted me in while the medics took your mother up to the labor and delivery floor.

The security guard took me to another section of the hospital, put me through the metal detectors and checked my bags. He escorted me to the labor and delivery floor to reunite with mom, without forcing me to check in at the registration desk. In the chaos of everything, I became eternally grateful that he helped me get to mom quickly. I was able to meet up with her while they were setting her up in the triage room.

Things very much became blur at this point. So many doctors, nurses, social workers were in and out of the room. It was quite chaotic, confusing, and overwhelming, but at the same time sort of comforting. We quickly realized that we were in good hands. The doctors and nurses were all so attentive, competent, compassionate, and warm. Still, we held out hope that we would be able to get back to Philadelphia to give birth at Pennsylvania Hospital.

It wasn’t long before the maternal-fetal medicine doctor came in to see us. This is when everything changed. She had a certain demeanor about her. She came across very stern. The energy in the room seemed to change at an instant.

She quietly and confidently warned us that it was not going to be a good idea to transfer to Philly. With preeclampsia mom was at risk of stroke or seizure which would put her and you in great danger.

We were gutted. We did not know how long we would be in Morgantown, but the doctors had mentioned they wanted to get us to at least 34 weeks gestation if possible. That would mean sitting in the hospital for 2 weeks. They hooked mom up to a baby monitor around this time to track your heart rate and we settled in.

When we left the hospital in Beckley, nan went home to get our stuff and pack her bags before leaving for Morgantown. She made it to the hospital around 8:30 that morning. Grandad went home to stay with PawPaw B until they could figure out someone to come and take care of him. Gammy left New Jersey around the same time we were leaving Beckley. Thats a much longer drive and she wouldn’t make it until a good bit later in the day.

Sometime late that morning/early afternoon, an ultrasound technician came in for an ultrasound so we could get a better idea of how you were doing.

Ultrasounds are always exciting. Its so exciting to hear the heart beat and see those grainy images of that tiny little baby squirming around inside of his mommy. We had a couple of ultrasounds during our doctor visits throughout the pregnancy and they never cease to be exciting.

There was nothing on the ultrasound that indicated that you were in immediate danger, but a doctor would have to take a closer look at it.

Apart from the first little while of nurses and doctors running in and out of the room, much of the day was spent sitting around resting and waiting for a room to open up.

I spent some time talking to and praying with the pastors. Mom and I and nan just hung out in the triage room keeping everyone in the family updated on what was happening. At some point that morning my mother broke the news to us that Lola (PawPaw B’s wife who had been in the hospital since his heart attack) had passed away. Because when it rains, it pours.

Remember how I said I would come to regret not eating more when we went to Chick-fil-a the previous evening. Well that is because I did not eat breakfast or lunch. I did not complain too much as the doctors had put mommy on a clear liquid diet.

I finally went to get some dinner with nan that evening. I cannot for the life of me remember what time that was but it had to have been around 6 pm. I remember getting a cheeseburger in the cafeteria. It was pretty good, but I had gone so long without eating it quickly made me sick.

Nan and gammy left us that evening to go check in to hotel rooms and get some rest.

Not much of note happened that evening until around 11 pm when a room opened up for us. It was really great to get to move into that room as there was a little ‘bed’ for me to sleep on. And trust me when I say that we both needed sleep after having next to no sleep for well over 24 hours at this point.

Mom and I settled in the best we could to get whatever rest we could. Sleeping in a hospital is never easy but we needed to get some sleep.

We had come to a radical acceptance of what was happening, but little did we know what was in store for us the next day.