The Beginning

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The birth story of baby Jacob starts on Monday, November 14 when I had a dentist appointment early in the morning. I needed to get my canine pulled, and because of it I decided to skip work later that afternoon so that if I was in any discomfort I wouldn't have to deal with it there. Looking back, getting that tooth pulled that day proved to be one of the luckiest things to have ever happen to me.

As I rested at home enjoying my ibuprofen Nidia was worried about my bloodied mouth, but she also had something to worry within herself. She was pregnant and had been experiencing a lot of discharge lately. I kept on reassuring her that the doctors we've seen at her regular appointments were telling her that that would be normal, so that she shouldn't worry, but because of her personality she couldn't help it. To me it was harmless until she detected a really faint faint streak of blood in one of her constant trips to the bathroom. She came to me and told me about it and I calmed her down suggesting it was probably some irritation due to the fact that she was obviously wiping herself a lot. Ten minutes later though she came back again and told me the same thing had happened, but this time the red was just a little more pronounced.

We didn't want to alarm ourselves because this was the worst nightmare for both of us, so we consulted Google and our pregnancy handbook to come to the conclusion that we were still clueless. After 5 minutes of going back and forth between the condition probably being nothing to it being “bloody show” we decided to side with caution and go to the hospital. I remember thinking that the worst we could lose was a hundred dollar copay for a quick check-up and an ultrasound, so we took off for the hospital.

At first we didn't even know where we were going. Going to the clinic for appointments was one thing, but the hospital was another and we were originally lost. Somehow we ended up in the right place though, the third floor of Kaiser Downey Medical Center. We entered the labor and delivery triage area and Nidia started filling out information and we were soon placed in a room where she could be examined. I remember that at this point everything was still calm and casual because we believed she would be checked, cleared, and we'd be on our way home soon. The nurse took vitals and then Dr. Katz physically examined Nidia while asking questions we'd routinely heard before. Then unexpectedly she left the room to give further instructions to the attending nurse. Moments later the nurse came in with all of the baby monitoring equipment and Nidia and I looked at each other deeply. We instantly knew something was terribly wrong.

At this point the nurse's attitude had changed. It was obvious the doctor was busy elsewhere with multiple cases, and the nurse couldn't really tell us what was going on yet. I didn't even know what to think so I kept my calm and stayed strong because Nidia was on the edge of tears. It seemed like an eternity passed but Dr. Katz finally came in our room again to say that Niny's cervix was 4 centimeters dilated and that she was going to go into labor. The doctor then went on to explain that at around 24 weeks gestational age the baby had little chance of survival and that Nidia would have to be treated with pharmaceuticals in order to delay labor. We were there early enough that with enough luck Niny's pregnancy could be prolonged and steroids could be administered to the baby in order to increase its chances. We didn't hesitate in giving permission to begin treatment and we were promptly rushed into one of the Labor and Delivery rooms where Nidia and the baby could be monitored around the clock. This was just the beginning of a whole experience.

Looking back I think I was lucky in having that dentist appointment that day. I had scheduled to take that day off, and because I did I was home when we decided it was necessary to come to the hospital. Knowing myself, I would have advised Nidia that she was overreacting to the situation if she'd call me up at work with the dilemma. I know I would've hesitated to leave work. She would also agree that she wouldn't have gone without me and would have probably waited until I got home from work in the early morning hours the next day. If I remember the times correctly the hypothetical difference in action would've then been a matter of about 6 to 8 hours. It is in those few hours that she got treatment though, and because of that the pregnancy was prolonged which gave Jacob a better fighting chance. Those hours are priceless to me now, and because of them I realize how much they were a bigger part of a miracle I call Jacob.