Daddy's Girl

Karen, Stephen and I were living in Ellsworth AFB, Rapid City, South Dakota.

Karen found out she was pregnant again.  I was so happy and excited.  As I posted before I wanted to have lots of kids.

As I remember it, Karen did her best to take care of Stehen and do what she needed to do to take care of herself.  This pregnancy was in trouble though.  She was sicker than when she was with Stephen.  I believer her blood pressure was an issue too.  I remember coming home and seeing how misarable she was and trying my best to help out.  Of course nothing I did was right.  It was a very stressful time.  I was so worried about her and our unborn child.  She made sure she took her prenatal vitamins and do everything the doctors told her to do.  We made sure she went to her regular checkups.  Stephen was such a good boy during this whole time.

 About around 4 months Karen started spotting.  We were all worried and terrified.  The doctors told her take it easy.  Right, like that is going to happen with a 3 year old at home.  I would take care of Stephen, feed, bath, change him, play with him.  The whole time keeping a stressful eye on Karen.  If she made a funny face I would run to her and see if there was anything I could do.  If she moved in a different way I would panic and try to complete the task she was doing for her.  I begged her to sit down all the time.

At this time I was working the midnight shift on base and my mind was never on work it was always on my family wondering how they were doing.  It was around 2:00-3:30 am when we received a call at work.  They yelled out ROOT get to the phone right now!  I ran to the phone.  Karen was sobbing.  I could not understand what she was saying.  "Blood, Bed, Scared, get home" is all I heard.  I told her I was on my way.  I ran to my supervisor and told him something is wrong and that I could not tell what she was saying but she mentioned blood.  He ordered me to get home.  When I came home Karen was in the front room shaking and sobbing.  I aksed if Stephen was ok.  she said yes, I said "Are you ok?"  She said "no I am bleeding real bad. Go look at the bed!"  I went to the bedroom thinking I would just see a little spot of blood.  When I pulled back the covers there was a huge and I mean huge blood stain.  It took up most of the bed. I panicked.  I started screaming to sit down.  I went in and grabbed Stephen out of bed.  Grabbed Karen's coat and helped as best I could to get her to the car.  I went flying to the base emergency room.  The gate guard knew something was wrong and asked if we were ok.  I explained that my wife is over 5 months pregnant and there is blood everywhere. He radioed something and told me to not worry about the speed limit just get to the hospital as quickly as I could.  I floored it.

By the time we got there, Karen's nightgown was soaked in blood.  They took her right into the room.  A doctore came in sounding so calm and reassuring.  That is untill he put Karen in the stirups and panic came across his face.  He sent a nurse to get an OBGYN doctor stat!  Within seconds there were nurses and doctors surrounding Karen.  They let me stand by her head and hold her hand.  I noticed one of the nurses tap one of the doctors on his shoulder and pointed to the ground.  I stepped back and looked.  The doctor that was now examining Karen had those booties on over his shoes and it was covered in blood.  The table was stained.  There was a lot of tension in the room.  They pulled me from the room and explained that they did not know what was going on but they did not have the facility to help, that they would have to fly us to Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Aurora, Colorado.  He said "Airman, I do not know if we will be able to save the baby.  My concern is your wife.  You have to decide now, the baby or the mother".  (I never told this to Karen or the kids, Or anybody else)  I said do what is needed to save my wife.  As I sobbed a nurse came by and held me.  She said you need to pull youself together and get back in there for your wife.  I went in as they were explaining to Karen that they wanted to fly her to Colorado.  She asked about the baby.  They never said a word but get some rest.  They put something in her IV and she fell asleep.  They told me to arrange for a baby sitter and to let my family know.  From this point on it was such a blurr.  I do not know who took Stephen for me.  I remember calling Karen's mother and she said she would fly out right away to be with Stephen and bring him back to California.  My mother did her best to calm me and offered to help in any way she could.  Somehow I managed to pack and get my blues on as we were going on a military flight and I had to have them on.  I had to go to my squadron headquarters and report what was happening and make arrangements for the flight and put in for my emergency leave.  I did not know how long we would be in Colorado.  I did not know anything.  I was so drained and scared.  My comander pulled me into his office and offered a prayer and advised me to do whatever it takes to get Karen through this.  He called his wife and had her promise to help out and get the others wives involved.

By the time I got back to the hospital Karen was awake and so pale.  The panic in her face was more then I could face.  When I backed out of the room she called to me.  I took a deep breath and walked back in.  She squeesed my hand so tight.  She said she is so scared.  I said the most stupid thing.  I said it will ok.  Women do not want to hear that.  Karen let me know how she did not like me saying that and then she cried. I did what I thought I needed to do and that is hold her and let her sob.  I wanted so bad to let her know I was scared too.  But I did not.  I tried to be the one who was strong.  I now know that was a huge mistake.  We men need to confess our fears also. We must of stayed holding each other for a long time.  When my back could no longer handle bending over the bed in this embrace. I stood back up and asked if she was in any pain and she said no.  That was at least a little bit of a relief for me.

They came in and said they would be taking us to the medivac plane now.  They rolled Karen on the stretcher to the ambulance and then to the tarmac.  They loaded her on the plane.  Her stretcher hung from the roof of the plane and she was belted to the stretcher then they secured the stretcher.  They ordered me to the seats up front.  I begged to stay with her and they ordered me again.  I looked at Karen and she smiled at me, so I knew I should do what I was told.  I went to my seat.  Everybody knew that I had not been to sleep yet from the previous day so they told me to sleep on the way.  I did not.  I kept looking back at Karen all by herself.  The medivac nurses would come by and make sure she was ok.  They were so good to her.  But I still could not relax.  Those words that the doctor said to me kept rolling around in my head.  I chose Karen over the baby.  Would she ever forgive me?

We landed at a small little guard base the name escapes me at this time.  They gently loaded Karen in the ambulance and secured me and away we went to Fitzsimmons Army Hospital.  The ride was not long.  They rolled her in and hooked her to a lot of monitors.  There was one for the baby and some for her.  They did some tests and told us the next 24 hours were going to be critical.  They told her she is on strict bed rest.  That the only time she can get up is to go to the rest room.  They put her in her own room and the wait began.

We were treated like a king and queen.  I had access to the fridge to all sorts of juices and snacks for Karen.  They sent in a chaplain and other people to help out.  They gave Karen all sorts of crafts to work on so she would not go stir crazy.

We were told that we would have a premature baby with in a couple of days.  I relayed all this to the families.  And they all tried their best to support us.

24 hours went by, then 48, Karen's doctor. Dr. Williams told us then by the end of the week she would deliver.  The end of the week came and no labor.  Dr Williams was causious but excited.  The longer the baby stays in you the better.  She ordered a shot to help increase the baby's lung maturity.  When a month went by they said we will just ride it out.  By this time my leave had run out.  So I put in for a humanitarian reassignment and was transferred to Lowry AFB, Denver, Colorado.  This is where I went to tech school so I was excited.  I would have to cross train to the Heating carieer field.  I would be assigned as a boiler operator at the base steam plant.  But becaue it was a humanitarian I had another month or so to report.  I waited as long as I could then flew back to South Dakota and packed  our belongings and moved to Colorado to begin a new life.

One of our friends from my squadron had been at Fitzsimmons because they had a premature baby.  They wanted me to be prepared to what would happen if we had one.  So Phill and his wife agreed to let me in to the neonatal unit to see their baby.  I was not prepared for what I saw.  There in the incubator was this tiny little baby with tubes in and out of her.  As my knees buckled, Phil caught me and helped me to a chair.  Robin held my hand and told me it will be ok.  They tried their best to get me to relax.  They told me I needed to pull myself together because I had to be there for Karen when she saw our baby for the first time.  I agreed.  They told jokes and was able to get me to smile and laugh.  I left with my head whirling.

The month turned into another month.  The waiting continued.  Karen was going bonkers by this time.  She could not get out of bed.  She could take a shower I believe 3 times a week and she had to sit to do it.  I felt so bad for her.  I knew she was sneaking out of bed but could not prove it.  One day she asked me to go get her some juice and a snack.  On the way back I noticed this huge stomache sticking out of the door frame.  I laughed so hard I spilt the juice.  I went back and got some more when I returned.  I asked if she got out of bed.  Of course Karen denied it.  I started laughing at her and told her what I saw.  We both laughed at that.  I grabbed the camera and had her stand the way she was and took a picture to prove to her.  I do not know where that picture is but it is so funny.  You see the doorways of all the rooms and then you see this stomache draped in a hospital gown sticking out of the doorway to Karen's room.

I could not stay away from work any longer and I had to process in on the base.  I called and told my new supervisor the date and found out what time he wanted me to report.  I was not wanting to do this but knew I needed to be out of Karen's hair and give her a breather.  By this time Karen had made it to 8 months.  Dr. Williams was feeling better about our odds.  She ordered a test to check the maturity of the baby's lungs.  I was not prepared at all what would be the longest needle I ever saw go through Karen's belly.  They drew out some fluid and said they will let us know the results.

On the dreaded day to report to work I was getting ready.  Karen called me and told me to get to the hospital as they were going to induce her that very day.  I was excited but scared at the same time.  I called my supervisor again to tell him.  He said he would make sure I had a couple of extra days but to call as soon as I could to let him know.

When I got to the hospital, Karen had been preped and I believe they had already given her the drugs to induce her.  I asked what happened.  She said Dr. Williams came in and told her she was tired of looking at her face and that the test for the lung maturity came back with a positive so she was going to induce today.  So the wait began.  This was the first time I would be present for a delivery of my own child.  Dr. Williams was great.  She gave me my directions and advised of if they had to do a C section I would not be allowed to stay.  I agreed.  The hours went by.  Karen became more and more uncomfortable.  She was in so much pain.  Then it was time to take her to the delivery room.  Her contraction would come and she would be in  a lot of pain.  I remembered I begged for forgiveness for putting her in this predicerment.  It was at that moment I knew I would never ask her to get pregnant again.  I could not handle the pain she was in.  Dr. Williams yelled out she is crowning.  I was so excited I left Karen and walked behind Dr. Williams.  I said something like that is so cool.  Dr. Williams looked up and smacked me on my head and said get back to your wife.  Karen laughed and said that is ok.  So I was ordered to sit down.  Of course I could not.   I saw thick hair.  Then the shoulders came out  Then the rest of the body.  I yelled to Karen it's a boy!  a second later Dr. Williams told Karen it is  a girl.  I felt so embarassed.  By this time I was crying and ran over to Karen and planted a lot of kisses on her.  Dr Williams asked if I wanted to cut the cord.  When I went into position the cord broke.  The area was just the size of a hair.  At that moment the baby started crying and we all took a deep sigh of releif.  They rushed her into the neonatal unit.

21 May 1984 Nicole Marie Root was born.  Karen told me to go and check on Nicole.  Dr. Williams told the nurses to let me in.  I was surprised at what I saw.  They had Nicole in a regular incubator.  No tubes.  They told me she was tiny but she was in good health.  While I was in the nursery, they had given Karen a sedative and told her to rest.  She kept asking to see the baby.  They told her that there would be time for that for now rest.  Karen fought off the effects of the drug and kept bugging the nurses to see Nicole.  They finaly relented and allowed me to go to the nursery which was across from her room and get Nicole.  I rolled her in and Karen tried to tear out of the bed to get to Nicole. The nurse made her lay down again and I handed Nicole to her.  There we stood tears rolling down our eyes as she held our brand new daughter.  I looked up and saw Dr. Williams was standing there quietly watching.   I could see some tears rolling down her face.  It was a happy moment.

In a couple of days were able to bring Nicole home.  By this time my mother and grandmother flown out to Colorado with Stephen.  Stephen was so excited he had a baby sister.  He was so gentle to her and loved her.  He loved to feed her.  Of course he could not be found during diaper changing time.  If she cried he was there.  If he felt she had cired too long, he would let us know.  He was such a trooper.

Nicole is now 25 and has a son of her own.  Justin  and her live in California.  She still is a daddy's girl.  I am so grateful for her.  I love and miss her.

I love you so much Nicole!