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“Hi Erin, this is Jim. So, Pam’s gone into labor and we’re at the hospital, so we both won’t be in today… and, uh, won’t be for awhile… so if you could let Michael and Toby know, that would be great. ‘Bye.” Jim snapped his phone shut and went back to Pam’s bedside.
“Hey,” he said. “I called the office to let them know we won’t be in.”
“Okay,” Pam said quietly, closing her eyes and laying her head back on the pillows. Jim sat down in a chair next to the bed, and reached over to hold her hand.
“Oh, my God, Jim…” she said. “This is all moving so fast. I mean, we don’t have the nursery ready… I don’t even have a bag here!”
“Hey, it’s okay… I’ll go to the house later and get some stuff for you. And the baby won’t be home for awhile…” His voice caught as he realized that their son would be in the hospital for a long time.
“Alright, Pam,” Mindi said as she entered the room with another nurse. “This is Carol. She’s going to take you up to OB now, okay?”
“Hi, Pam,” Carol said with a warm smile. “Dr. McNulty is going to meet us upstairs.” She raised the side rails of the bed and she and Mindi rolled Pam over to the elevator.
“Alright, this is where I hand you off,” Mindi said. She gave Pam’s arm a squeeze. “Good luck, you two.”
“Thanks for everything, Mindi,” Pam said. Mindi smiled.
“My pleasure. I’ll come up later to see how you and your little guy are doing.” She waved as Carol rolled Pam into the elevator.
Dr. McNulty met them at the elevator upstairs and got Pam settled into her room. Jim pulled up a chair next to Pam’s bed and took his place beside her.
“Alright,” Dr. McNulty said, handing Pam a clipboard. “I’ve got some forms for you to sign. The first one is a consent for the C-section, and the second one is a consent for blood transfusions.”
“Transfusions?!” Pam yelped.
“It’s just in case. You’re not actively bleeding right now, but abruptions can be unpredictable. We just want to be prepared.”
With a resigned and shaky sigh, Pam signed the forms.
“Okay. Dr. Arora will be in shortly to do your spinal block, and then we’ll take you to the OR and get you delivered.”
“Okay,” Pam said quietly as Dr. McNulty left the room. She lay her head back, closed her eyes, and sighed. Jim reached over and laid his hand on Pam’s belly.
“Hey… he needs a name,” he said quietly. Pam opened her eyes.
“What?”
“Our kid needs a name. He can’t come into the world as ‘Baby Boy Halpert.’”
“You know,” she said. “In the dreams I’ve been having, we’ve been calling him J.D.”
“J.D.,” he repeated. “I like that.” He smiled. “Now all we need is to figure out what it stands for.”
“Well… I was thinking James. The world could use another James Halpert,” she said with a little smile as Jim’s smile spread into a grin.
“Sounds good to me.”
“Alright, so we’ve got the ‘J’ figured out… now what does ‘D’ stand for?”
“Hmm… Darryl?” Jim suggested with that mischievous glint in his eyes that Pam knew all too well.
“No.”
“Dwight?”
“Stop it!”
“Dunder-Mifflin?”
“Oh my God, shut up!" she giggled. "Come on, seriously!”
“Okay, okay…” He thought for a moment. “Hey, what about Daniel?”
“After my dad?”
“Yeah… one name from my side of the family, one from yours.”
“James Daniel Halpert…” she murmured. A smile spread across her face. “I love it.”
There was a knock at the door, and Carol, Dr. McNulty, and another doctor walked in.
“Hi, Pam,” he said. “I’m Dr. Arora. I’m the anesthesiologist. I’ll be doing your spinal block, and I’ll be with you during the surgery."
“Alright, I need you to sit on the side of the bed. And Jim, why don’t you kneel down in front of her to help keep her back rounded.”
Pam sat on the side of the bed, and Jim knelt in front of her, holding her hands. Carol moved to stand next to Jim as Dr. Arora wheeled over a cart and lined up his instruments on a tray.
“Alright, Pam, I need you to keep your back as rounded as possible,” he said. Carol helped Pam lean over. Pam wrapped her arms around Jim’s neck and rested her forehead against his, taking a few deep breaths to calm her nerves.
"I’m going to give you a local anesthetic first to numb you up. Okay, stick and a burn.”
Pam tried not to flinch as the needle entered her back. Carol held on to her shoulders to keep her back rounded.
“Now you’re going to feel some pressure, and then a warm tingling sensation in your legs.”
Pam sucked in a breath as yet another needle entered her back. As promised, she felt pressure, and then she felt the warm sensation move down her legs.
“Wow, that feels weird,” Pam said.
“All done,” Dr. Arora said. Jim stood and gave Pam a gentle kiss on her forehead.
“You good?”
“Yup.”
“I need to put in a Foley catheter now, Pam,” Carol said. “Unpleasant, I know, but with the epidural, you won’t have control of your bladder.”
“Lovely,” Pam muttered as she lay back again.
Carol sat on the edge of the bed and inserted the catheter as gently as she could. She attached a bag to the end and hung it under the bed.
“Okay, let’s rock and roll,” Dr. McNulty said. "Jim, you can leave your stuff in here. We’ll lock the door. Pam, we’ll get you to the OR and get you prepped, and Jim, we’ll get you scrubbed and gowned.”
They all made their way down the hall, and stopped at a set of double doors.
“Alright Jim, come with me,” Carol said. “We’ll get you ready and bring you back.”
Jim squeezed Pam’s hand and leaned his forehead against hers.
“Okay… see you in a bit,” he said, and kissed her softly. Pam nodded.
Jim went down the hall with Carol as Pam got wheeled in the OR where a team of doctors and nurses were waiting in gowns and masks.
One of the nurses came over to Pam and smiled from behind her mask.
“Hi Pam,” she said. “I’m Shirley. I’m the OR nurse, and I’ll be helping with the surgery. Okay, I need you to scooch over,” she said, helping Pam move over to the operating table.
Suddenly, it seemed like the room was moving as everyone began to set everything up, sterilizing and draping her abdomen, setting up a screen at the middle of her chest, moving instrument trays.
Carol and Jim entered the room then. Pam smiled when she saw Jim in a cap, gown, booties, and mask.
“You look like a doctor,” she giggled. Jim smiled.
“We should get you a nurse’s costume.”
“So not the time, Jim.” Pam closed her eyes and sighed.
“...We should, though,” she said, smiling softly.
Carol laughed and rolled a stool next to Pam’s head.
“Take a seat, Jim. You two are so cute. How long have you been married?”
“We’ve been married for three months,” Jim said. “We were engaged for a year, and we were together for a year before that.”
“Wow…” Carol said. Jim laughed.
“I know, it sounds fast. But I was in love with her for six years before that. She was engaged to a buffoon for three of those years.”
Pam smiled. “And then I realized that I was an idiot. I married my best friend, instead.”
“Okay, let’s get started,” Dr. McNulty said. “Who’s in the room?”
“Subhash Arora, Anesthesiology.”
“Shirley Lenney, OR nurse.”
“Carol Hathaway, OB nurse.”
“Matthew Hyams, OR tech.”
“Abby Lockhart, NICU.”
“Kristine McNulty, OB.”
“Wow, all for me?” Pam said.
“You’re the guest of honor,” Dr. McNulty said.
Pam and Jim talked softly as the surgery began, half-listening to the conversation of the nurses and doctors.
“Skin incision. Retract, please.”
“So, how do you want to decorate the nursery?” Jim asked.
“Suction.”
“Pressure’s holding at 110/70, pulse ox 98, pulse is slightly tachy at 100, crit’s 40.”
“I saw this really cute bedding set at Babies R Us. It’s blue and brown with stars. And a great furniture set too. It’s oak, and the crib converts into a toddler bed, and then a full bed.”
“So it should last him until he goes to college?”
“In theory… depends on how rough he is on it.”
“Abdominal incision. Bladder blade, please.”
“You’ll have to bring my laptop in,” said Pam. “I’ll show it to you on the website. I also tried out some rocking chairs.”
“Alright, uterine incision. Pam?”
“Yes?”
“How’re you doing?”
“Fine.”
“Okay… you’re going to feel a lot of pressure and some tugging. You’re about to become a mom. Do we have a name?”
“J.D.” they replied in unison.
Jim and Pam looked at each other, tears brimming in their eyes.
Pam grimaced as she felt the pressure, then the tugging.
“Here he comes,” Dr. McNulty said. “Suction, please.”
“Why isn’t he crying?” Pam asked nervously.
“We’re just getting all the junk out of his nose and mouth,” Carol said. “He’s fine.”
Pam and Jim sat anxiously, and then they heard a small cry.
“There we go!” Carol said. She pulled down the screen a little bit, and Dr. McNulty held up their red, scrawny, squawking son. “Hi, Mom!” she exclaimed. She handed him off to the NICU nurse.
Pam and Jim both had tears running down their faces as Jim kissed Pam’s face over and over.
“Oh, my God, we have a kid!” Pam said giddily. They both laughed.
“1 minute Apgar is 7,” Abby called from the other side of the room. “He’s retracting, though. Pulse ox is 95, pulse is 100.”
“Pressure’s falling… 90/60,” Dr. Arora said.
“Squeeze in another liter of saline.”
“What’s going on?” Jim asked nervously.
“Pam, there’s more bleeding than we expected. We’ve still got it under control.” Dr. McNulty said. “I need suction,” she said to Carol. "Abby, how's he doing?"
"5 minute Apgar is 5."
Abby came over, holding a bundled J.D. in her arms.
“I’m going to take him to the NICU now and we’ll get him checked out,” she said. “Say hi to Mommy, J.D.” She held him in between Jim and Pam.
“Hi, sweetie,” Pam said, moving her head over to kiss him. Jim kissed him on the other side of his head.
“Hey little man,” he said softly. “I’m your daddy.”
“Alright, I hate to cut this short, but he’s having a little difficulty breathing, so I’m going to take him to the NICU. Say ‘bye, J.D.”
“’Bye, baby,” Pam called as Abby walked out the door. She and Jim looked at each other happily.
“Holy crap,” Jim said. “We’re parents.”
“I know… can you believe it?”
“No,” Jim chuckled. He frowned suddenly as he noticed that Pam’s face had gotten pale, and her hand was cold.
“You okay?”
“Actually… I’m kind of dizzy,” she said.
“Crit’s falling… down to 25. Pressure’s 80/60,” Dr. Arora said.
“Damn, the clot’s blown,” Dr. McNulty said. “She’s lost two liters.”
“Oh, God,” Jim whispered.
“Carol, call the blood bank. Get four units of type specific, and four of packed cells and FFP. Shirley?”
“Yes?”
“Could you…?” Dr. McNulty nodded her head toward Jim. Shirley rushed to Jim’s side.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Halpert, I need you to come with me. We need some room to work on your wife.”
“But… but I can’t…”
“Go be with your son. We’ll come get you as soon as she’s stabilized.” She began to lead him out of the room.
“Jim?” Pam called weakly. Her vision was beginning to blur.
A man rushed in, brushing by Jim and Shirley, carrying bags of blood.
“Blood’s here!”
“Throw in an IJ line and squeeze it in. Get the crash cart, have ten of epi standing by.”
“She’s bradying down to 60!”
“Dammit, she’s going into DIC!”
“I love you, Pam!” Jim called has he was led out of the room.
“I… love…” Pam managed to whisper as darkness enveloped her.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Summary - Pam and Jim meet their son... and then everything goes downhill.
Chapter End Notes:
Told ya. Scary.
Sorry it took so darn long to get this up. (That's what she said.) Work got crazy... but I managed to finally crank this out. I don't want to give anyone a panic attack, so I'll try to get the next chapter up either tonight or tomorrow. It's amazing what you can get done in a surgical waiting room.
Again, all the doctors' names are the actual doctors at Moses Taylor Hospital, but the other medical personnel are named after characters on ER. :o)
J.D.'s nursery decor
J.D.'s furniture
I've added a medical glossary as another chapter, because the next few chapters have a lot of medical mumbo-jumbo.
