After the Saga...

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Ex Utero’s post today called Baby Toby-Authors' Notes, which details why we wrote this series and what our plans are for a sequel.

I’d also like to thank him for such a wonderful invitation. We had a blast writing the story and it was a pleasure to work with him. I'd also like to thank everyone who read the story. We hope you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it together.

The Saga of Baby Toby: The Conclusion

----->Click here to start at the beginning.

Start here today at Tales From the Womb.

6 Months Later

“Well, today’s the day they should get their subpoenas,” Tom said to me on the phone. “I can’t wait…those bastards, doing what they did to Toby.” I knew better than to say anything more to Tom, since I didn’t want to incense him in any way. We hadn’t agreed on the lawsuit. I felt it was a simple error and well, let’s just say, Tom didn’t. I just wanted it to be over. My life hadn’t been the same since Toby arrived and Tom and I did nothing but fight since his birth. I was sure it wasn’t good for Toby and it certainly hadn’t been good for me. We had just celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary last week, but somehow, things just weren’t the same. Tom and I talked some more and suddenly, the doorbell rang. I told Tom I had to go. “Tom, you have a good trip now, O.K.” “And a safe flight home.” I always worried about Tom and his business trips. I was always relieved when he walked through that door; and maybe even more now, after I had quit my job to stay at home with Toby. It just gave me more time to worry.

I opened the door and it was Brent. “Hi!” “How’s Toby’s beautiful mother today?” he said. “I am just fine.” Brent was cute like that, always looking out for me, especially when Tom was gone. I think Tom put him up to it really, but it didn’t matter, since he was always welcome. “I was just wondering if you might be up to some lunch?” “Well, Toby’s sleeping, I am not sure it’s a good idea.” “Come on.” “I’m really hungry and I thought you might want to share some dessert with me,” he said with a huge grin. Brent and I always shared dessert when we went out since Tom and Brent’s wife didn’t really care for them. “I guess I could use a break today,” I said. With that, my voice cracked just a bit and Brent picked up on it. He wanted to know what was wrong. I didn’t want to say anything. He knew that Tom and I had it rough these last few months and he felt a little guilty since he was caught in the middle. It was nothing he did actually, but rather, just the fact that I wanted to use a different doctor. Brent understood; it was Tom who wasn’t so keen on the idea.

I finished getting Toby ready and we got in the car. “So, are you going to tell Dr. Brent what is wrong today?” “Us doctors are pretty good listeners you know,” he said with a smile. “Well, I really shouldn’t. It’s just that today’s the day the doctors will get the subpoenas, or so we think.” “I don’t know why we had to sue…it was a mistake…and they were sorry…and Toby’s doing o.k.” With that, I began to cry. Brent put his arm around me to console me. Toby was quiet which was unusual for him lately. He had been so irritable lately that nothing seems to quiet him down. Maybe it was the car ride or maybe, it was the fact that no one was arguing, as Tom and I did frequently now.

“I think it’s time you knew the whole story,” he said. “Story?” “What story?” I said. “About Tom,” he said. I looked up and was very surprised. After all, there wasn’t anything I didn’t know about Tom. We had a long courtship and he was my soul mate. “I am going to tell you this story and I need you to never repeat it to Tom. If he knew I told you, I think he’d kill me,” he said. “O.K.” I said. “Let’s hear it.” I cringed as I said it, not knowing what to expect. I didn’t have a great feeling about this.

“As you know, Tom and I go all the way back to the first grade, that’s when we met. What you don’t know, is that Tom had an identical twin. His twin brother meant everything to him. Tom’s brother was severely disabled at birth, due to oxygen deprivation, and had cerebral palsy due to a physician error. Tom, on the other hand, was the picture of health; good looking, athletic, etc. His brother, who looked exactly like him, would spend his life in a wheelchair. While Tom could run and play sports, his brother could do nothing but lie down all the time. He couldn’t speak, he couldn’t stand, he couldn’t do much of anything. His father, not wanting any part of this, put him in an institution and never told Tom about his twin.”

“When we were in the first grade, Tom got a call at school and his parents came to pick him up. They had to go to the hospital to make arrangements for his twin brother. He had died of aspiration pneumonia. It was the first time that Tom learned that he had a brother. When they got home, he asked his father about his brother and why he never told him. His father said that they were poor and they couldn’t afford to take care of Tom and him too, especially with his disabilities. So they gave him up. Tom was shocked. He asked to see some pictures of his brother and his parents showed him “one”. It was the only one he had, the one that they took at birth. Tom never forgot about his brother and would ask his father questions about his brother, but his father refused to talk about it. Tom was very angry and never understood how his father could do this to his brother.”

“When Tom was in high school, he did some research and found the institution where he brother was raised. He went back and talked to them. One of the people that cared for his brother was still there. She remembered his brother and told Tom all of the stories about him. He asked for pictures and she showed him pictures of his twin brother. As his twin, he looked just like Tom, except that he was much thinner, in a wheelchair and had a buzz cut for a hair cut. He asked her lots of questions and learned that his brother was never able to walk, couldn’t talk and could never stand. Tom was terribly upset and shaken by this and never could forgive his father for giving him up. He also never forgot about it. He went home and asked his mother about his brother one day and why they didn’t sue the hospital for the error. She explained that they were very poor and at that time, couldn’t afford an attorney. Tom never forgave him for that. It was then that Tom really focused at school. He was determined to never be poor again, since he paid a high price for his father being poor. That’s why Tom never misses a sales quota. He never wanted to be in a position like that.”

“Now then, when you delivered Toby, Tom wanted to be there, but his flight was cancelled. He paged me and I assured him that things were going to be o.k. When he found out there were some problems with Toby, he was determined to get to the bottom of it. After the doctors told you two what happened, Tom went ballistic. It brought back all of those memories, of his twin brother, of his father, of the care taker and those pictures of his brother in a wheelchair, the brother he never knew.”

I was so involved in listening to Brent’s story, that I hadn’t paid attention to where we were. Here we were, smack dab, in the middle of a cemetery. “I think it’s time you see this,” he said. We walked over to the tombstone and there was his brother’s name, “Toby A. Riddleton.” I looked at the tombstone and then looked at Brent and I started to cry. Suddenly, it all made sense.

The Saga of Baby Toby

----->Click here to start at the beginning.

Start today's chapter here at Tales From the Womb.

Toby Day 3

Dr. Murtha and Dr. Warrenton had just left the room. It had started raining outside, or should I saying pouring and it looked like we were in for quite the storm. With that, a large flash of lighting struck followed by the roar of thunder. The rain began to come down so hard, that Tom had to turn the television volume up to hear the remainder of the hockey game.

I knew Tom was pissed and I was just waiting for him to blow up. Tom’s always been a hot head since I met him in college and first saw him playing hockey on the team. That’s how we met. My college roommate was dating his roommate, who was a pre-med student at the time. Both played hockey and it wasn’t long before Tom and I started dating as well. Tom was a rugged man, tall, dark and handsome, as cliché as it is, but was an outstanding student. I was impressed with his brains as much as his brawn. His temper however, was another thing all together. It was the brains and the temper that made you want to be on his side, whenever you walked into a room, regardless of the situation. On the flip side, he was extremely charming, which is why I fell in love with him. He was a natural born salesman and never in all of the years have I know him, has he missed a sales quota. He can be charming and then turn up the heat to close the deal. He was also very protective of me.

The commercial came on and he slowly got up. As he turned around, he blurted out, “I told you not to see that female doctor!” he said. I could see the redness coming up from his neck and knew he was livid. “Tom”, I said calmly, “It wasn’t my fault.” ”Well, none of this would have happened if you had let Brent take care of you, as I suggested!” “But you wanted to see Dr. Stork.” “Tom, it’s Dr. Stern, Dr. Mary Stern.” I said. It was just Tom’s way of being obnoxious; he’s called her Dr. Stork ever since I got pregnant and insisted on going to her. Tom’s friend Brent, is an OB-Gyn. When I first got pregnant, Tom wanted me to see Brent; after all, he and Brent went back a long way, all the way back to the first grade. Somehow, it seemed too weird for me to have Brent as my Ob-Gyn and I chose Dr. Mary Stern instead. She was an older woman, old enough to be my mother’s age and I instantly felt more comfortable with her. She was, after all, a woman with several children of her own, as well as a career long medical practice. I don’t think I could have made a better choice. Tom was mad at first, and then seemed to be o.k. with it over time. He always referred to her as Dr. Stork though, just to get me going. It was everything I could do not to laugh every time I saw her, just remembering how Tom would say her name, “Dr. Stork.”

“But, Tom, it was an accident!” I said. “You heard the Dr. Murtha.” “Dr. Warrenton, saved Toby’s life! I am upset too, but you have to understand, it was an accident…” My voice trailed off or rather was overshadowed by the storm raging outside. It probably didn’t matter anyway because Tom wasn’t listening at all. He was right, I was wrong, and that’s that. Nothing would ever change his mind. Tom immediately started text messaging Brent. I knew it was him because they always text messaged each other during the game, like a bunch of kids, especially when they couldn’t see the game in person.

“You had better not tell Brent about this, I mentioned.” Tom stormed out of the room. I knew he would ignore me and tell Brent the entire story. He was probably going to call him now and fill him in on every last detail. We didn’t know if any of these things would happen to Toby for sure, but Tom, wasn’t about to listen to reason. This was after all, “his” boy and no boy of his was not going to wield a hockey stick. Not now, not ever. I dreaded the thought of an Occupational Therapist working with us. They were certainly going to have their work cut out for them.

No sooner than Tom left, my mother came in. I wondered if she heard us arguing; I had hoped that she didn’t. I didn’t want to get into the whole Brent deal now. I barely had time to absorb this when Tom flew off the handle. Just when I needed Tom most, he wasn’t there for me. Instead, he’s off filling Brent in on every last detail.

My mother informed me that she had ordered the birth announcement for me, or rather, e-mailed Toby’s name and details for the birth announcement. They would be here by the end of the week. I wanted to show her the pictures I had of Toby, but knew she’d ask me if I posted them on the blog so the rest of the family could see them. Suddenly, I didn’t want to post them at all. I couldn’t tell anyone what happened to Toby. I just couldn’t.

“So where are the pictures of Toby?” she asked. “Everyone’s been waiting for them. I told them you were going to send them to me this afternoon, right after you got off the phone with me.” “Sorry, Mom. I didn’t get a chance to send them to you yet.” I reached for my camera phone and showed her the pictures. “He’s so handsome!” she beamed. “He looks just like Tom!” I knew she was thrilled and I was too. Who wouldn’t want their baby to look just like Tom? I know I did.

“Well, where is little Toby? I want to see him.” “I think it’s time he met his Grandma!” My eyes welled up and I told her everything the doctors just told me. “Oh, honey, I am so sorry. How did Tom take the news?" "He didn’t, Mom. He blew a gasket and then left.” I could see she was putting it all together now. "So that’s who he was talking to when I saw him." She accidently ran into him in the lounge down the hall and tried to talk to him when she saw he was on the phone.

With that, Tom walked into the room. He seemed calmer than when he left, almost smug. Something had changed, but I didn’t know what. With that, my Mother left to see Toby and Tom and I were left together. It had stopped storming by now but was too dark for any rainbow.

...

Toby Day 4

Tom spoke to Brent yesterday and had told him what was going on. Brent informed Tom that he had better get all of the information he could and to read through Toby’s medical records now, since it was going to be a tough road ahead if he planned on suing the hospital and the doctors. Dr. Stork, as Tom said, just secured millions for the new women’s pavilion at the hospital last spring. According to Brent, it was going to be an uphill battle if anyone was going to win a settlement against her. He suggested Tom see Philip Corboney, just for a consultation, to get his take on the matter.

Philip Corboney, Sr., was a premier malpractice attorney in the state, and was known to secure some of the largest malpractice settlements. He was the Corboney in Corboney and Dean and also considered one of the top lawyers in the state. If anyone was going to win this case, it would be him, but first we had to see if we even had a case.

Somehow, the blog didn’t seem important anymore. What should have been happiest time of my life, next to my wedding, had become an absolute nightmare. It was hard enough dealing with the fact that my baby wasn’t perfect, but Tom would never accept a disabled baby or a baby with any kind of handicap. It just wasn’t going to happen.

The therapist came in to help me walk down the hall. She said that if I was going to go home tomorrow that I needed to practice, one more time. My stomach hurt, both from the stitches and the turmoil and I wasn’t sure which was causing the most pain. As we walked down the hall, I asked if we could stop in the chapel. It would give me a chance to pray and also a chance to rest for a bit before I had to take the long way back to the room. As I entered the chapel, tears streamed down my face, as the thought of my poor Toby’s future, flashed before my eyes.

Tomorrow's finale will start at here at Tales From The Womb and end at my site.

The Saga of Baby Toby

The next chapter starts here. The following chapter will begin at Ex Utero and then will be followed by two posts on my site. We'll provide the links when we post it.

Regarding "The Saga of Baby Toby", this story is entirely fiction and created for entertainment purposes only.

----> Click here to go to the beginning…

Start here today.

Toby's Blog Day 2-Part I

Well, I thought for a moment things were looking up today. First, I got the good news that Toby was doing so well that they were going to take his tube out. I was glad. They said that once they did that and he was stable, I could see him. Finally!!! I’ve waited nine months and then some for this moment. They said they would bring him by shortly and the neonatalogist would stop by to answer any of my questions and to explain what happened last night.

In the meantime, Tom called and said his flight was delayed. I gave him the good news that Toby was coming off the ventilator so he wouldn’t worry. All I have to do now, is to order the birth announcement cards. Fortunately, my mother is coming by today and she can place the order for me. I have the perfect ones all picked out; all they need are Toby’s stats. I’ll post it on the blog when they arrive!

I was so excited when they left the room. I was waiting and waiting to see Toby when Dr. M came in. He’s Toby’s neonatalogist. Apparently, when they when to extubate Toby, he started seizing and they had to give him some Phenobarbital to stop the seizures. Before they could do that, they had to put the tube back in him. He’s not even one day old yet and he’s already had a rough life. It’s just not fair. This is not what I imagined it would be like.

He said they’ll probably do a few more tests: an EEG, C.T. scan and possibly an MRI. I don’t know for sure yet. I asked if he was going to be o.k. and he said that they need to take it one day at a time for now. He said they were doing everything they could for him. I just don’t feel good about this. I really wish Tom were here. It’s so hard to concentrate on what they are telling me. I am on this painkiller and I can hear them but I feel like I keep asking the same questions again and again. I hope I am making sense to you guys. I can’t wait until my Mom gets here. Maybe she can see the baby and tell me all about him.

Please pray for Toby. I don’t feel very good about this.

…

Toby's Blog Day 2-Part II


Tom arrived at the hospital late this afternoon, several hours after Dr. M left. I was never so glad to see him, although I have to admit, I looked a little worse for the wear. It didn’t seem to matter much, because as soon as I saw his face, I immediately felt better. He arrived with the most beautiful roses I have ever seen. They were a silvery lavender rose, edged in crimson. He said it was the closest thing to a “blue” rose he could find. He was sweet like that, always knowing the right thing to say. He’s known for a long time that my two favorite things in the world are flowers and children, specifically little boys. I always told him how I’d love to have some little boys grow up just like him.

He gave me two dozen roses and said that somehow, after all I have been through, one dozen wasn’t enough. He made me laugh until my throat hurt so bad, like a steel Wusthof knife had just gone through my throat. I forgot for a moment, just how sore it was.

I regained my composure and filled him in on the bad news, that Toby had taken a turn for the worse. He had been under the impression, he was coming off the ventilator and we were out of woods so to speak. I filled him in on what Dr. M had told me just a few hours earlier. I began to cry. Tom hugged me and told me to read the card. The card was even better. I have long collected botanical prints, specifically roses, as well as being a member of our local rose society. He thinks it’s silly and yet, he never ceases to amaze me with some of the beautiful roses he sends me.

The card was attached to a gift, which he insisted that I open first, prior to reading the card. It looked to be a picture frame of sort, but of course, I needed to be surprised. And surprised I was.

He had printed off the Rose fact sheet for this rose, called Angel Face, which was the name of the roses he had just given me. On top of the picture was a note. It read,

“My Dearest Wife,

When I asked the nurses what our son looked like, they told me he had the face of an angel. I thought it was only appropriate to find a rose that fit Toby. I settled on this rose, “Angel Face” in honor of our new son. I thought it was especially appropriate, when I read the comments. It said, “Vigorous; good disease resistance; upright, bushy habit; free flowering; good cut flower; needs full sun; leathery, shiny dark green leaves.” I thought this captured his essence. Vigorous-He was definitely a fighter. Disease Resistance-He’s pulling through this stuff. Upright-Almost two feet tall. Bushy habit-At 11 pounds, I thought this fit! Needs full sun-With a loving mother like you, he will surely blossom.

Love,

Tom”

I knew then that we had turned the corner.

The Saga of Baby Toby starts at Tales From the Womb.

Toby's Blog-Day 1

Well, big Toby finally arrived last night or should I say early this morning. I should probably say a big “thank you” to all of my blogging buddies who helped me get through this pregnancy and more importantly these last two weeks. I am still not sure this was a great idea, waiting another two weeks to deliver when he was already over 4000 grams at 40 weeks. I have checked with a few of my friends and none of their docs would have done this. Since this is my first one, I guess I have to trust that my obstetrician knew what she was doing, after all, she’s been doing this for years. I think I would have exploded if she would have waited any longer. So thanks again, for listening to me these last two weeks. I don’t know what women did before they could blog…sit around playing bunco or what?

Toby arrived somewhat unexpectedly this morning at 2:45 a.m., a whopping 22 inches weighing 11 pounds 3 ounces. They say he is a beautiful baby. He has a full head of black hair and blue eyes. They tell me that he is cute as button.

It has been a long night and thoroughly unexpected. I had contractions earlier in the evening and was certain I’d be delivering this baby last night. The contractions were really painful; I don’t know how you ladies do it. I was practically screaming at times and they started to get closer and closer. I thought for sure I would go in however they stopped quite abruptly and then I assumed they’d start up again but nothing happened. Finally, I got tired and went to bed. Not before putting my rollers in my hair, just in case! I tried to sleep but I just couldn’t. I kept getting the feeling that something wasn’t quite right and then I’d worry about if I’d have enough time to drive to the hospital by myself. Usually, my baby moves around quite a bit and doesn’t like it when I sleep on my right side but tonight it wasn’t moving. Finally, I paged the doc and told him what had happened and he told me to get to the ER right away. He nearly scared me to death!

I tried to call my husband Tom but there wasn’t any time. Of all the times for him to be on a business trip! I told him not to leave town but he said he couldn’t miss this conference! I really could have used his help.

Once I got to the hospital, they hooked up the heart rate monitor. They seemed to be having a lot of problems getting his heart rate. That scared me. Every time I asked them about it, they talked around it and I didn’t feel really good about that. They told me it can be unstable at times but then everything was fine a little later. I guess it was o.k.

I was a little scared because it all went so fast. The next thing I know, they rushed over to me and told me they had to put me to sleep right away since they lost Toby’s heart rate and they needed to get him out right away. I wanted to cry. I was so excited about giving birth and now this. It was so upsetting and I was really frightened. The last thing I wanted to do was to get knocked out, but before I could say anything, they pressed the mask over my face and yelled at me to breathe in. I certainly didn’t feel comfortable. This was nothing like the hospital tour they gave me of the birthing suites, that’s for sure! I don’t remember much else other than I was really, really cold, freezing to death actually, when I finally woke up. And my throat was so sore from the tube in my throat. All I wanted was to see my baby. I was afraid he had died.

As I started to wake up, I overheard the nurses talking. I couldn’t say anything because I still had the tube down my throat and I couldn’t see anything either. I was still pretty groggy. All I could hear was them saying that he was totally blue and that they rushed him out of the delivery room. Then someone made some noise and I couldn’t quite hear what she said; I admit I was a little panicked because I thought he might have died! I wanted to cry but I knew if I did my contact lenses would come out and they told me I wasn’t supposed to wear them. I tried to blink a lot so my contacts wouldn’t fall out but the tears kept welling up in my eyes and running out the sides. Everything happened so fast last night that I didn’t have time to take them out.

One of the nurses noticed that I was coming to and that I was crying and came over to talk to me. I think she thought I was crying because my throat was sore; I don’t think she realized that I overheard them. She grabbed my hand and although I couldn’t say anything, she filled me in. She said that when Toby came out, he was totally blue but the neonatalogist had taken good care of him and he was doing much better. She said they had to put a breathing tube into him as well. She said that he’d have to be on a ventilator for a day or two and that they were giving him some medications to help his blood pressure but, other than that, things should be fine. I was so relieved he hadn’t died but then when I heard about the ventilator, I wasn’t sure if things were really going to be o.k. or if they were just telling me that. I guess I just have to take their word that things are going to be o.k. The nurse told me that Tom called; they told him we had a boy and what happened. They said he was so excited. He had really wanted a boy! As a matter of fact, he was the one who picked the name Toby. He insisted on it. He never said why, but I looked up the name and it means, “Gift of God” so I thought it fit nicely. We agreed some time ago that if it was a boy, we’d name him Toby but if it was a girl, well, we just weren’t sure. Anyway, he should be here later today. I really need him!

I really can’t wait to see my baby. It’s upsetting that they haven’t brought him to see me by now. I am going to ask them if I can go see him soon. I’ll post a picture as soon as I can and keep you updated. If you don’t see any updates on the blog, just understand that I’ll fill you in when I can. I can’t wait until I can walk again; my stomach is really sore from the c-section. I never imagined it would hurt this bad. I keep asking about breastfeeding him but with the breathing tube I don’t suppose he can really do it right now. I was really looking forward to it.

...

You can read the next chapter on Tuesday here.

The Saga of Baby Toby...

begins on Monday! It will start on ex utero's blog, Tales From The Womb. You'll start there and then link to my blog. This blogger Mini-Series will start on Monday and run through Friday of next week.

Coming Soon-The Saga of Baby Toby!

I've teamed up with another physician blogger for an exciting Blogger Mini-Series called, "The Saga of Baby Toby". The series will run for one week and looks to be an exciting story about a newborn baby named Toby who has a problem around delivery that causes his medical issues. Find out what happened, who did it and what's next! What makes this story interesting, is that you will read the story from the physician/hospital side and from the mother, much like it might happen in real life. You'll get both perspectives on the same event. We'll have links between the two sites so you can read the story as it unfolds. The mother's side will be told mostly from her blog. We had a lot of fun writing this story and hope you will enjoy it too.

See if you can find the physician who is writing the other side of the story. Look for the matching Baby Toby picture on their site.



We are almost finished writing this story. We wanted to have the entire story completed prior to running the series. I should be back to posting my regular stories about Dear Son next week.



Thank you for your patience.

Coming Soon...

Recently, a fellow physician blogger and I have paired up to write a new Blog Mini-Series! The Mini-Series will run for one week and should be fairly exciting. We are in the process of writing it now and are at the half way point. We need to complete the entire series prior to posting. You may not see much in the way of new posts from me, until this is complete, since I only have so much time. I can't tell you any more than that, since I am sworn to secrecy, but it's been a lot of fun. I wanted to let you know, so you understood why I have been slow to post.

On a different note, Dear Son received a hair cut this weekend, very similar to Britney Spears. I'll see if I can post some pictures in the interim.