“We absolutely loved our doctor, so we felt very comfortable going into this with high expectations, positive energy,” Haley said. “But when things weren’t progressing as they should, my anxiety started to rise.”
Haley labored through Saturday night and into late Sunday afternoon, when things took a turn for the worse.
What happened next is largely a “blur” to Haley, but some of the details replay sharply in her mind.
The tone of the room shifted quickly as nurses scrambled and urgently told Haley to push as hard as she could.
“I remember looking over to the nurse and she said, ‘You have to get this baby out. There’s no other option. You have to get him out now,’ ” Haley said.
“There was this one [nurse] that came up to me and was like, ‘I’m not going to let anything happen to you or the baby.’ I’m like, ‘OK…’ And then they say, ‘There’s a crash cart outside,’ and I’m like, ‘OK, what is that for? What’s the crash cart for?’ ” she later added. “We didn’t know what to expect. You kind of think everything’s OK and then all of a sudden, these things are being told to you.”
Joshua had turned and gotten a shoulder stuck, affecting the umbilical cord and inhibiting a complete delivery. For an excruciating 1 minute and 40 seconds, doctors worked to free Joshua.
“They pushed the [end of the delivery bed out of the way], and I had about four nurses jumping on me,” Haley recalled. “Josh doesn’t know what was going on because he was so focused on supporting me, and when Joshua finally came out, he wasn’t breathing.”
Joshua was laid for a brief second against Haley’s chest before being whisked across the room to a team of doctors.
“There were probably 20 people in the room, and I just kept asking, ‘What is going on? What’s happening? Is he OK?’ ” Haley continued. “No one’s giving me answers. I told my husband to go with the baby – ‘Just go. Just, someone tell me what’s going on.’ “