what really happens during deployments

[briannell]

we were no exception to this rule, daughter Anessa came in 2003.

TheNewsTribune.com
Section: Stryker Brigade < Back to Regular Story Page

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Salute the baby brigade

MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
They haven’t come up with a catchy nickname for it, like “Operation Desert Stork,” but there’s a baby boom on the way at Madigan Army Medical Center.
The hospital is preparing for a 20 percent increase in the number of births – 25 to 30 more babies over the monthly average of 148.

They expect the increase to begin next month and to last at least through November, said Lt. Col. Wendy Ma, an Army doctor and chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Madigan.

Officials haven’t examined the pending population explosion to pinpoint exactly where all the babies are coming from. But they assume at least some are the result of many happy reunions when several Fort Lewis units returned home last fall from Iraq.

The timing is good for Madigan. The hospital, one of the Army’s busiest, last fall completed a $1.5 million renovation of seven labor and delivery rooms. This summer it’s bringing on another OB-GYN, adding two nurses and increasing its staff of midwives to four, said Sharon Simon, the nurse manager in the OB-GYN section.

The hospital also has instituted a number of features to personalize care and incorporate the whole expectant family, not just the mom-to-be.

“We’re pretty excited. There have been a lot of changes that are really positive for us,” Ma said.

For instance, despite the rising number of new patients, Madigan still can do one-on-one birth planning with an expectant couple, Simon said. They used to pile expecting parents into the hospital’s auditorium for massed briefings, 30 to 40 couples at a time.

Other Army posts have likewise seen more births in the months following big homecomings. Fort Carson, Colo., had a nearly 50 percent increase last December and January, following the return the previous spring of two combat brigades.

The numbers at Madigan suggest that it’s not just the homecomings that lead to more babies, but the anticipation of a long deployment, as well.

They had 182 births there in October 2003 – more than any month since 2000 – which suggests many couples were conceiving in January and February of that year, when the U.S. was preparing for war in Iraq.

August and September of 2002 also were busy birthing months – 176, and 168, respectively – suggesting a similar response by Fort Lewis couples to the prospect of extended U.S. military operations after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist strikes.

These days at Madigan, the labor and delivery floor does all it can to make the process as comfortable and family-centered as possible, said Kathleen Judge, the nurse-manager there.

The new rooms feature warm wood floors and cabinetry, with all the medical items out-of-sight behind cupboard doors. There are flat-screen TVs, stereos, spacious walk-in showers, and big, comfortable chairs that fold out so fathers – or older brothers and sisters – can sack out if the new arrival takes his or her time in coming.

The comfort is not lost on the dads, especially if they’re coming to Madigan straight from a deployed location. That’s sometimes the case as soldiers are granted emergency leave to come home for the birth of their children.

“I was expecting something a little bit more austere,” said Patrick Gehring. He traveled 48 hours to make it home from Afghanistan to be with his wife, Victoria, for the arrival of their first, MaryClare.

He needn’t have rushed. MaryClare took her time in coming, despite Victoria’s pitocin drip to induce labor. “We’re on our sixth episode of ‘Friends’ right now,” said the dad-in-waiting.

Tina Minden is in ahead of the rush. She and her husband, Randall, are expecting their third child – a boy – later this month. He was conceived a few months after her husband got home from Iraq last spring, Minden said.

Their oldest, a daughter, is 13.

“We call her our Saudi baby,” Minden said, because she came along after Randall’s deployment to Operation Desert Storm.


LITTEL SOLDIERS

Births at Madigan Army Medical Center

2000 1,735

2001 1,743

2002 1,783

2003 1,892

2004 1,742

2005 (through May) 751


Michael Gilbert: 253-597-8921
mike.gilbert@thenewstribune.co