|
The photo, taken with Tillotson's
mother-in-law's camera phone, captured not only the birth of the
family's first baby, Kyle Robert, but also the use of modern technology
to connect Tillotson with her husband, Craig, 27, who is serving as a
peacekeeper in Egypt.
Being able to connect Julie and Craig
Tillotson over the telephone was something of a fluke, with Craig
Tillotson having called the hospital to check on his wife just as she
was about to enter the delivery room. Julie said her husband was brought
from the remote site where he was stationed to a base, where he was
allowed to call the hospital.
"It was the closest thing to him being
here," said Julie, 26.
Throughout the delivery, Julie
Tillotson said her husband calmed her down and continuously asked what
was happening. Her obstetrician, Ronald Neal of Toms River OB-GYN
Associates, described everything he was doing and, Julie said, she
repeated it to her husband.
Yet perhaps the best part, she said,
was when Craig heard the baby cry minutes after he was born. Kyle Robert
was born at 4:46 p.m. and weighed 8 pounds, 11 ounces.
"Her husband was halfway around the
world and it was like he was there with us," Neal said. "I explained the
minute-by-minute, play-by-play to him. It was really incredible."
"It is something I couldn't have
explained to him," she said.
Craig Tillotson left for Egypt in July.
At the time, Julie said she thought Craig would be able to return home
before the birth.
It was not until early last week that
Julie said she learned that her husband would be unable to return to the
United States until February, the original month he was scheduled to
return.
One of the nurses, all of whom carry
portable telephones, handed the phone to Julie, who held it
beginning with when she got spinal anesthesia and throughout the
delivery.
"It was nice that he was able to be
there," Neal said.
Tillotson served in Korea for nearly a
year in the mid-1990s.
Naomi Mueller: (732) 557-5734 or
nmueller@app.com
Copyright (c) Asbury Park Press. All
rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Co., Inc. by
NewsBank, inc. |
