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The first word to reporters was that mother and child were doing nicely. But in the operating room, doctors knew differently. The President's son was suffering from hyaline membrane disease, a lung ailment common, and often fatal, to premature babies. Within minutes after the birth, the doctors called for Father John Cahill, an Air Force chaplain, who baptized the baby Patrick Bouvier Kennedy. Then began a desperate fight to save the infant's life.
Just One Look. The President had been informed of the birth while still airborne. But he, along with his sister, Jean Smith, who heard of the birth over her car radio, were waiting in Jackie's room when she came back from surgery. Peering into an incubator (an ultramodern type known as an Isolette) in the private nursery, the President saw his tiny, brown-haired son for the first time at 2:30 p.m. Three hours later, he wheeled the incubator up to Jackie's bed, and she saw little Pat for the first—and only—time.
The baby obviously needed—and at once—specialists and special equipment beyond the resources of the Air Force base. Bundled in a blue blanket inside his incubator, the infant was slipped out a back door and into an ambulance for a dash to Children's Medical Center in Boston, more than an hour away. The President flew to Boston, walked grimly past a crowd of well-wishers outside the hospital, donned a white gown and mask to see Patrick. He conferred anxiously with doctors, then left for the Kennedy family suite at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
Later that evening, upon word that his son was holding his own, the President flew back to Squaw Island. There, at noon the next day as he lunched with his mother-in-law, Mrs. Hugh P. Auchincloss, he got an urgent call from the hospital. His son was sinking rapidly. The President tried to call Jackie, but she was asleep. He left word that he had gone back to Boston —but told doctors not to tell her why.
At Children's Medical Center, doctors suggested a radical move: put Patrick in a huge hyperbaric pressure chamber that would force oxygen into his lungs (see MEDICINE). This hyperbaric chamber had been used in 28 open-heart surgery cases during the past 17 months—but never for a lung ailment. The President agreed.
Toward Despair. Late that afternoon, Kennedy wearily returned to the Ritz, called Jackie and told her for the first time how serious the situation was. Then he made another visit to the hospital, returned to dine alone at the hotel, called before he headed for the hospital again. His brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, and Kennedy Confidant Dave Powers joined the President there.