12 Days Old

Birth Story - Act III

   My wife was fairly immobile throughout the whole process. With the midwife’s urging, we made a couple of trips to and from the bathroom which probably helped get things moving.  But by 6:30 am (I think) we ended up in the bathroom and weren’t moving at that point.

   By now my wife had been pushing with the contractions.  I don’t know when she started the pushing so I can’t say how long it lasted until the birth at 7:31am.  That last half hour was nothing less than a miracle.  And every moment with my daughter since has been pretty amazing, too.

   My wife was on the floor of the bathroom leaning over the edge of the bath tub.  She was between me and the midwife.  She kept repeating over and over again that she couldn’t do it. But she was there doing it the whole time.  As the baby was crowning I could clearly see a teeny head full of dark curly hair.  I don’t know how many times I lied to my wife saying “one more push and it’ll all be over”.  I’m not sure if this makes me an ass or not.  But the point when I saw the head halfway out, I believed it myself.  I cupped the head in my left hand and it felt like a warm, wet, hairy softball.  The midwife and I urged for another push and the head was out. I could see eyes, nose, lips and chin along with the hairy head.  And then I saw the lips purse and move.  Everything below the neck was still unseen, but this perfect little face and head just hung there waiting patiently for its body to arrive.

   And then it arrived with the final push.  It flooded into and through my hands as I half caught-half dropped my baby onto the bathroom floor.  Luckily, there were lots of towels to cushion our daughter’s entry into the world.  I was probably pretty useless at this point so the midwife helped me guide the baby into my wife’s arms.  A couple of minutes later my wife actually thought to check the sex of the baby.  I’ve been calling her an “it” for so long now that I’m still getting used to saying “her”. 

   Something tangible filled the room at that moment.  Besides the baby’s presence I mean.  It was in the air.  Words cannot explain it.  Relief?  Wonder?  Satisfaction?  Love?  Yes, it was all of these but much much more.  It was magic. (Wow.  Could this be any more cheesetastic?)

   In the midst of all of this, the midwife apprentice snapped this amazing picture that still takes my breath away.

Photographed by Karinda Woodward