The Birth of a Little Mountain
In March of this year, My family celebrated my youngest nieces 1st bday.
Being the tight knit family we are, we were all very excited when we found out about my sisters pregnancy and I was asked to be a birthing partner -->insert gulp!<-- LOL!
Now i've never seen a child born - live or otherwise, unless you count watching reruns of various Hospital dramas!
At midday on March 23rd 2010, I received a text "Babys on the way! Get here!''. Adrenalin and excitement carousing through every fibre of my being, I race out of work and straight to the hospital.
Arriving with a congratulatory balloon & bouquet of flowers, I step into what is known as the birthing suite.
Nothing like a Hotel Suite with champagne on ice and little chocolates on your pillow and everything like a regular hospital room with leg-stirrups and laughing gas... hehehehehe...
So i've made my entrance and am sitting in the far right hand corner. My brother in-law is also there - listening to his ipod & looking quite calm, this isnt his first of the "suite". My sisters waters have broken and shes ready to push.
Its evident that my sister is in a world of pain, lying there eyes closed, jaw clenched she breathes her way through every contraction as she has opted to have no medication to ease her discomfort other than the laughing gas. (Which by the way has little or no affect on anything and only makes you light headed, I may have tried it...twice lol)
Its quite shocking when you see someone you love in this much pain and there is absolutely nothing you can do to ease it other than help her breathe which makes you light headed because your body is not used to all the oxygen its getting due to the breathing excercises you're doing and now you're confused "Have i been breathing the wrong way all this time...? hmmmm... " But I'm shaken from my pondering state when my sister lets out an animalistic growl as she she is overcome by another contraction.
Circling around the birthing suite is a bevy of nurses and midwives all calm collected and if not slightly bored looking going about their business.
I am the complete opposite.There I anxiously sit, jigging around in my seat, I stand up and walk the floor, trying to rid myself of the nervous energy before I spontaneously combust. After a few laps of the suite i sit down again as Im pretty sure im making the nurses nervous...but nope, they still look bored & my brother in law is stil flipping through his ipod playlist.
My sister informs the room that its time to push, the midwife sticks her hand under the sheet covering my sisters lap agrees and prepares to deliver.
At this point i have no bloody idea what to do so im stading there like im a piece of furniture! The midwife directs me to stand next to my sister with my briother in law opposite me, We are then each told to hold her knees open and i crack a joke about "...isn't that what got you into this position" but the joke is lost because the baby is crowning.
Now i reallllllyy dont want to look, I cant stand the site of blood and gore and at my best all i can handle is a mild skin graze and then there is also the fact that i would be staring right at my sisters bits & pieces which is definitely something one does not want to do.
At this point in time she is now crying from the pain and i have to look and then ask the midwife if what i see is natural and fine so that i can honestly reassure my sister that all is well and more so reassure myself because it doesnt look ok to me! In all honesty, it looks wrong- on so many levels. For those of you who have watched the movie 'Knocked Up' you will have some idea of what I am talking about.
The baby's head is out and there I am standing in awe that something that big comes out of something that small! Baby's shoulders have cleared and the rest of her literally slides out. I can remember this moment like it happened seconds ago, a tsunami wave of emotions engulfs Me and i burst into tears like i have never cried before - the feeling of utter relief and happiness that she had safely arrived and the extrodinairy pride i had for my sister and what she had just gone through.
The nurse/midwife wipes Baby's face and the baby makes a little whimpering noise while my brother in law, proud as punch, cuts the chord. The baby is then placed on my sisters chest and I kiss my sister congratulations and try to inspect our latest family member through a haze of joyful tears.
Once the nurse has tended to my sister and the adenalin slowly ebbs from our systems leaving us all (especially my sister) bone tired, we realise that it has been over 10minutes since the baby was born and none of know what gender It is. We check and Its girl! Another round of happy dancing followed by talk of what to call her.
While we debate what name to bestow upon my beautiful niece the midwife comes along to do the routine check up for New Borns which for those of you who dont know consists of measuring the babies weight, length, an overall check of good health and baby's first innoculations.
Talk turns from Baby's name to how much she weighs. All I remember saying is "8pounds 3ounces" (all based on bias, because thats how much I weighed!) The parents each give their own estimates either lighter or around my own guess mainly based on the fact that my sister didnt carry very big during her pregnancy and that their 3 other children we're all around the 7 to 8 pound mark with their eldest child having been 9 pounds 3 ounces.
The baby is placed on the scales and the midwife who has been in the room throught the entire "Weight-Debate" informs us that we're all wrong, she steps out of the way and we all gasp - 4.4kg. I ask the midwife how much is that in pounds (because im old school like that! lol) and she informs us that its approximately 9 pounds 6 ounces to which i turn to my sister and ask "Where did you hide THAT!?"
From that moment on wards, family pour in and many photos are taken, the Baby who has been named after her fathers mother, is passed around and the familial love is evident and thick in the room.
That night I left the hospital absolutely wrecked! Physically, emotionally and mentally drained I have no recollection of how i got home.
Looking back I can say that that was the most amazing experience i have ever had the pleasure of being apart of and that my respect for Mothers has sky rocketed to insurmountable proportions! The pain & hardship they endure to bring life into the world is absolutely incredible and beautiful.
Witnessing child birth is a great contraceptive - i definitely walked away from the hospital that night not wanting to have children in any hury.
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