Daddy's Version of the Birth Story
Yet another Monday was here. Robin was two weeks late and it was getting to the point were I was pretty sure that the baby would never actually come out. For the last month or so, I had looked at my wife sometimes, and not even thought that she was pregnant. I was definitely getting a little too used to seeing her nine months along. I promptly snapped out of my delusion when I tried to kiss Robin on the lips and was suddenly stopped in mid-smooch by my baby. "Hey! There's a baby in your belly." What a marvelous and delightful revelation. "If only I could get that sucker out of there," I thought. Easier said than done.
The kids had gone off to school already, and Robin and I started talking about what to do today. Robin decided she wanted to get out of the house, and I was more than willing to go, too. It's amazing how claustrophobic you can get while sitting at home, staring at four walls, waiting for the baby to arrive. So, off to the mall we went.
Robin and I walked around the mall. Well, in all honesty, I walked around and Robin wobbled. After all, it's hard to walk normally with a baby's head crammed in your pelvis. But, I knew that walking around would help her pelvis open up, and hopefully, get the baby to drop some more. As it turned out, Robin was in early labor, and not being too obvious about it.
After walking around for quite awhile, we decided to go to yet another mall to buy a really cool baby hat. It suddenly occurred to me that Robin was more energetic than she had been for months. Today was definitely going to be different. And it was.
We decided to go out for lunch. I was secretly thinking that this was probably the last meal sans baby. Throughout lunch, Robin had some pretty serious contractions. The time was getting near.
We got home at around 2 o'clock. The contractions continued and were getting a little closer together. Robin decided to call the midwife's apprentice, Emily. We had the lights turned off, and soft, relaxing music playing. Emily came over and decided that she'd like to have our midwife, Mary Ann here. Robin didn't agree, and thought that Mary Ann shouldn't miss a 7 o'clock appointment she had 70 miles away from us. Fortunately, Mary Ann decided to come immediately. It took about three hours for her to get here from Lexington. I'm glad she skipped her appointment.
By the time Mary Ann arrived, Robin was on all fours on the floor in front of the bed. I was getting pretty scared. Mary Ann and Emily did a very good job of keeping me calm.
I ended up playing the doula. I was applying counter-pressure to Robin's pelvis by standing behind her, and pushing down very hard. It seemed to be working, or so Robin was telling me. After a while, I was getting tired, so I let Emily push on Robin, while I got down on the floor with Robin. I stroked her arm, ran my fingers through her hair and quietly whispered, "You're doing a great job. I'm so proud of you." It was nice to be close to her like that. I really wanted to be more a part of what was going on emotionally, and being able to be face-to-face sure helped.
