Friday, July 25, 2008

Birth



It’s awfully hard to describe what I’m feeling. The birth of my son has been such an epiphany of joy. Of course it took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to bring him into the world and I felt so terrible that my wife had to go through such pain, but now she’s doing great and we’re so happy with our beautiful son.

The events began at about 12:30 AM on the 22nd when my SO woke me up with word that her water had broke. Half in a sleepy daze, I ran around the house making sure we had everything, which we did of course because my wife had packed the week before. So, it was off to the hospital with a cool breeze on a warm summer night.

They triaged my wife first before they moved us to a birthing room where her contractions slowly increased throughout the day. Since we were both at the maternity ward we had to activate our backup plan and have my sister’s husband (Snabulus) pick up my mother-in-law. That’s right; mom was actually on a plane over the Pacific Ocean when my SO’s water broke. Hence Snab was kind enough to bring her straight to the hospital. We were worried that she wouldn’t make it but she did.

My Dad also stopped by, and I could tell his head was in the clouds because he was about to be a grandpa again. He can be a little clueless sometimes though, because he wanted to have one of those hospital chats, while my wife was having spasms of pain. So eventually, I led him out to the waiting area, which worked out well because Snab came back to the hospital with my teenage niece in tow. She kept Dad entertained for a while until he went home to get some sleep as he had worked the nightshift.

The pain got so bad for my wife later in the day that she opted for an epidural. She found some relief for a time and was actually able to talk to her mother that had flown all the way from Japan. My niece decided to stay for the birth and I tasked her with taking pictures, as I knew that my wife would need me when the time came to push.

My wife practiced pushing several times but our son just wasn’t quite low enough until about 7:30 P.M. The Doc had stated earlier that he thought the baby would arrive by sundown. He would be right. When the really hard pushing began we all cheered my wife on but she was in such pain and the epidural wasn’t doing anything by that point. The Doc and the nurse had to instruct her how to push properly so she wouldn’t get too tired and also so she wouldn’t blow out all the blood vessels in her face.

When we were about halfway through the pushing, my mother-in-law was overcome with emotion and walked over and said something in Japanese to her daughter with tears in her eyes. Her feelings were so mixed because here was her only daughter writhing in the worst pain imaginable and yet her grandson was being born.

By this time of night, I was actually having mild auditory and visual hallucinations because I was so tired but when my wife gave a huge final push and I heard my son’s loud cry, all my tiredness went away and tears welled up in my eyes as they placed him all bloody and gooey on my wife’s chest. My wife was now a Mom and I was now a Dad. Amazing.

My niece was snapping pictures like crazy and she got a good one of me cutting the cord. Somehow all these nurses showed up out of nowhere and began weighing and cleaning my tiny little boy and also attending to my wife. He was so blue but he began to turn pink right away. He was (is) so perfect and cute too. I couldn’t wait to hold him and when I did my brain exploded… …when it reassembled itself, I just wasn’t the same person. My niece got a shot of that moment too.

Finally, when I was able to remember who I was, I returned to my wife just as they had removed the rest of the placenta and cleaned her up. We brought the baby over to suckle and my wife was so happy to finally be able to see her boy because she didn’t have her glasses on before.

Eventually we made our way to another room and collapsed from exhaustion. Ready to spend the rest of our lives caring for our little one.

It’s so strange, in the days since our son’s arrival because having him around seems like the most natural thing, like he’s always been with us. It’s a surreal and wonderful feeling all in one. I also realized that for a moment I knew what it felt like to be superhuman (sort of), because when I saw the birth of my son and held him in my arms for the first time I realized that my wife and I together had created life. That life being the little one we now live and breathe for.



-Swinebread

16 comments:

rob! said...

congrats all around!

Hypatia said...

Another great post by a proud papa! Now you all just need to rest...you're going to need it!

No more weekend sleep-ins for you!

Freida Bee said...

What a beautiful account of your son's birth. What a wonderful father you already are.

I used to apprentice with a midwife and have seen a number of births and even more birth videos and there has never been a one that has not made me cry out of its sheer beauty. I remember looking at my oldest daughter, now 15, the day she was born knowing that was what life is all about. I remember that day like it was yesterday.

enigma4ever said...

you don't know me...I just stumbled here...but that was the most beautiful thing I have ever read...I remember feeling the same thing when I looked at my son....

many welcomes to your new baby and you to Fatherhood...Best to you and the mum....welcome to your new world ;-)

Becca said...

Congratulations to you and your wife! I'm so glad everything went well bringing that cute little guy into the world!!!

Thomas Fummo said...

yayness all round.

well done, mate. I'm happy for you both :-)

Dean Wormer said...

Congrats again, Swiney.

I'm so happy it went well and then mother and son are fine.

Life will never be the same (but in a good way.)

Arkonbey said...

awwww!

Steve said...

Super-Duper Congrats!
That was one of the best things I've read this year.
Looking to forward to hearing about your exploits as a family in the time to come

Swinebread said...

Rob! Thanks so much!

Hypatia – The rest period is over! But I feel more for the SO as she’s getting up at all hours to feed him.

FB – Your very generous with your praise Freida. Thank you, I hope I’ll make a good Dad because I’m such a slacker!

I know what you mean about that what life is all about. That’s really the core of it. “Life”

E4E – thanks for stopping by my blog. Please feel free to stop by anytime. Thank you for your kind words.

Becca – Thanks for the congrats becca it means a lot.

Doc s – Much appreciated Doc. I’ll have less bloggin time though. :D but that’s OK right?

Dean – Your post about the whole thing was very apropos

Arkonbey – can’t escape it! You’re right! Awwww!

Pidomon – I’m am humbled by your praise because this post has been one of the easiest things I ever written on this blog… it just flowed out…

Dr. Zaius said...

Congratulations again, Swinebead! I just hope that he doesn't grow up to be a snot-nosed kid. (I'm just saying...)

Swinebread said...

Well, I guess he can be a snot-nosed kid when he's still kid but he better not be a snot-nosed kid when he's an adult. :)

Life As I Know It Now said...

Yeah, I know you wrote this a little while back but I am just dropping in to see how the fam is doing. This is a great post. You really captured all the feelings one has as they bring a new baby into the world. I remember when my daughter was born and the first thing I thought was that someday she would be bringing life into the world [and she has :)] and then I felt the mantle of responsibility fall on me--I was really no longer a kid, I was the next generation up! A Mother!!! It was awesome and scary at the same time.

Swinebread said...

Thanks Lib! You summed up my feelings and my post exactly!

Anonymous said...

Hey there! I have to shamefully admit that I haven't dropped by here for a while, and I was completely unaware of your impending parenthood.

Belated congratulations many times over to *all* of you:)

Swinebread said...

Thanks LA