I've never been so underdressed for a birth!
Yay! My friend in Switzerland (did mention I've been in Switzerland for the nearly three weeks?) gave birth early this morning. Her son Liam is chunky and adorable as all get out. There were so many different levels of commentary going on for me with this birth.
1.) One of my closest friends
2.) Birth
3.) Birth in a foreign country
4.) Birth where we don't speak the language?!
5.) 41 weeks GA and counting (Thank you Liam for not making us resort to anything drastic to get you going!)
6.) Precipitous Birth with a first time mom, woohoo!
And away we go...Three weeks of uncomfortableness, mild cramping and back ache is worth it in my book when things really get rolling...waters release around midnight and the baby is born barely 2.5 hours later!
After a long evening of wine (for the father and me) and a bunch of rounds of crazy 8's (the card game) we went to be around 11:15pm. At midnight he came to tell me that she got up to go to the bathroom and her water broke. Contractions officially started soon after. They wanted to let me sleep some (I was staying upstairs in their home). Around 1am I could hear her working pretty hard and had already gotten some more clothes on to go down and investigate. Turned out she was in such full swing that I never made it back upstairs! Within 40 minutes or so she turned to me to say she was pushing. (Lots of scrambling on James and my part to get her dressed) By 2:15am we were on our way to the hospital. Mom DID NOT WANT TO go. My pep talk consisted of "Here's the thing, I know you're not going to like what I have to say, BUT. The car ride IS going to suck, but the longer we wait, the more it's all going to suck. You HAVE to get to the car." (There was sweet gentle Karen a little earlier in the labor). I left in my T-shirt I'd been sleeping in, some yoga pants and clogs. No underpinnings, no socks, hadn't brushed my hair, geesh!
We arrived and after a comedy of errors trying to get ourselves allowed into the building, of course the midwives on call were not the ones who spoke english. Still they believed us right away when we told them she was ready to push. They saw she wasn't going near a bed and grabbed a birthing stool for her and a chair for husband to sit behind her. She was ready to push out their son. He has fine dark hair, pink pink skin and blue eyes. It was nothing short of a miracle. About to shower, get dressed for real and head back to the hospital.
1.) One of my closest friends
2.) Birth
3.) Birth in a foreign country
4.) Birth where we don't speak the language?!
5.) 41 weeks GA and counting (Thank you Liam for not making us resort to anything drastic to get you going!)
6.) Precipitous Birth with a first time mom, woohoo!
And away we go...Three weeks of uncomfortableness, mild cramping and back ache is worth it in my book when things really get rolling...waters release around midnight and the baby is born barely 2.5 hours later!
After a long evening of wine (for the father and me) and a bunch of rounds of crazy 8's (the card game) we went to be around 11:15pm. At midnight he came to tell me that she got up to go to the bathroom and her water broke. Contractions officially started soon after. They wanted to let me sleep some (I was staying upstairs in their home). Around 1am I could hear her working pretty hard and had already gotten some more clothes on to go down and investigate. Turned out she was in such full swing that I never made it back upstairs! Within 40 minutes or so she turned to me to say she was pushing. (Lots of scrambling on James and my part to get her dressed) By 2:15am we were on our way to the hospital. Mom DID NOT WANT TO go. My pep talk consisted of "Here's the thing, I know you're not going to like what I have to say, BUT. The car ride IS going to suck, but the longer we wait, the more it's all going to suck. You HAVE to get to the car." (There was sweet gentle Karen a little earlier in the labor). I left in my T-shirt I'd been sleeping in, some yoga pants and clogs. No underpinnings, no socks, hadn't brushed my hair, geesh!
We arrived and after a comedy of errors trying to get ourselves allowed into the building, of course the midwives on call were not the ones who spoke english. Still they believed us right away when we told them she was ready to push. They saw she wasn't going near a bed and grabbed a birthing stool for her and a chair for husband to sit behind her. She was ready to push out their son. He has fine dark hair, pink pink skin and blue eyes. It was nothing short of a miracle. About to shower, get dressed for real and head back to the hospital.