In and Out Baby

Now that we've had a few days since the birth, I figured that I'd jot down my version of the birth story before my memory fades. It goes without saying that Mommy reserves the right to correct any aberrations that may sneak in here. After all, she's the main actor here and I'm just the supporting cast.

Our due date was August 9 (which BTW is today) but since Aiden had arrived six days early, we were on the watch out for early warning signs. Angela pinged me around 3:55 p.m. on Monday, August 2nd to let me know that there may be some excitement coming soon but nothing urgent. By the time I got home the excitement had died down a little but we still timed the contractions for a couple of hours to gauge the frequency. I stayed up a little late to watch a DVD called 'Comfort measures by Penny Simkin' because I figured that it may come in handy anytime soon. I had some redeeming to do from the last time and it was for this reason that Angela had lined up not one but two Doulas to help her labor at home as much as possible.

I decided to stay at home the next day just in case. Most of the day went by without much of a fuss and we even managed to do some last minute shopping. Around 2 p.m., I went into my office in the back to get some work done and Angela pinged me around 5 p.m. to let me know that she was having some strong contractions. Since she was pinging me from a laptop, I figured that it can't be that urgent. But when I moseyed back into the house I saw that the level of excitement had gone up a few notches. What I didn't realize at the time was that it was about to go through the roof in a hurry and that my nerves would be put to a stress test like they'd never been before.

We asked Angela's Mom to take Aiden out for dinner so that he doesn't get too disturbed. No sooner did they close the door around 5:35 p.m. did her water break. From here on it was one hell of a roller coaster. I was on the phone with the doulas and midwife, packing up the car and trying to comfort Angela all at the same time. By now Angela had progressed into active labor and needed to be transported to the birth center ASAP where highly trained medical professionals could attend to her as opposed to a frazzled IT guy. I somehow managed to corral her into the car at 6:15 p.m. and dreaded the thought of hitting work traffic. Fortunately the traffic was clear and we got to the birth center at 6:35 pm.

The midwives immediately checked her and found that she was into transition and at 7 cm dilation. When they told her that the tub would take 10 minutes to be prepared, Angela didn't pay heed and said that she was getting into the tub, water or no water. She got into the tub which was by then half full and was soon actively pushing the baby out. By now I had gotten into the tub along with her sister Helena. Within about ten minutes of pushing, we could tell that the baby was about to make his grand entrance.

At this time I should mention that despite my protestations, Angela had put into our birth plan that I was to catch the baby. When the moment arrived, I was a little freaked out about actually going through with it and it took a little coaxing from the midwives. At precisely 6:58 p.m. our beautiful angel dived into the water and with a little help from midwife Julia and aunty Helena, I was able to catch the baby under water and place it on Angela's chest. It was by far the most awesome feeling that I had ever experienced and I was glad that Angela insisted on overriding my preferences :)

We then got to spend some precious private moments with him during which time Angela was able to initiate breast feeding. The midwives then had him checked and weighed and handed back to us. We got something to eat and after resting for a couple of hours, decided to head back home around 10 p.m. We got home around 10:15 p.m. by when Aiden was fast asleep. We spent the next few hours just marveling at our new baby before dozing off to sleep.