The Birth-Part One

Okay, I better get the birth story out of the way.

So, last Wednesday night, around the time of Farmer Wants A Wife, E started having regular pains, and they started getting stronger. By about 10pm we were pretty certain it was the real thing, and we got ourselves into gear, E dealing with the contractions and me packing the car and getting things ready. I'd like to say I was a rock, but when I realised it was the real thing, my insides turned to jelly, and I was pretty much packing it. Thankfully little e was in bed at this time, which made things a lot easier.

E's mum came over to stay with the kiddo, and E and I drove off into the rainy night, around midnight. It was a good trip to the hospital, with little traffic, which I was very relieved about. I was actually extremely happy about the timing of it all. I had been dreading it starting while I was at work, or in peak hour or something. I'm not real crash-hot under stress, so I was really thankful for God's timing.

We got in to the birth centre about 12:30am, and by that time the contractions were very strong and painful for E. The place was pretty deserted, and there was only one midwife on; and she spent most of the time with another lady who was further along.

So things just continued for a couple of hours, with the midwife sticking her head in every now and then. It was a pretty full on time, with E in a lot of pain, and me just trying my best to help. It may sound terrible, but as it had come at the end of a long day, I was pretty hammered and was really struggling to stay awake. I kept slapping myself in the face and splashing cold water.

Anyways, this time it was lot quicker then with little e (about 20 hours I think), and after about two hours things were almost done. The midwife now came in, and kind of took command. She was, um, a bit of a drill sargent-- not real nurturing, unfortunately. So it wasn't as nice an experience as last time. A lot of commands, and not a lot of empathy.