Thursday, November 19, 2009

A lighter side of the story

I thought I'd put in my two bits about the experience. Rachel started contracting earlier that morning, but wasn't sure if it was labor or not. Once the intervals started speeding up, we went down to the hospital, where the contractions nearly stopped as soon as all of the measuring equipment was on. After worrying for about an hour that she would get sent home, the nurse re-measured the cervix and saw that it was indeed expanding.
From that point to child birth it was about 1.5-2 hours. The nurse said that it was the easiest labor she had ever seen. With a six pound baby and a wife whose 6'2 I can see how that is. At one point she screamed pretty loudly. "Contraction?" "No, Charlie Horse!" So there I was stretching her calf while the nurses were helping her with the childbirth.
When the baby was born I thought there had to be some sort of medical problem, because he was bright purple, but evidently that's normal. I must have missed that part in the dozen youtube childbirth videos Rachel made me watch.
Mark came with me when they took Christian down to the nursery, and the nurse informed him that only parent's were allowed. After mentioning that he was a dermatologist, the nurse informed him that he still wasn't allowed. "Well somebody's got to check the baby for birthmarks!" and with that he walked in.
Anyway, things are going well, and we're thankful for all the prayers and concern on our behalf.

4 comments:

Sondra said...

Good job, Stephen! You should read Anna Karenina! There is a great scene in it where Levin's wife is giving birth and it tells the story from the man's experience of the labor. Thank you for sharing with us!

Mary said...

Ha! That sounds like my dad. I'm glad you were there to support Rachel during the whole thing. I think Christian is lucky to have such a great dad and grandpa.

Ruth said...

Stephen, Didn't I tell you to expect a little alien at first? I remember being super scared when I first saw Jonathan. I personally think Christian is quite the looker though.

Ruth said...

Will you please take a post a cute picture of Rachie and you with Christian for me?