witness a birth

On November 15th 2008, I got to be at the hospital with my best friend, who is like my sister, and witness her giving birth to my niece Keiara. I held her hand all through the delivery and saw Keiara actually come out. It was an amazing experience, not to mention, a bit of a life changer. :)

Nothing could’ve ever prepared me for this experience. It was touching, scary, weird, intense, and totally surreal. I thought the doctor had sucked his brains out of his skull cause he looked like he had a big mushroom on the top of his head, but that went back down, only leaving a bruise. But he looked like an alien and it was honestly a little scary at first. but once he cried, it was totally awesome.

I’m in awe of childbirth and the power of women to be a part of creating life. I even considered becoming a doula or midwife. My dearest, oldest friend asked me to be with her while she gave birth to her second child. I was so honored and excited. Her husband and mother were also in the room. I’m glad I went, but it wasn’t as magical for me as I thought it would be.

Her mother and I waited and tried to sleep in uncomfortable chairs in a hallway all night until we could join her in her room. Then we waited many more hours while she dilated, trying to be supportive. Then when she was pushing she wouldn’t let us look (shy) so I didn’t see the baby crown or emerge. Then my friend was bossy and not very emotional (from an outside perspective). I’m sure inside she was emotional, but it didn’t show through her anxiety. Plus, she had asked me to be the photographer, so I was busy snapping photos, trying to get her the best shots I could of this once-in-a-lifetime moment.

I thought this would be one of the most moving experiences of my life, but surprisingly it wasn’t! This was just my experience. I’m sure for some others it is better. I feel good that she asked me and that we will always share in that moment. I can tell her son I was there when he was born. But the experience itself … not what I expected.

My wife had an emergency c-section with our oldest daughter but we had a planned c-section with our youngest one. We had planned on my wife being awake but that didn’t work out, so I was in the room but not right by her side (by doctor’s order) but I got to see the doctor hold up my daughter right after she came out and I got to see them clean her up and do the initial tests. It is a worth-while experience.

...because it has less to do with me actively doing something and more to do with me being in the right place at the right time :)

It really was something you need to do once in your life. The labor SUCKED. But there was a moment, when my son was about 3 minutes old. I went over to the warmer they put him in and began to stroke his chest, ever so gently and he stopped crying. To this day – and he is 5 now – I can still do that to calm him down. That is truly amazing.

I’ve witnessed two births.

The first was my youngest brother, when I was 15. The second was my friend’s baby (my “niece.”) just about a month ago.

It is not only an awesome thing to witness, it brings to the fore what a miraculous and amazing thing life is. I feel very close to my brother, being the first person on this earth who ever saw his eyes open. (or at least the first person related to him who did.) :)

If you get the chance, and you feel you can be a good and loving support person to the parent/s, do it. Warning: it is not pretty and shiny and clean and painless. But then, neither is life. All the best things in life come with work, sweat, pain, tears and detrius. :)

true beauty and love that day.

i’ve seen cats give birth. does that count? i dont know if its worth it or not, but i love kittens.

I watched Noah Jacob enter the world. It was a precious moment that I was blessed to be a part of.