My apologies for missing last month's post. I was a little busy. I was welcoming our first born into the world. Life has changed a lot and yet doesn't seem all that different at the same time. Except that every once in a while I look at this child that I've helped create and get so overwhelmed that I can't express in words my amazement, joy, excitement and giddiness at how blessed I am to have him that I literally squeal and usually wriggle while boxing an imaginary opponent and exclaim "He's just so stinkin' cute!".
My husband did all the doctor work. He checked me. He gave orders for me. (He did the husband work, too, in making sure I was comfortable and helping me through contractions). He helped me through the pushing. He delivered our baby. He delivered the placenta. He stitched me up. He clamped the cord. (He let my mom cut the cord. Thanks husband.) He held our baby and loved it instantly. It was amazing.
I'm sure not all women would want their husbands doing all that, even if they are fully qualified. But I loved it. I loved that once I started pushing it was really the 3 of us, for the most part. I pushed the baby out while husband coached me and caught the baby. The 3 of us were working together, our first family activity. My husband was the first to see that our child had hair (that's from me). And the first to know and announce that it was a boy (we didn't find out before the birth). Our child was passed directly from his mother to his father and back to his mother again. I felt extremely blessed to have a husband who could experience the labor and birth in that way. I haven't asked him, but I felt like it made him much more involved and helpful in the delivery process and not merely an onlooker who got to hold the baby once everything was over. I know that the latter is what most men are and I am sure that it is still an amazing experience for them but, knowing how happy and excited my husband was as soon as he could feel and see our baby, I wouldn't want it any other way.
I love our baby. He continues to be an amazement to me. I constantly feel blessed and awed by him. I know residency life may become much harder due to lack of sleep on both my husband's and my part, and due to the different scheduling required by a child. But on the flip side, for me, it makes days when husband is gone long hours a little more bearable, and for husband, I'm sure it makes coming home that much sweeter. Our joys really are much higher than our sorrows. We are blessed.
I love my husband. And my son. I love being a mother.
