Oceans away
25 Jun 2011 1 Comment
I had dropped everyone off at school this morning and was getting ready, because dropping my kids off at school only requires the basest of preparations.
I was standing at my sink when I got a text, “want to come to a birth today?”
WHAT!? That came out of nowhere.
Well, hmmm, let me think.
A few quick calls to my husband to make sure he could pick the kids up from school and then a joyful “Yes!” was shot back.
A text came back, “mom is alone, husband is in Iraq”.
Wow, I can’t imagine being alone with my husband being thousands of miles away and bringing our first child into this world.
I gathered up all my “birth gear” and headed out the door to the birth center in New Braunfels.
I pulled up around 12 noon and walked in.
Mom was in the tub breathing through the contractions.
I quietly walked over and squatted down beside her. I said, “my name is Erica, I am a doula and I am her to help”.
In birth you don’t seem to need a lot of words, often it is just simply being there that is enough.
I sat and encouraged gently reminding her that she was doing wonderfully and that she was making great progress.
After a while she got out of the tub and moved to the bed.
She seemed quite content in the bed.
As labor progressed she moved to the pushing stage of labor.
After some time pushing we got out the labor link rope and started pulling to try to get the baby to move down some.
While mom held one end, I held the other, and with each contraction we both pulled and the team offered encouragement.
Just as the baby started crowning, the mom’s phone started ringing.
The mom’s sister in-law had arrived shortly before and ran to get the phone.
She announced “its your husband!”
They answered the phone.
It was magical.
The mother was able to tell him that their baby was about to be born.
With each contraction the team was reporting in on what was going on.
With the final push, their baby was born, loudly crying out and his father was there listening in to hear his son be born.
It was amazing.
I don’t get terribly emotional at births, but this one did it.
I had a giant lump in my throat and tears running down my cheeks.
It went so fast and was blessed by the father being able to be there in spirit and via phone to witness the birth of his first son.
This was the first birth I had ever attended were the partner wasn’t there, I was blessed to be a part.
Jun 27, 2011 @ 12:17:42
What an amazing story! I cried reading that her husband called and was able to hear his son being born. Thanks for sharing this!