New Year, New Baby

I just attended my first birth of the year. Very sweet, very intense, very personal, full of faith. It was a wild ride for "Luanne," the laboring mom, as she went from starting labor to holding her baby in two-and-a-half hours. She started her labor at 3:30 p.m. and was holding her new little boy at 6:09 p.m. Generally speaking, if a labor is short, it is very, very intense. And usually, if it is short, everything is also going well.

"Einstein" called me around 5 p.m. to let me know we were "on." I started getting my clothes changed and my kit in the car, and before I had loaded everything, he called again to say, "Come on!" So I was on the road by 5:13 with only a 30-minute drive.

He called again when I was still some way out and said, "She feels like pushing!"

"Are you okay with that?" I responded.

"I think I'm okay with it," he replied.

"Okay, then make sure she pushes very slowly and..." I went on to give him some other details.

Then, I put my flashers on and beeped some cars out of the way so I could speed up and get there!

I don't know how many minutes I shaved off the drive, but I skidded into the driveway as Einstein was calling me again to tell me that he could feel the baby's head heading down and out! I popped the trunk of my car open, grabbed my purse, the chart, and two of my bags, and was in the house in a flash! "Let me wash my hands, and I'll be right with you!" I shouted breathlessly.

Then I calmed down. Took a couple of breaths. In less than 20 minutes, baby Willem was caught by Einstein and me and laid lovingly on his mommy's abdomen. And the miracle of birth overwhelmed me again. I don't know how "often" I pray during birth. I think sometimes that it is a long prayer, breathed out with pauses in between phrases. Both Einstein and I were praying; Luanne might have been praying, too, but she was also riding it out.

And as soon as the baby was on her abdomen, Ashlea walks in. At that point, I had not charted a single line. Does it matter? At that moment, no, but it does in posterity. So Ashlea grabs the chart and starts it for me. I will fill in details later. Right now, we're reveling in new life.

Baby Apgars at 10 in the first minute of life. He weighs less than his brother did, but is longer. A new life. Not a repeat. Not at all.

We sit together on the bed before parting, and pray again. It is a sweet time, and soon I'm out in the very crisp air, headed home...