On January 30th of this year at approximately 2:55 p.m., I officially became a father. Allow me to tell you about this birthing process from the daddy's perspective. First of all, my wife was induced; thus, labor progressed very quickly. Let me tell ya, it was the most intense 6 1/2 hrs of my life. After a couple of hours, she was having contractions that lasted at least 1 minute long and they were occurring no more than 2 minutes apart. I coached her with 2 different types of breathing techniques the entire time. You know, I'm by no means in any kind of shape (maybe pear shaped), but I do like to run a lot. In fact, the day before my son was born, I ran 5 miles at a pretty good pace because I wanted to get a good workout in before he came. However, no workout I've ever done had made my lungs hurt like doing those breathing techniques for 6 1/2 hours. I can't even begin to imagine what kind of pain my wife was in.
Another interesting thing from the daddy's perspective is the actual birthing of the child. I did everything I said over and over again that I wouldn't do. I watched him come out, I watched the placenta being delivered, and I cut the umbilical cord. My wife was in so much pain that I wanted to give her some hope that it will end soon; thus, I watched for the crowning of the head. Then I whispered in her ear, "I can see his head, and he has hair." I'll never forget the smile my wife had shining on her face at that moment. Well, there was also one doctor who delivered the baby, one nurse how charted, and one more nurse who helped coach the pushing. She also held one of my wife's legs up to help with the pushing. However, my wife, like most of us, has two legs...so I helped hold the other leg. So, in that position, you really cannot not watch. I don't regret it...it was facinating and scary at the same time. When he came out, they immediately layed him on my wife's chest, but it took him about 10 seconds to take his first breath. That was the longest 10 seconds of my life. But I will never forget the joy I felt when he let out that first cry. He was finally here! Eleven days overdue, but here nonetheless. Now after witnessing all that, might as well cut the cord, right? My only fear at that point was cutting the doc's fingers.
My favorite part of all was when the doctor layed him on my wife's chest immediately after emerging from the birth canal. It wasn't the little person that finally joined us or the precious first cry he wailed that facinated me so. Those things I will never forget, but it was the joy I saw on my wife's face that I will remember the most. My wife gave birth to a 9 lb 2 oz 21.5 in. long child without an epidural (and induced labor is much harder so I hear). I'll spare you from the details regarding the number he did on her body. Let me put it this way, she was patient at the hospital for 4 days after the birth. But despite all the pain she felt and despite the extreme fatigue she experienced, once that doctor laid our son upon her chest, you could see the joy fill her body and all that other stuff, you could tell, wasn't even an afterthought for her. That is exactly the kind of mother I want my son to have by his side.
Well, I've been a dad for a few days now, but it is still a little surreal for me. But I love that little guy so much. I once had a professor tell me that you can't love new born immediately. "It's impossible" he'd say, because you just met him. I say, "What a load of garbage." My wife and I have gotten to know this little guy for almost 9 1/2 long months. We fell in love with him a long time ago, but our love just went through the roof when we finally got to see and hold what we had been loving for so long. I am a bit nervous about this new journey, but I feel up to the challenges that await us as I know God will not allow us to experience more than we can bear. God is amazing! I don't believe childbirth is a miracle, but I do believe it is a testament to our all-knowing and all-powerful living God. God bless.
