We’re at the hospital 2 hours later. Inside, there were number of people walking down the hallway. There were wheelchairs, some empty, some in used. We passed through couple sets of sliding doors. We saw a young lady sitting enclosed behind the glass. The glass has a circle cut out so we can communicate. My wife asked for instructions. The young lady handed my wife a stack of papers for her to read, sign and date. As my wife was finishing, there was a little old lady with a wheelchair. She came up to my wife and said “get in, we are going to your room” my wife told the little old lady that she was ok to walk and didn’t need a wheelchair. I saw the little old lady snarled at my wife and said “you better take the chance now while you have it.” My wife obliged and sat down. We were taken to room 314. The room was beautiful. There was a huge window and the outside views was breathtaking.
My wife wanted her pregnancy to be private. She got only me. I am the only one there to take pictures and video of our baby’s birth. While fixing our stuff into places I told her that “I’m worried about my friend’s wife.” “Why” she asked. “Well, his wife read ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ and they had twins. Later she read ‘The Three Musketeers’ and they had triplets. Now she’s reading ‘Birth of a Nation!” I want her to laugh as much as possible so she would not overwhelm herself and start to cry. With this said, the nurse came in. The nurse checked her vitals, blood pressure and temperature. She got the IV started and handed a cup and told her that she needed to fully drink one of those an hour. The nurse wrapped a monitor around her belly to check on the baby’s heart rate. She was doing just fine.
Finally after a long wait, the doctor came in. She was a very quiet middle-aged asian lady, with kind eyes and delicate hands. She told my wife to lay down and scoot to the edge of the bed “are you ready to have your water popped and to begin labor?” she asked. “let’s get it on!”, answered my wife. After her water was popped she went into excruciating pain. The doctor said that she had started to labor and contractions were going to become strong. The wave of pain came to her every four minutes, two minutes until every thirty seconds. She started to panic, she cried out in pain, her body took over, her mind went blank. She could hear nothing. The voices of nurse, midwife, doctor including mine floated in the air and dissipated. All she could do was scream in agony. She wanted it to stop.
The doctor let her know that it would be in a matter of minutes before the baby was to be brought out this world and take her first breath. I propped her arm and held her tight; I soothed her as much as I could. The doctor told her on the next contraction that she needed to push through her bottom and hold it for a count of ten.
As the wave of heat, pain and sweat enveloped her body, she took a deep breath and pushed. One, two, three, four,...... “Please make it stop!!!” She screamed. As she tried to push, her contraction ceased and she would have to wait for another one to come on. On the second push I told her that I can see our baby’s head crown. It made her want to push more, but the contraction stopped. Her head sunken back to her body. It happened four times in a row.
Finally, on the fifth push she felt a release of pressure. Our baby’s head had come out. The doctor had told her to push lightly. As she helped ease the baby out of her body, she turned the baby’s head to help her make way through the rest of the birthing canal. The doctor reached up and laid our daughter upon my wife’s chest. The most intense, beautiful, serene moment of my life.
To see my daughter being born was my happiest moment because I personally thought it was amazing. It was amazing to me because I never thought birth could bring so much happiness.
I will never forget how much joy and happiness she brought into my life and it will forever be cherished.