By David DiDonato
(her dad)
The contractions kept getting stronger and closer, and by 9 p.m. I asked if I could call our mid-wife. She said no, that she didn�t want it to be a �false alarm.� I went to bed. Given my lack of knowledge in the birthing arena, I didn�t question it - but figured that it wasn�t a false alarm and I should get as much rest as I could.
By 1:30 a.m., the contractions apparently were approaching the �I-can�t-talk, it-hurts-too-badly� stage, and Rosa-Maria asked me to call the mid-wife. I went from being dead asleep to being on the phone in about 30 seconds. Susie, our mid-wife, seemed to be pretty asleep when I called, but arrived within the half-hour.
When Susie got there, Rosa-Maria was in what appeared to be pretty deep into the labor stage. Every 3 or so minutes, she�d run into the bathroom and sit on the toilet and either squeeze my hand or throw up. Meanwhile, Susie was feverishly getting things ready. Between two contractions, I helped her make the bed up - one regular sheet, one chux layer, one regular sheet, one chux layer. I saw an oxygen tank, and other mysterious birthing aids.
By midnight, it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep Rosa-Maria out of the bathroom. She knew that she couldn�t give birth in the bathroom, and repeatedly told herself this. Eventually, the three of us convinced her to get onto the bed. The contractions seemed unbearably strong by this point.
At 1:30 a.m., Susie told Rosa-Maria that it was time to push. She told her the correct way to breathe - as more of a low, sonorous sound than the high-pitched wail. Ever conscious of etiquette, she apologized for swearing and reminded me to remind to apologize to Roger, our neighbor, for the noise.
Rosa-Maria shifted positions several times, from being on her back to all-fours to leaning over this large inflated �birth ball� to sitting on a birthing stool. The most comfortable position was sitting relatively upright, supported by pillows, with her legs elevated. Her legs would cramp, and Susie administered a dose of magnesium sulfate to help. After about 20 minutes of pushing, Susie said she could see the head coming out.
With every push, the head would come ever so slightly further out. When it got to the point where I could see it, I looked on in horror upon seeing how soft the baby�s little head was. There would be no way for it to pass through the birth canal without being crushed. I turned white, and Rosa-Maria asked me if I was okay, to which I said �Yeah.� Susie kept pouring oil on the baby�s head to lubricate the vaginal walls.
Finally, after about an hour and a half after the initial push, Susie said that the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby, but she deftly moved it to the side. Right after that, the whole head came out. It was blue and motionless. After another big push, the rest of the body came out quickly, and it was all white and very still. The baby looked like one of those gnome lawn ornament statues, with a conical blue head and a white body. Susie confirmed my hunch with the �It�s a girl� announcement, and stuck a little turkey-baster in her mouth, after which by some miracle, she came to life and went from a ghastly blue/white to a more human pink hue. Instead of crying, she looked around confusedly, making several different facial expressions before settling on to Rosa-Maria�s breast to nurse. I called my sister, then my parents. My mom told me that it�s the most emotional that she�s ever heard me, but then I�d never witnessed the birth of my own child before!
Oh, and all babies heads are soft on the way out.
