All right, I'll make this as quick as possible. At 10:00pm Monday night MaryJo decided to head into bed. We both had a long day. I went golfing with Gorss, Rob (a great new friend) and Alan (my brother-in-law) in the afternoon to celebrate Gorss's 37th birthday. The ladies, (Sarah, Gorss' wife, Kristy with a C, and MaryJo with a baby) hung out at the Gorss homestead. They went for a long walk outside enjoying the same sunshine we were enjoying. They talked and laughed and shared excitement about babies that were already there and babies that were still to come. When we finished golfing we all headed to the G homestead for some pizza. It was a gorgeous day.
So at 10:15pm I went into the bedroom to tuck MaryJo into bed. She had on relaxing music. She was concentrating on calming her entire body. I rubbed her back slowly for about 45 seconds. She was almost asleep when she sat up and said, "My, my water just broke." She stood out of bed quickly to confirm. We called the midwife right away. She told us to try to get some sleep and call her by at least 7:00am. About two hours later, MaryJo felt that her contractions were about two minutes apart. We called the midwife again who decided, despite MJ's relaxed demeanor on the phone, it was probably a good idea for us to head to the hospital. We made one stop at the ATM on the way and arrived just short of 1:30am. Despite my calm demeanor and facade of peacefulness, I decided to deliver the pizza I had eaten at Gorss' onto the construction fence that outlined the hospital. If you know anything about me you know that this is a standard occurrence that I look forward to being done with. I felt like a million dollars. The stingy fence did not offer me a tip.
We walked to the Maternity Ward of the hospital taking breaks every two minutes. We met our Midwife (Graham) at the front desk. MaryJo was not having a contraction then so we met with smiles and small talk. It was approx. 1:30am. Here is a basic outline of what you know as a husband going into a birth. You start at zero cm dilated. Your wife must be dilated 10cm before you can deliver. It takes about an hour per cm. You do not generally show up at the hospital relaxed and in control when you are 7CM DIALATED! The midwife and MaryJo were pleasantly surprised. I had no idea what any of that meant.
We spent some time in the bed, some time on the birthing ball, traveled down the hall to the big Jacuzzi for a while and then back into the bed. I'll spare you the details but my wife is an amazing woman with strength that I do not have. She was very brave and very in control. I was by her side throughout. It was a heroic three hours spent breathing and rubbing and moving. By 4:35am, a 7lb. 15oz., 18 & 3/4 inch baby was laying on MaryJo's chest. We asked that the nurses not tell us the sex so we waited a minute and then checked under the towel. Judging by the monstrous hand size and the big old feet we had both guessed it was a boy. Mj said, "Is it a boy?" and I said, "Is the Pope German?" Just kidding. We had a boy name picked out but we hadn't settled on a girl’s name. Apparently this is integral in deciding the sex of your child while in the womb. If you come up with a girls name and no boy name, dude, yer getting a gal.
We spent the next hour or so just starring at the baby and each other thanking God quietly for the experience.
We spent the morning dosing on and off, checking the baby and each other. It seemed uncanny how alert, healthy and beautiful my wife looked. I know not every birth is like this and I'm sure TV wouldn't be as exciting if they were but I've got to tell you, it's nothing like you see on TV. There was no screaming, MaryJo took no drugs, and she wasn't sweating and swearing at me. It was beautiful. It was trying physically for MaryJo all of which was natural and expected. I'm not saying it was easy I'm just dispelling some of the myth that birth is such a traumatic experience. I've never seen anything as miraculous.
This is the first picture taken after the birth.
This is our awesome midwife. I predicted that she, out of the six midwives, would be on call the night of our birth.
Harper is getting a first look at how pretty his mom is.
I hadn't slept much at this point. That doesn't explain the hair I know.
This is Mom and Harper at home in the kitchen
